Way of the Warrior: a review by Skip Sauls

I have very mixed feelings about Way of the Warrior and it's nowhere near as great as all of the hype over the last few months made it out to be. Some aspects of it are nice, including the zooming, nice backgrounds, decent music (although not the type I enjoy), and it's enough of a challenge that I'll probably continue to play it. However, it has so many glaring problems that I'd not recommend it to anyone.

What are the problems? I'll list a few.

• Cheeziness. Maybe this is intentional, but I really don't like it at all and it's not a funny cheeziness like Road Rash has. The character's voices are dumb, especially those of Crimson Glory and the other chick, Major Gaines, and the Dragon. None of the voices, excepting possibly that of the judge, are worthy of being in this sort of game.
• Players. The players are just plain stupid and it's pretty obvious that they are not of the caliber found in the MK series. A couple of them look like little kids, perhaps 1/2 their reported ages. There is also way to many little bitty people, including the one that is supposed to be a 108 pound or so adult male. Give me a break.
• Jumping. What in the hell is with this? Have the Himalayas been moved to Mars or something? As someone else mentionned, the players must have pogo sticks for legs. In a couple of matches, all I could do to fight the opponent was continue to bounce around like an idiot.
• Animation. Character size be damned, the animation is nowhere near as smooth and fluid as was promised. Given the CD technology and the supposedly ample amount of memory, why so few frames per move? I'd gladly give up on the fancy backgrounds if it meant having character animation that was decent.
• Moves. Much harder to execute than on other games, and the awful 3DO controllers don't help any. I've seen characters execute moves in the heat of battle, yet I can't figure out how to make them do it again. A joystick may help out, as the "D" pad is worthless.
• Video. Why is it the video on Road Rash and Shockwave is so good but that on WOTW is so bad? Ugh, I've seen an Amiga do better.
• Overall. Leave this one on the shelves folks unless you just can't do without a fighting game. Road Rash is a much better value.

michel.buffa@cmu.edu