Games Database
PlayStation
Beat 'Em Up
| Also for: | Game Boy Color, N64 | ||
| Viewed: | 3D Third-person, floating camera | Genre: | Beat 'Em Up |
| Arcade origin: | No | ||
| Developer: | Electronic Arts | ||
| Publishers: | Electronic Arts
(GB) |
Released: | 19 Nov 1999
(GB) |
Summary
Despite Electronic Arts reputation for quality games, who would have put money on the Xena licence being one of them? The series is so popuar with its devotees that EA could have put out any old tosh and it would have sold well.
But Xena is not any old tosh, far from it! It's a fast action roving beat 'em up adventure. The game it most brings to mind is Tomb Raider, but that is not a fair comparison. Xena: Princess Warrior depends more on action and fighting than on puzzling, thought there is a little of the latter.
The game engine is not the most sophisticated you'll see, the Xena model is quite basic, and lacks effects like 'skinning'. But on occassion the game is quite stunning, and it does manage to avoid the "head in the way of the camera" problem frequently experienced with other games of the genre by having semi-transparent objects. This effect is used well in Tomb Raider 4 on PC, but is absent from the Playstation version of that game. On occassion the point of view is frustrating, particularly during the 'dragon' end of level sequence, but it doesn't spoil the game overall..
The puzzle element of Xena is a little underdeveloped, but the action more than makes up for it. If your the kind of gamer that finds Tomb Raider too slow, you'll love this.
But Xena is not any old tosh, far from it! It's a fast action roving beat 'em up adventure. The game it most brings to mind is Tomb Raider, but that is not a fair comparison. Xena: Princess Warrior depends more on action and fighting than on puzzling, thought there is a little of the latter.
The game engine is not the most sophisticated you'll see, the Xena model is quite basic, and lacks effects like 'skinning'. But on occassion the game is quite stunning, and it does manage to avoid the "head in the way of the camera" problem frequently experienced with other games of the genre by having semi-transparent objects. This effect is used well in Tomb Raider 4 on PC, but is absent from the Playstation version of that game. On occassion the point of view is frustrating, particularly during the 'dragon' end of level sequence, but it doesn't spoil the game overall..
The puzzle element of Xena is a little underdeveloped, but the action more than makes up for it. If your the kind of gamer that finds Tomb Raider too slow, you'll love this.