Last year, High Voltage was demoing a interesting title behind closed doors called Gladiator A.D., a hyper realistic take on Roman colosseum fighting. At the time, the game looked to be much more in line with the Playstation Bushido Blade series. Well after gaining a publisher, they have switched gears and added a whole lot of color and turned it into a fun, traditional fighting game romp through mythology.
Tournament of Legends uses High Voltage's custom Wii graphics engine and puts it to very good use. Without the need for sprawling landscapes, the game shows off graphical effects usually only seen on the HD consoles. As mentioned before, after changing its setting the title has added a rainbow of color to its look, and that is something I can really appreciate. The game's cutscenes are shown in comic book format, showing some great artwork in the American comic style, though the in-game art is a little on the generic side. Still, if there is one thing Tournament of Legends excels at, it is looking good on a technical level.
The music is a odd mix of classic Clash of the Titans sweeping scores and more upbeat techno sounding tunes. Amongst all the banging and smashing you're not likely to notice it much, but the game does have plenty of sound options if you're so inclined. The voice acting is very over the top and Saturday morning cartoon in its feel. Characters taunt and chew their lines with lots of gusto, and it does help bring them to life more then say the Soul Calibur line of dialog.
What is likely to turn most hardcore fighting game fans off to Tournament of Legends is the actual fighting system. At first it seems pretty clunky and the reach of your weapons feel disturbingly limited, though there is a colored marker on the floor at all times to indicate your swing's length. Instead of trying to play the title like Tekken or Soul Calibur, think of Tournament of Legends more like a boxing title. You have three basic attack buttons, right, left, and jab attacks. The system uses a rock, paper, scissors approach when dueling. If you and your opponent swing at the same time, the type of swing will determine who gets hit or if you negate each other. Added into the mix are special moves that use up a magic bar and a weapon throwing button. What is important to remember with Tournament of Legends is to not take it too seriously. Peppered throughout each arena is a lurking threat that will stop the match entirely, triggering a cutscene where you have to block or dodge an elemental threat, quick time event style. Also in keeping with the boxing motif, once your life bar has been drained you have to perform a specific action repeatedly to get up before the count down ends and you lose the match early. In between matches you can also shake the remote or rotate the analog sticks to regain health and armor.
Tournament of Legends falls in line with other High Voltage games in offering you a multitude of control options. Nunchuck or Classic options are present, and you can customize the button layout however you like. As far as modes go, there really isn't a whole lot; there's a story mode, versus mode, and some unlockable extras. The real meat and potatoes comes from winning matches and adding to your characters collection of available weapons and magic. By defeating opponents you can boost your selection to all kinds of different weapon types and magic abilities. There are also a couple of unlockable characters to keep you coming back for more. Overall Tournament of Legends is a bit of a mixed bag; if you can overlook the fact that the game is more boxer and less fighter, and accept its more goofy gameplay design, you're likely to have some good fun. Despite being a totally new I.P. it's a hell of a lot better than other abysmal franchise entries such as Soul Calibur Legends and Castlevania Judgement. For its cheap asking price of $29.99 I say give it a spin.
