Warriors of the Lost Empire

File Size: 1.53 GB

File Type: ISO

Simplicity is something we don't value as much as we used to. Plain white bread used to be good enough for everyone, but then came multigrain; horror movies used to have one killer stomping after some bouncy co-ed, but now they need 13 twists that make no sense; and role-playing games used to be about killing bad guys and leveling up, but now this pesky "story" has gotten in the way.

Warriors of the Lost Empire can't bring back the days of Wonder Bread or Freddy, but it can remind you how simple, addictive and fun the real-time RPG genre can be -- even though the game is flawed.

A product of UFO Interactive and Goshow, Warriors pits you as one of four characters as you attempt to vanquish evil and bring peace back to a land that's been in chaos since Emperor Hadrianus disappeared to chase his life mate, Antinous. When you decide to set off on your journey into the handful of dungeons across the land -- which by vanquishing the enemies inside each its believed you'll save the day -- you'll need to choose from being the Highlander, the Gladiator, the Dark Seeker or the Amazon.
 

Aside from the physical differences -- the first two are 30-minute-abs males while the last two are female warriors who must do some Fredrick's of Hollywood modeling in their spare time -- these characters also vary in Strength, Vitality, Willpower and Agility stats as well as which weapons they use in battle. Our Amazon uses a bow and arrow while the rest of the crew rocks sword variations.

As you progress through the game, you'll level up and be able to amend your stats to your liking as well as what weapons you're packing.

Now, leveling up is where a lot of people are going to be split on Warriors. Like I said, this is a very simple game and that means leveling up literally comes down to going through dungeons that look exactly the same over and over. You'll enter the barren shade-of-brown arena, beat on some foes, find the only door to the next level, pass through it and repeat the process until you come to the final floor and go toe-to-toe with the boss, who is usually just a bigger, fiercer version of the foes you've been wailing on in the other areas. 

As you best these baddies, you'll get items like Red Ore and Blue Crystal Dust that you can then take to Rieta -- your camp's blacksmith -- to improve your weapons and armor or take to Vlado -- your camp's shopkeeper -- to trade for items that you can use in battle or break down to modify your existing arsenal. Basically, you want to be using whatever you find to pimp your items to do more damage and save your skin.

All these possessions are kept in your item box, which is your only spot to save as well as equip weapons, armor, skills and anything else you'd use it combat. This means that before heading into battle -- you walk out of your encampment and then choose where you're going from a map of dungeons that need bustin' -- you need to stop at the box and load up on doses of heal powder, hermit water and whatever else you might think you need before hitting the road.

Basically, I've just summed up Warriors. You'll move from one part of the world to another once you've beaten a specified number of dungeons, but everything remains consistent. Sounds run-of-the-mill, right?

Right.

Is this game an enthralling story that'll keep you glued to the PSP? No, the story gets mentioned in the beginning of the game, you get a sentence from the emperor's spirit every time you beat a dungeon, and there's no voice acting for dialogue. At no point did I personally have a driving force beyond leveling up, but the truth of the matter is I had fun beating the legions of enemies I found in these dark corridors on my way to my character's level 50. When I beat the two ogres whose health consistently regenerated after getting stomped so many times before, I felt like I had just accomplished something. When I got a new set of armor for my Dark Seeker -- although you can upgrade your garb's stats, nothing changes in its appearance until you switch sets -- I was jazzed to take it out.

I had fun playing Warriors and was consistently sucked back into the experience -- but don't take that for a ringing endorsement. Beyond the ho-hum dungeon visuals, there are a number of head-scratching obstacles in each building. You'll enter a room that looks just like the last dozen rooms you've gone through, but there will suddenly be spikes protruding from the wall or swinging instruments of death in your direct path. The fact that these torture devices just pop up out of nowhere is odd enough, but more depressing is the fact that enemies will walk into these obvious traps -- and continue to do so until they expire.

Please don't do any moves that start with "Red" and end with "Rocket."

For instance, I was making my way through the Emperor's Manor -- a five out of ten on the game's difficulty meter -- and came across a free-standing pillar of spikes. A "Skull Maniac" came at me with his enormous hammer of death, and I simply walked around the pillar until there was a straight line between us that the obstacle blocked. Being an idiot, the Maniac walked into the pillar step after step until he died. I received no experience points for the kill, but it's not a bad strategy to employ if you get in over your head with a room full of dolts and need to save your potions for tougher villains.

Now, I can let the blasé dungeons slide because I dug the leveling up, but the biggest drawback I found with Warriors was the inability to pause. If you hit start on your PSP, your menu system pops up, but the gameplay continues. This meant there were plenty of times the phone would ring or I'd need to help my wife and I'd have to run a safe distance from my foes and turn the PSP off. Sometimes I'd return and find that while PSP was powering off, a bad guy made his move and was now wailing on me. This seems like a pretty big no-no for a portable RPG.

There's a multiplayer aspect to Warriors that ran well when we tried it in the office -- it's local only -- although our movements seemed to be a bit more jerky. The game loads the progress of whoever is hosting the match and lets you and a pal take on the evil within. When it's all over, the visitor gets to save his or her experience points and items but not dungeon progress.

The two-player mode is fun if you have a leveling-up fiend for a friend, but again, the menu system is convoluted. You can't quit to the main menu, so if I helped you beat a boss you were stuck on and felt like playing my own missions, I'd need to restart the game. The same is true for single player. If you've had your fill of the story mode, there's a dungeon-only mode, but to get to it, you'll have to restart the game.

Lame.

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