[Mechanical R]

Arkadian Warriors

Published by: Sierra
Developed by: Wanako Games
Genre: Action RPG
Number of Players: 1-2
Release Date:
US: December 12, 2008
Also Available On: PC
Features: Xbox Live


In a world where gifted animals are given the ability to transform into humans. Its you that is called upon to save the towns from the evil creatures that wait in the dungeons and caves of Arkadian Warriors.


To begin with you can chose a type of character to play with, one of the 3, Fighter, Archer, and Sorceress. Each class has its own set of weapons and armor for you to explore with.

Starting off in a small town, you can go around and visit a shop to upgrade your character or talk to town’s people for missions. Entering the portal to take you to the mission will see you through a series of leveled areas to complete your objectives. Killing all your enemies and finding some colored keys could be what’s keeping you from your main task, but don’t be expecting a warm welcome from the people who inhabit them.

The game is a simple hack and slash game which could be picked up and played by anyone. The controls are simple. LT to lock on. A to attack. If things get a little too hairy for your liking, you can replace your sword, staff or bow for your tasty transformation. Fill up your power meter and your character can turn into a giant animal for a short time, ready for you to dish out the pain in power loads.

Once you’ve managed through you exit the dungeons to speak with the person who gave you the mission to receive an award and progress to the next mission.

Missions can be replayed by talking to a lady in the main area of the town, this is good as the games levels are always randomly generated each time, so no level will be the same other than the main objective.

The difficulty of the later missions can somewhat be a little unforgiving. With lots of large enemies attacking you at once, leaving you no choice but to resort to attacking, then running away and repeating. This isn’t always easy in a small room with a lot of big enemies.

Including its Co-op mode, both on and offline the game offers you the chance to team up and do the story missions with a friend. The games RPG style sense of exp and leveling will go all the way to 20. This can be done with each character separately on separate game saves.

The game is quite a blocky old school kind of arcade game, which suits to the game style. It’s not heavily serious on the storyline but still has a fun playability to it.

As well as custom soundtrack able, the game does come with its own music which fits with the theme and timeline of the game, but if you fancy something a little…21st Century, your welcome to fire up your speakers.

Longevity The game consists of 19 missions. Which do get harder as you go along. The game doesn’t have any real fears of repetition but getting your characters up to level 20 or getting those extra achievements on the game will add some life to this fine 3d slasher.

In the end this game is a very nice Hack and slash game, clearly aimed at casual gamers with its easy controls and brings some retro elements into the game with the way you navigate through and around the levels. A suitable game for anyone who fancies something beyond the normal arcade game.

My Rating: 7.8


For a full achievement list click here.