Fighting Myth- Tournament of Legends Review

When an industry colleague learned Tournament of Legends was in my review cue, his reaction was unambiguous. “Are you REALLY going to review that piece of shit?”, he asked. “Do yourself a favor and send [the game] back to Sega.” After hearing others refer to the title as ‘shovelware’, ‘crap’ and ‘the first  fighting game designed by the living dead”, I was confused. Were all these critics playing the same version of Tournament of Legends as me?

With a lack of complex combos and meticulous hit box detection, the game certainly isn’t in the same echelon as the Super Street Fighter or BlazBlue series. A much more better comparison would be to Midway’s second stringers- War Gods and Bio FREAKS, two competent fighters that enjoyed fleeting popularity with less fastidious fans. After an extended interval with Tournament‘s single and two-player skirmishes, I can safely report that most of the title’s disparaging remarks seem unwarranted.

Unquestionably, Tournament‘s great triumph is the incorporation of a motion-based control scheme which actually works. Players move their warrior around each arena with the nunchuck’s analog stick, while a horizontal or vertical slash of the Wiimote is used to initiate a strike. Wisely, developer High Voltage Software (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and The Conduit) relegated the strikes to two planes, resulting in a minimal amount of disobedient weapon whacks. Although there is a negligible amount of lag associated with a gesture-based input method, players should be able to adjust after a few rounds. To add a obligatory amount of complexity to the fisticuffs, players may also hold down the ‘B’ button for a slower, unblockable strike or use any of four special moves with the ‘A’ button. Whereas previous 3D fighters required participants to estimate if their fighters were in striking range, Tournament wisely offers a invaluable indicator to help gauge the reach of each combatant.

Visually, Tournament of Legend‘s detailed textures do a commendable job of articulating the action. Each of the game’s pugilists are drawn from a mixture of mythology and fighting trope, offering a interesting variety of valkyrie, gladiator, minotaur, and animated skeleton. During battle, pieces of armor are often chipped away from opponents, while devastating hits are rendering with a sweeping slow-motion effect, adding to the game’s graphic proficiency. Backgrounds are highlighted with effective flourishes such as a centaur’s silhouette trotting in the distance. Occasionally, these ancient beasts attack players, necessitating the successful execution of a Quick-Time Event.

Players accustomed to the extras of full-priced fighters may be disappointed by Tournament‘s modest feature set. While the title’s practice mode includes a helpful training video, the option to adjust the intelligence of strategies of your CPU sparring partner are absent. Likewise, the game has a condensed number of play modes; beyond the aforementioned training, there’s single player campaign outfitted with a skeletal storyline as well as the obligatory two-player match. Tournament‘s roster is moderately sized with eight combatant at the onset, as well as two unlockable characters.

Tournament of Legends can’t be recommended over first-rate fighters such as Tatsunoko vs. Capcom or Guilty Gear XX Accent Core. However, Wii owners who already possess those titles may want to take a look at High-Voltage’s diverting effort, especially since it can picked up for twenty dollars at a number of retailers. Don’t be deceived by the wave of negative press laying siege to the title- Tournament harks back to a era when players didn’t need to memorize convoluted combos for each character.