The premise behind Deadliest Warrior is that of the same-named TV show; take two types of famous combatant from different points in history, and try to determine who would win in a fight. But where the TV show runs several simulations and makes a guess based on that, the video game is a 3D fighter. Unlike some examples of that genre, this game is meant to be played with your default controller as opposed to an expensive arcade stick, and the controls you’re expected to learn are very intuitive. This means it won’t take long for you to be at least competent with your character of choice, so you can focus on the action.

Eight characters are available, with some representing extremes while others fall in the middle. For example, the Ninja, Pirate, and Apache have no real armor of note and are instead very fast, while the Knight has heavy armor and an excellent shield but is slower. Others like the Samurai fall in between these extremes, having some armor but still keeping some speed. Regardless of which character you pick, combat is very brutal; most characters are killed in anywhere from one to four simple combos, and there is always the chance an attack to the head will be instantly fatal. Like on the show, each combatant has a close-range weapon such as a sword, another weapon suitable for medium-range fighting (usually a polearm of some kind), and a long-range weapon. You can also unlock a set of alternate equipment for each character, with most of these being sidegrades (e.g. faster but weaker, or slower but stronger, etc.) though a few are obvious improvements.

Like most fighting games, Deadliest Warrior is best enjoyed when playing with others. While a single-player mode is offered, and going through it is necessary to unlock most things, the AI simply isn’t fun to fight. While its difficulty can be adjusted, you’re basically either left with it being far too easy or completely unfair and requiring you to abuse flaws in the AI to win. This leaves us with head-to-head play against others, which you can do either locally or online. There, the basic flow of blocking, parrying, and dodging versus a mix of high, mid, and low attacks makes this a basic but passable 3D fighting system. It should be noted that each stage is fairly large and you are allowed to essentially ’free roam’, with all of your movement being in 3D rather than just using 3D for side-steps and similar moves. Perhaps the biggest departure from 3D fighter formula however is the ability to damage the opponent’s limbs; you can injure or cut off arms and legs, with obvious effect on their ability to use certain weapons or move.

With a competent engine behind it, all Deadliest Warrior needs is a good roster. It partially succeeds at this, since between the Samurai, Ninja, Pirate, Knight, Centurion, Spartan, Apache, and Viking you’re sure to find one whose look and weapons appeal to you. Unfortunately, a few of these characters are too well suited to abusing the game’s default rules. The Ninja in particular stands out, as he has a fast mid-range combo that can kill or severely injure most foes. In my time online I found it was quite practical to land this combo (or even just part of it) once or just hit my enemy with a single projectile, then run away until time ran out; I’d win by having more health. It was even easier to do if I had damaged their legs in the process. There are a few other similar tactics that are never fun to go up against (or use, truth be told), and their effectiveness shows there are major problems with the game’s balance.

This leaves the player in an odd position. Online play works fairly well if you have a good connection (though it can just as readily be quite sluggish), but what happens if you run into someone who does this sort of thing constantly? Short of the developers fixing these problems, which would require significantly modifying some of the game rules or the characters, it seems the only real solution would be to play with people you know, be it online or locally. If you are able to come to some sort of agreement with your friends as to what is acceptable and what is not, then you would probably be left with a pretty fun way to spend a few evenings. But make no mistake, Deadliest Warrior is not suited to intense competitive play. If you and your friends will use any advantage built into the game in order to win, Deadliest Warrior falls apart very quickly.