Iron Phoenix

The idea was a simple one: show off the battle capabilities of the game, and give gaming media a little hands-on experience. 

So Sammy Studios arranged Xbox Live! sessions for Iron Phoenix, and media representatives logged in at specified hours. But even the best-laid plans are known to go slightly awry from time to time. The Sammy plan called for a mini-tutorial prior to staged deathmatch scenarios along the Great Wall. But there was a problem in setting up the room, so the media made its own room, and while Sammy personnel watched, the tutorial idea flew right out the window as the battle was engaged without so much as a “how do you do?”

When Sammy was able to reign in the beast, a few precursory controller instructions were all that was needed before team deathmatches became the order of the day, and the Xbox Live headset crackled with laughter while the screen danced with images of martial artists pummeling, slicing and dicing each other into oblivion.

Iron Phoenix is a martial-arts based battle royal-type game that can feature up to 16 players per match. There will be 10 avatars to choose from and nine weapons, with each weapon capable of approximately 25 attacking moves which can be strung together in combos for devastating attacks. The avatars are broken down into a couple of categories, depending on agility and strength, but in reality, the determining factor in battles is the attributes of each weapon. Weapons have three attributes as well – range, speed and attack. Weapons are picked up and slotted, which each player able to access that weapon, and its inherent abilities, on the fly. Weapons also have ‘magic’ damage they can do.

Each of the levels is fully three dimensional, and players can scale walls, work to the rooftops and use the environment to punish opponents. Knock an enemy into a fire cauldron or against a rack of spikes to do bonus damage, or knock them over the other side of the wall, away from the interior, to kill them off. 

There will be several battle types as well, and clans will be able to form and progress in status through the constant battles. 

For the demo, though, only four avatars (two female and two male – the females had more agility, the males had more strength) and four weapons (a sword, spear, talons and dagger) were available. There was also only three combat scenarios – deathmatch (open battle with everyone out for him or herself), team deathmatch (three rounds of timed mayhem) and VIP (each team has a VIP designate; kill the VIP and the match ends, but while alive, the VIP can resurrect fallen warriors).  

Some environmental elements can also be tossed – barrels explode upon contact and were being lobbed from atop the Wall, sometimes with accuracy and sometimes with hilarity. It was very entertaining to see a warrior running with a barrel toward the Wall barrier, intent on throwing it on the unsuspecting enemy below, only to throw it against the stones in front of them, and blow up both the barrel and themselves.

The look of the game is terrific. Dynamic light sources were wonderful, and the animation of the avatars was excellent. With little effort, the avatars could turn a jump into a mode of transportation by double and triple jumping, and thus move a good distance vertically as well as horizontally. It was not quite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but it was close. The combat controls have a small learning curve and the game does require a solid amount of reflexive ability, but tactical elements also come into play, as players use the environment and mini-radar to advantage. Unsuspecting players can be lured into an ambush of sorts, and you can skirt the edge of the battle from above and drop down behind foes. Judicious use of ranged attack abilities can also have good results.

The event that Sammy hosted has to be regarded as a success. Certainly, in some cases, tactics went right out the window, and the goal was to pummel and kill as many of the enemy as quickly as was possible. But into that was mixed a whole lot of entertainment. While there was definitely some pointed commentary (mostly of the “I’m getting the **stuffing** knocked out of me” variety), there was also a lot of laughter.