Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby? Have you ever pulled that "Do Not Remove" tag off your mattress? On a hot summer day would you rather spend most of your time burning ants to a crisp under a magnifying glass? Did you enjoy pulling the heads off your sister’s Barbie Dolls? Ever syphed gas from a car? Toilet papered the principal’s house? Changed the labels on your mother’s pill bottles? Let your Dad’s false teeth soak overnight in vinegar?
Then "Unholy War" is definitely the game for you.
This game will keep you tied up for hours as you take pleasure in bashing, thrashing, zapping, and slashing your opponents all over the planet. And when it’s all over you get to rule the world!
Developed by publishers Eidos and Crystal Dynamics, who also brought to us "Legacy of Kain" and "Tomb Raider," Unholy War is a strategy-action game that’s packed with lots of chaos and mayhem. The rules of the game are pretty simple. Destroy all enemies and capture the opposition’s fortress in 12 different regions. Once you’ve completed these objectives you can officially deem yourself "Ruler of Xsarra" and "God of War".
There are two clans you’ll have the option of using to take over the planet. First, there are the Arcanes who have inhabited the peaceful planet of Xsarra for years, a peace derived from an ancient war won by the Archanes themselves. The Archanes have ruled the planet as it’s only species…that is until recently when the vicious and disruptive cyborg species, the Teknos, invaded the planet.
Looking for resources to help save their dying clan, the Teknos concluded that Xsarra was the best place for their survival. This migration disrupted any peace that had existed on the planet creating an unholy war that can only result in one outcome, the utter annihilation of one of the clans. From these two clans emerge 14 distinct warriors. From the Arcane clan we have Magus, Prana Devil, Brontu, Dark Angel, Mogalin Rider, Fire Witch, and Ecton. From the Teknos clan we have Tesla Lord, KillCycle, Razorfane, Quicksilver, Jaeger, Mantis, and Wasp. Each warrior has their own individual strengths and weaknesses as well as special attacks ranging from blasters, swords, and sawblades to eyebeams, death screams, and napalms.
Players will have a choice of battling it out in two different modes of gameplay. The primary mode is the strategy mode. Here you will strategically dispatch and command your greatest hand-picked warriors to launch an all-out attack on your opponent’s forces until they are completely obliterated. Any militant strategists out there will easily appreciate this mode. The mayhem mode is perhaps the most exciting and fun mode of the two. In this mode you mercilessly slug it out with your opponent until one side is completely annihilated, leaving only the strongest warriors to survive.
The key to victory in Unholy War is a combination of sharpened combat skills with a good solid combat strategy. You should study all the warriors to find out what their strengths and weaknesses are so that you can use them more effectively in battle. Pay particularly close attention to what arenas your warriors seems to fight well in as well as advantages and disadvantages they have against other opponents. By becoming aware of each warriors strong points and weak points, you’ll be able to make better decisions in the strategy mode that will put your warrior on even ground or at an advantage against a strong opponent as well as become a more balanced and worthy competitor against the computer or rival friend in the mayhem mode.
Overall, Unholy War is a pretty decent game. It does have a few annoying quirks, like mediocre graphics, weak sound effects, and an overwhelmingly fast game speed. But what makes this game worth trying is the action-packed mayhem mode. You and friends could have countless hours of fun slugging it out with each other trying to prove who is the most worthy ruler of the world. I give this game 3 out of 5 Gin gems.