The reviews have been rolling in for Sega and High Voltage's Tournament of Legends, which you may have formerly known as Gladiator A.D. If you've read many of them, you probably already know the one key thing I'm going to tell you today about my experience with this game: its motion controls don't really feel like they're working well at all.
I popped in the review copy Sega sent me a few days back to see what it was about. My background is certainly not in fighters with complicated combos, so finding out that Tournament stuck to simple moves was a plus in my book. Pulling off those moves became much like pulling teeth, though. Even after finally getting a handle on what hand-swing did what combined with which button from the thin manual and short tutorial, it just didn't feel quick or accurate at all. I get the impression it's just plain asking too much from the Remote and Nunchuk—the same feeling I first got with Wii Sports' boxing game way back in 2006.
Everything works markedly better when you plug in a Classic Controller. While I'm no genre expert, it seems a decent enough 3D fighter at this point. I couldn't help but crack a smile at its (intentional?) over-the-top cheesiness and the core fighting mechanics seemed to work out OK. Previously motion-controlled events like between-round health and armor regens and getting back up on your feet are now mapped to stick motions, just like the awkward mid-match QTEs when something like a giant foot or octopus tentacle comes smashing down into the arena. It doesn't miraculously make the game great, but eschewing the motion option helps quite a bit.
All in all, I would consider giving Tournament of Legends a rent if I was in the mood to beat up on a few dudes, and I had Classic Controllers enough to go around. But nothing about it really elevates it to must-have status in my books—not even its position in the not-exactly-crowded 3D fighter space on Wii, nor its $30 asking price.
I popped in the review copy Sega sent me a few days back to see what it was about. My background is certainly not in fighters with complicated combos, so finding out that Tournament stuck to simple moves was a plus in my book. Pulling off those moves became much like pulling teeth, though. Even after finally getting a handle on what hand-swing did what combined with which button from the thin manual and short tutorial, it just didn't feel quick or accurate at all. I get the impression it's just plain asking too much from the Remote and Nunchuk—the same feeling I first got with Wii Sports' boxing game way back in 2006.
Everything works markedly better when you plug in a Classic Controller. While I'm no genre expert, it seems a decent enough 3D fighter at this point. I couldn't help but crack a smile at its (intentional?) over-the-top cheesiness and the core fighting mechanics seemed to work out OK. Previously motion-controlled events like between-round health and armor regens and getting back up on your feet are now mapped to stick motions, just like the awkward mid-match QTEs when something like a giant foot or octopus tentacle comes smashing down into the arena. It doesn't miraculously make the game great, but eschewing the motion option helps quite a bit.
All in all, I would consider giving Tournament of Legends a rent if I was in the mood to beat up on a few dudes, and I had Classic Controllers enough to go around. But nothing about it really elevates it to must-have status in my books—not even its position in the not-exactly-crowded 3D fighter space on Wii, nor its $30 asking price.