Tournament of Legends puts you in the midst of a power struggle between mythical creatures and one lonely human gladiator called Marcus. Players have the opportunity to play as 10 different, unique characters from Marcus the Gladiator to a half man, half Ox, known as Bravehoof (Yes, the names could use some work). The game also features a ton of unlockable content for each character, which can be achieved by playing through their character’s story. The story consists of comic cut scenes with audio narration, followed by the normal fighting of the whole cast of characters. According to which character is being played depends on what weapons are unlocked. The enhancements are pretty much the same for each character but can only be used for certain characters if unlocked in their story campaign. So that means to unlock every character enhancement, you have to fight everyone at least 100 times.

The visuals for Tournament of Legends are nothing less than stunning. Built from the ground up using the Quantum 3 engine (same engine the Conduit uses), add in some fantastic arenas, and you have yourself an eye pleasing place to do some damage.

Controls are a little lack luster compared to other fighting games. For any fighting game on the Wii that utilizes the Wii’s motion capability, there is a lag between the actions of the player and their on screen avatar. If motion controls are not your style, then Tournament of Legends also offers the use of the classic controller. Even though the classic controller came across easier, the game still played a little slow. One bright side of the controls is the ability to have different attacks. With the Wii-mote you can swing the sword left by moving the remote left and so on. With the classic controller it’s the same way but with different buttons assigned to different swings.

I grew up playing Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, but I am no expert. The way I judge a good fighting game is by the speed and how fluidly I can create combos. This is where Tournament of Legends falls short. Yes, there are combos, but they are few and far between. The game seems to be tied down by its own slowness. To make things worse, each level has action sequences built in that really slow down the match. Depending on how long the match lasts, you can find yourself staring at an action sequence and pressing ‘A’ to dodge a giant’s foot stomping down.

Conclusion

The Tournament of Legends is a visually stunning game with some fun multiplayer abilities and massive customization that High Voltage is known for. The game does fall short when it comes to the real speed and feel of fighting games…but it’s only $30.

I give Tournament of Legends a 6.5 out of 10.