This review was originally published on the Console Purist Facebook group on June 22nd, 2019.
It’s
Saturday, and here is another PlayStation Basement. PlayStation Basement is a
weekly review of an odd or obscure game for the original PlayStation. Games are
rated Good, Bad, or Neutral. Let’s go!
Today, I’m
reviewing The Unholy War, a strategy/arena-fighting
game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Eidos Interactive. The game was
released in both North America and Europe in September 1998. Designed by Paul
Reiche III, The Unholy War tells the
tale of a battle between the native Arcanes and the invading Teknos over
control of the planet Xsarra. It takes after his earlier computer game, Archon: The Light and the Dark.
The cover to
The Unholy War is especially lurid,
an image of a vicious Prana, an Arcane warrior. The European art features the
Prana in an aura of flames, while the American art has the creature under
attack by a Teknos Killcycle. The creature on the cover always attracted me as
a kid, but I never bought the game until recently; I never knew what to really
make of it.
In-game, The Unholy War doesn’t look especially
good or bad. The character models are blocky and move stiffly, but they also
have some decent textures. They each have unique designs that show each unit’s
strengths and weaknesses. The arenas look pretty good with some interesting
lighting and other effects. Overall, the
game has the average mid-era PlayStation look; it most reminds me of the PC
strategy title, Sacrifice.
In terms of
sound, The Unholy War is, again,
fairly average. Different attacks and units have their own sounds. Different
levels have their own musick tracks. The sound effects are a bit weak, thin,
and stifled. I do like some of the voices, growls, and screeches. The musick is
in an electronic rock style. I don’t find the compositions to be particularly
strong, but they are okay. The sound seems muted a bit in the game, so all of
this ends up less noticeable than it should be.
The Unholy War is a very fun game to
play at the end of the day, and that’s the most important part. The game has
two different modes: a team-based arena fighting game (think of Power Stone) and a turn-based strategy
game. In the fighting game, a player picks a team of seven combatants and
fights one-on-one against the opponent’s team. Different arenas of varying sizes
have their own tricks, traps, and layouts that change up how a battle is
fought. A character that survives a match goes on to fight the next combatant
chosen by the opposing player. If both fighters are killed, both players choose
a new character. Whoever has a fighter left at the end is the winner.
The strategy
game has players taking turns moving units, buying units, using special
abilities, and attacking enemy units (starts
a battle that plays the same as the fighting game mode). You get three actions
per turn. Each side has seven different unit types that correspond with the
seven fighters of the other mode. Each unit has their own movement rate, health
value, attacks, and a special ability. Not every unit is available in each
strategy scenario. A side can have more than one unit of each type, though
mostly a player will have to create new units to have more than one. You can
create units by mining AUR, a magical element gathered by moving a unit onto a
hexagon with gold on it and holding that space for a turn. Units spawn from a
player’s base which can be destroyed by the opponent. AUR can also be used to
fuel special abilities such as the Magus Lizard’s starfall, a ranged damaging
attack, or the Quicksilver’s madness, an ability that causes an enemy unit to
wander about for three turns. AUR and bases do not exist in every strategy
scenario.
Playing as
the Arcanes, I found it best to have at least two units mining AUR while
powerful fighters destroyed enemy units that were mining their own AUR. As the
game carried on, I was able to replace lost forces with new ones and overtake
the dwindling enemy. I suggest saving during battles, as the game crashed on me
once (it got stuck at the end of a battle and would not progress despite me
still being able to pause the game), forcing me to start that battle over.
The Unholy War is a worthy game to have
if you enjoy simple strategy games that utilize action-based fights. The odd
science-fantasy setting is unique as well, coming off like a pulp comic book. Not
everything about The Unholy War is
perfect, but the gameplay makes up for anything lost in other areas.
The Unholy War receives a Good.
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