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| Deathrow (Xbox) |
Reviewed by Christian 'Fraust' Wilson |
Deathrow
XboxUsed & New from $19.99 |
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Developer: Southend
Interactive
Publisher: Ubi Soft Entertainment
Release Date: 10/01/02
Introduction
 If
I could only use one word to describe Deathrow to you, it would
be "attitude". But luckily, I can use as many words as I want to describe just
why Deathrow has dominated my Xbox console lately, and even keeps
me away from playing my copy of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City most of the time.
The game itself isn't any multi million dollar project, or a heavily hyped game,
nor is it even a game that will turn the gaming world around. What Deathrow
is, however, is one of the most fun games to come out in a very long time. Combining
the teamplay and fast paced action of hockey, the fun of ultimate frisbee, the
aggression of underground street fighting, and the attitude of an HBO television
series, Deathrow comes at you with a refreshing package that you'll
not soon turn away from.
Gameplay
 I'm
going to get to the best part of this game first. Simply put, Deathrow
is extremely fun to play, whether alone or with friends. The idea is simple. Two
teams with four players each. There's a round disc in the middle of the arena.
When you hear the announcer yell "Fight!", all hell breaks loose. The disc is
fair game, whoever gets it takes control. From here, all you have to do is toss
the disc in your opponents goal. Sounds easy enough? It is. Of course, that's
not all you have to contend with. I forgot to mention that the goal is rather
small, and if you don't like up your shot, you won't be scoring any points for
your team. A goalie also stands in your path, and although there are ways to "take
him out of the equation", most of the time you'll also have to worry about getting
a shot past him. This can make for a challenging game in itself, but as soon as
you take control of that disc, the other team will have you in their sights, and
anything goes. Players can kick, punch, throw, clothesline and tackle you to get
that disc in their possession. You can injure other players, knock them completely
out of the game, and even break bones (more on this in a bit). The fighting is
not complex, but it doesn't need to be in this case. You can slug other players
all day if you want, but first and foremost, this is a sports game.
 If
you are wondering how easy it is to control this game, have no fear, it is extremely
simple. Being familiar with my Xbox controllers already, I was able to get right
into the game after merely glancing at the instructions. During a two player romp,
my friend (who is not very familiar with the Xbox controller) got a quick lesson
from me and jumped into the game. Within 15 minutes he had figured out the controls
and was in top form. The game includes an aiming button (the R trigger) that is
used to focus on the disc when it is not in your possession. Once you have the
disc, the aim function focuses on the goal you need to shoot into. You will use
this feature constantly. Another nice control feature is using the directional
pad to instruct your computer controlled teammates what to do. You can have them
be more aggressive, more defensive, or just let them do what they want.
 The
computer AI in this game is actually pretty good. While it has some flaws, I was
surprised at how well the players ran around, worked as a team, and devised the
best way to win the game. I was most impressed with the way your team didn't always
rely on you. In every sports game I've played, whenever a player receives a ball
or puck, you assume control of that character. Not the case with Deathrow.
If you would rather beat up on players, or help clear a path for the disc carrier,
you can do that. Unfortunately, the computer sometimes will pass the disc to you
anyway, but it's not too often, unless you are in a better position to score a
goal than they are. The only AI problems I ran into were a few times when a player
would get stuck against a raised floor for a few seconds. There was also one other
instance where one of my opponents got the disc and ran away from the goal and
picked up a powerup that appeared. He may have needed the health boost, but there
was little time left in the game and his team needed the points. This was a rare
instance though.
You can play a single match or in conquest mode. Conquest mode is the highlight gameplay mode of this game. You start in a low ranking league and work your way up to the ultimate goal of over throwing the current champions, the First Blitzers. As you progress up the ranks, you can sign new players, get promotional deals from companies and much more. This is all done through a message system that you can access between games. It's great getting messages that tell you your manager is high on drugs and gave you a nice wad of cash. However, it's not as fun when one of your star players gets caught sleeping with the sponsors twin daughters. To keep that under wraps, you'll have to pay a pretty sum. Whether good or bad, I thought it was funny to see all these things happening to my team outside of the game.
Graphics
 Deathrow
sports a great look to go along with the action. Textures are extremely detailed
and the different arenas have a wide variety of designs. The Demon's arena is
complete with lava under the floors and eerie pentagram windows above each goal.
The Sand Raiders have a rather unique arena where each goal is in the middle of
the arena but divided by a walkway that reaches above them. A few arenas are rather
plain, but for the most part, it looks great.
The players themselves look great as well. Players look highly detailed with masks,
tattoos, clothing, and may other features to set each of the players apart. The
most impressive is that each player consists of over 7,000 polygons and a skeletal
system that can be broken. Nothing beats giving someone an arm breaker and actually
hearing the breaking of the bones. Unfortunately, unless the player is badly injured,
I have not seen them react too much to their breaks. In conquest mode, your message
system delivers you all the news you'll need to know about your team. Often times,
you'll even get pictures to go along with it. These pictures present a grim look
at the people you'll deal with outside of the matches. Having actual cutscenes
would have made these events more entertaining, but maybe that's something they
can add to Deathrow 2, if there is one in the works.
Sound
 The
sound in Deathrow is absolutely over the top. When you break someone's
arm, leg, back, wherever, you will hear the snap. Punches and kicks give a nice
smacking sound letting you know that the receiving end really felt it. The live
crowds, or the crowds watching on big screens in a large viewing area give it
a very sports-like feel. There's nothing like clotheslining someone close range
and hearing the crowd gasp, or scoring and hearing the crowd explode in cheers.
What else makes Deathrow sound just like you are really in the game?
The taunts. Folks, this game includes the most most cursing I have ever heard
in a game. There's more four letter words here than you can begin to imagine.
Using your taunt button, you can call your opponents all kinds of crude words.
Oddly enough, it doesn't seem out of place here. The taunts do their job perfectly.
The language presented may be used to shock gamers, but it just seems to fit the
style of this game. After a while, you won't even notice the foul language some
of the time, so it does lose some of it's shock value, but I'm still glad they
added it.
The music is rather boring, giving you only a few techno styled tracks to play
over your games. But wait a minute, this is the Xbox, and it has the ability to
give you custom soundtracks. But does Deathrow support them. You
better believe it does. Would you like to play a game of Deathrow
while Slayer pipes into the arena? Well you can. Do you like some Alice In Chains
to go with the slaughtering of your opponents? You can have that too. Would you
prefer some Britney Spears while you show off your mad skillz? Well, you can (but
I don't recommend it). Thanks to custom soundtracks, this heightened my experience
by leaps and bounds. It gave me a more personalized mood for the game.
Value
 Ok,
so I made my point, this game is very cool and easy to play, but is it worth a
purchase, or merely a rental? Trust me, there's more than enough to unlock in
this game to keep you playing for a very long time. There are 18 teams, 150 players,
and 32 arenas and you'll have to unlock most of them. On top of this, there are
also a few gameplay modes to unlock, such as multi disc. All of this is unlocked
using unlock credits that you earn by winning matches in either a single game,
or in conquest mode. Don't want to play the game yourself? No worries here. The
game is ready for four player split screen. If you have other friends with Xboxes
of their own, you can use the system link and hook up for multiplayer as well.
The only thing missing is Xbox Live support, but seeing as the service (as of
this writing) has only just now been opened to the public, its not a big deal.
Final Thoughts
 Overall,
Deathrow is one of the games you should have in your collection.
It's a highly addictive game that takes advantage of many Xbox features and will
provide you with a very unique experience. While it isn't game of the year, this
game will definitely become a cult classic among Xbox owners.
 Pros:
- Extremely fun style of gameplay
- Easy control scheme
- Custom soundtracks
- An unbelievable amount of unlockables
- Great party game
Cons:
- AI can sometimes act undesirably
- In game cutscenes or videos would have been more effective
- Over the edge violence and dialogue may turn off some gamers
 Overall:
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| Storyline: |
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| Gameplay: |
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| Sound: |
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| Value: |
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| Total: |
8.7 |
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