When I was asked to review this game, I was excited to see the description: ” Duel is a side-view 3D action game full of shooting, jumping, fleeing, chasing, slashing, dodging, rope-swinging and trying to kill your opponent.” I mean how can you not get excited when all those descriptive words are in the title?

Rating: N/A
System: Xbox 360
Developer: AwesomeGamesStudio
Players: 1-2
Genre: Shooter

BUY

While it seems reminiscent of Worms (a game I was introduced to during my high school years),  Duel: The Art of Combat, has its own feel and prospective. There are three modes: story, duel and survival modes. Story mode has three difficulty levels, beginner, advanced and insane. In total there are four levels with four waves, each that you need to get through before you can advance to the next level. In terms of story, there really isn’t one. You just go through wave after wave and level after level until you get to the end. As you go through story mode you unlock different types of weapons such as a shot gun, flame thrower, or lasers. You can also level up your skills as you proceed through the levels and you can make your snake (I am assuming that it is a snake.) warrior have a higher jump, endurance, long rope length, and other power ups to defeat you enemies.

Survival mode, is exactly how it sounds where you attempt to survive as long as you possibly can. Sounds easy? Not always. And then, duel mode is where you get the chance to play with friends. You are unable to play this game over Xbox Live, it plays split screen on your console. You and a friend battle it out to see who is victorious. I was unable to find someone to play co-op with.

This game provides a tutorial at the very beginning of story mode, and teaches you the controls as you battle a few enemies. There is also a skip option on the tutorial if you have played before or if you just want to learn on your own.  The tutorial is short and to the point, and within a matter of minutes I was playing the story mode without too much difficulty.  The controls themselves are simple, yet purposeful.  The only thing you need to remember is which button does what, which after a run through the tutorial isn’t difficult.

The graphics are not what you expect from most Xbox Live arcade games, or from huge development studios, but this little game can hold its own. It is bright and colorful with the change in level backgrounds and the color of the worms to show the level of difficulty.  There are different effects for the flame thrower and other weapons as you shoot or swing them. Also, the creators have put a mini map in the corner so you can see the item drops or other enemies. There is only an issue with the ability to move the camera.  At time when I shot the rope, I  had no idea where or if I was shooting the rope to an area as far away from enemies as I needed.

Duel accomplishes it’s intentions: creating a fast paced strategy duel, where its you against your enemies.  Your level ups and choice of weapon can mean the difference of life and death, and you may have to quickly change your strategy if thing are not working out.  There is no time limit, no pause for weapon choice, movement, or attack. This isn’t turn based, it is quick reflexes.  When it comes to difficulty, it does get harder as you go along, and there were times that I had to restart the level after dying.  Also with all the different modes and difficulties available to the player, if give you a bit of replay value which you will end up playing again.  I found that even after I had finished, I loaded the game to just have a little break from other games.

Overall, this game is worth the price of 240 meager Microsoft points, the same price as some of the avatar items.

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