Unholy War

by Sony / Eidos

Product Features

• 1 or 2 Players
• Fourteen 3D environments
• Fourteen unique characters
• 2 modes of play: Mayhem and Tactics
• Bonus Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver demo

Product Details

• ASIN: B00002STQE
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,780 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

When developers blend strategy games and arcade games, the result is often a somewhat diluted hybrid that fails to appeal to either type of gamer. Miraculously, The Unholy War does an admirable job of blending both genres. The meat of The Unholy War is a lightning-quick, 3-D arcade combat engine that lets a variety of inspired units duke it out in various combat arenas. The units have strengths and weaknesses that play off one another in the ultimate game of rock-paper-scissors.

The strategy portion of The Unholy War adds an extra layer to the gameplay and complements the tactical combat nicely. Here, players move their combatants across a strategic map, attempting to place units on spots where the terrain offers an advantageous position. Units gain some extra abilities on the strategic map, which can be used to better secure a position, and when two units meet on the map, gameplay switches immediately to the arcade-combat mode where a victor is determined. It's a challenge making certain your units are positioned correctly, and the fun explodes when you play against a friend. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Very good 3-D graphics
• Arcade game can be played separately
• Strategy elements add depth

Cons:

• Strategy fans may not like the steep reflex requirements

GameSpot Review

The Unholy War is a fast-paced real-time battle game that features a few minor strategy elements. It comes from the creator of such classics as Star Control and Archon, and many similarities to these games can be drawn. The game features a wide variety of very unique characters that all have special weapons, which are used to annihilate each other in a true 3D arena.

The game has two modes of play. Combat mayhem is an arcade-styled 3D weapon-based fighting game. You select one of the two races to battle with (each team has seven characters to choose from). Your opponent, whether human or computer controlled, selects which fighter he'll send into battle. Once one of the characters is destroyed, the loser picks another fighter from his team to battle. This goes on until all of the characters from one team have been defeated. The second mode of play, combat tactics, lets you position your characters on a hexagonal board. Each player takes a turn and is allowed to move his characters. Every time you take a turn you are rewarded with points. These points can be used to purchase reinforcements and initiate a special attack from the board. Once two characters meet on the board, a real-time battle begins.

The Unholy War, at its roots, is basically a game of chess. Both sides have characters with their own individual attacks. You strategically move these pieces on a board. And once you reach an opposing character, a battle ensues. Since each character on both teams has its own individual strengths and weaknesses, it's critically important to choose the right character to use against each foe. This strategic angle of the game is limited and simply adds more to do in the game than just battling.

The control is elegantly basic. You can use either the D-pad or analog stick to control the characters. Each character has three forms of attack ranging from laser blasts to punches. The fourth button is used for jumping or, for certain characters, flying.

Graphically, Unholy War is beautiful. The polygonal characters all look amazingly detailed. The lighting effects used give life to the explosions and energy weapons. The 14 different maps that you fight on all look great and all have unique terrain, weather, and obstacles. The intelligent camera is fantastic; it zooms out when you and your opponent get some distance between each other and then zooms in when you get closer. Overall, Unholy War is a really fun game, especially when playing with another player. However, the AI of the computer is really good, and you can have fun fighting it out alone as well. The only negative side to the game is its lack of depth. The combat tactics mode really doesn't offer that much more to the game. Yet, the two-player mode is so much fun that you'll play it again and again. --Ryan Mac Donald
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A genre all it's own..., October 2, 2003

By 

Appiration (Ozark Mountains) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unholy War (Video Game)

My roommate picked this game up the very same day he shipped his ex-girlfriend off to California. He picked it up at a pawn shop because he liked, "the cool cover."

Fast forward to now, almost a YEAR AND A HALF later, we both STILL play this one game against each other on almost a daily basis (on the PS2 no less!). For the record, I've been a video game junkie since the Atari 2600 was the latest news. Missile Command, Defender, Final Fantasy, Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong Country, Chrono Trigger, and Grand Theft Auto 3 had their tenures. So did Twisted Metal 2, Black, the Tekken series (all five!) AND the Gran Turismo series (all three!). None can of these games can even come CLOSE to the replay value of Unholy War, and that's just taking into consideration the WELL above average AI...

(The stragegy mode VS the computer isn't too difficult, even on hard, due to the fact the 'board mode' AI isn't very intelligent at all. Mayhem mode is VERY difficult to beat, and you can only call yourself 'Lord of Unholy War AI' if you can beat Teknos (you) VS All (AI) in mayhem mode.)

I have long since stopped playing against the AI (save a 'Teknos VS All' match every once in awhile), but I STILL play against my roommate almost EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! The suprising thing is, we're STILL learning new map strategies, more strengths and weaknesses in the 14 characters and different strategies to exploit in the 14 levels and 10 worlds that you can fight in.

The oddest this about Unholy War is how drastically your tactics change (HAVE to change, I might add) playing VS another player, versus playing against the computer. The computer AI's biggest strength is it's ability to 'out-reflex' you (Mogalin is a perfect example), but it's biggest weakness is it's inability to 'out-think' you (Angel is a perfect example, because the computer Angel is SO easy to beat with most anyone, but is arguably the most powerful character in the game, next to Quicksilver that is). When you play against another player who can play in the same league as you, it's almost like playing an entirely different game. This is one of those rare games that BEGS for an emulator version capable of 'internet VS' play to be made. I'd take any of ya'll on... mhua ha ha...

Oh yes, there ARE two secret levels to unlock, the Menhir Circle and Dark Maze. Menhir Circle is nothing special, but Dark Maze holds the distinct honor of being the most 'fair' level because ALL FOUR different powerups appear in this level. There are also two secret characters to unlock in the game, Beta Razorfane and MegaPrana. I don't mind spoiling the 'surprise' because these two characters can only be used in Mayhem mode, and they are EXTREMELY more powerful than anyone else. In fact, my roommate and I refuse to play Mayhem mode with these characters because they are so overpowered. If they would only release Unholy War2 on the PS2 with a Beta version of EVERYONE...

Give it a try, you WILL NOT be dissapointed.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars By far, one of the most addicting Playstation games!, November 25, 2000

By 

Ryan Gilbertsen (Shakopee, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unholy War (Video Game)

Hear me out... I have a Playstation2 with a few games...I have this game (Unholy War) for my original Playstation and I end up some how, playing this game more than I do the Playstation2, its that fun. It's such a unigue game featuring battle fields where you take control over about 10 "things" on your team (everything from a Prana, the animal, to a Mech) and duke it out 1 on 1 at a time against the same type of enemy's on the other side. Its an awesome multiplayer game! It even works with analog. I would strongly recomend this game to anyone this Holiday season. Buy it. A+

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most underrated small titles on the PSX, February 16, 2003

By 

Shaun O'Donnell "Shaun O'Donnell" (Fort Worth, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unholy War (Video Game)

The Unholy War is simply put one the most unique games on the PSX. It is a simple Stradegy game that not many have ever heard of. I was introduced this little title on a Offical Playstation Magazine Demo Disk. On the Demo they had 4 characters playable, eah with their own strength and Weakness. I was hooked. When I purchased the game I loved it even more with the increase in Characters and the stradegy mode made the game a lot of fun to play.

Now the story behind the Unholy War is that these evil Aliens who support Technology 100% land on planet in order to Strip it of all it's natural resources. The natives however fight back. Lead by the Archangel's the natives fight back.

Each Army has their own cast of Characters and each have their own strengths and Weakness. With three difficulties for the story mode it leads to more and more challenges, sometimes you are overwhelmed and sometimes you have the advantage. However in the end you can unlock two more levels and two more insane guys that easily gives the advantage to anyone who uses them in Battle Mode. However if not in the hands of a skilled player even these might titans can be defeated.

Overall this truely a classic game that deserves to be purchased. Unfortunatly when it was first released it like Tobal #1, Brave Fencer Mushashi, Parasite Eve and numerouse other games on the PSX it was given a Demo of game that was recieving a lot of Hype at the time, LEgacy of Kain SOul Reaver. So in the case people purchased the game (if they purchased it) just for the Demo of Soul Reaver so it was obviouse that there was not much faith in this. This is one of the most addicting and fun games available on the PSX.