Going into my review of Warlords I was more than a little worried. Yes, I absolutely adore the original 1980 arcade game, but at the same time I have been less than impressed by Atari`s other recent Xbox Live Arcade ports. Would this be the game that changed all that? No, sadly it isn`t. But I can safely say that fans of Warlords will get their five dollars worth when buying this game ... and at the end of the day maybe that`s all that really matters.

Warlords can best be described as a cross between Rampart and Breakout. That may sound like an odd combination, but once you sit down with Warlords you`ll be so swept up by the fast-paced action that you`ll completely forget what Breakout even is. The basic premise is simple; you control a castle that is under siege by a ball that is bouncing from one person to another. But you aren`t alone, there are actually four castles on the board (one on each intersecting corner of the TV set), so you will need to tear down the other player`s walls (and take them out) before you suffer the same fate. Of course, that`s easier said than done.

To do this you control a small shield that rotates around your castle. As you would expect, the shield can deflect the incoming attack, ultimately bouncing it towards somebody else`s castle. On top of being a good protector, your shield can also grab the ball and fling it at top speed towards an opponent. This means that you will be able to aim your attacks, which is really the key to winning a round of Warlords. But there`s a trade off involved, the longer you hold the ball the more damage you are inflicting on your own castle.

There`s a fair bit of strategy involved with how you play the game. You certainly don`t want to hold on to the ball for too long, but lining up your shot is important. This balance is what makes Warlords so exciting. Even more exciting is seeing your enemy`s weaknesses and exploiting them. As more and more balls enter the arena the action gets all the more intense, so you`re forced to think and aim fast. Add all this together and you have an action packed four-player Xbox Live Arcade game.

Like all of Atari`s recent Xbox Live Arcade releases, Warlords features both a "Classic" and "Evolved" mode. The classic mode is essentially a port of the arcade game, while the evolved mode has prettier graphics and a few extra bonuses thrown in for good measure. As expected, the classic mode looks like a game from 1980. It has only a few colors and tiny graphics, which explains a lot of games that came out at that time. But graphics be damned, the game still manages to feel like Warlords, one of my favorite arcade games growing up.



Unfortunately the Xbox 360`s analog stick just can`t duplicate the original arcade game`s paddle control. Sadly you really need that paddle control to really get the most of this game, but the analog stick isn`t the worst substitute (the worst substitute is clearly the D-pad, which requires you to push in diagonal directions). The analog stick isn`t nearly as precise with its aiming, so long-time fans of the arcade game will probably be disappointed with this port. But all in all the analog stick does a better job than I expected. Then again, I had admittedly low expectations going in.

Obviously this control problem also plagues the "Evolved" mode, through they compensate for that in different ways. The biggest change to this brand new mode is the bigger, more effective shield. No longer is your shield just a tiny little dot, now it`s a gigantic wall that makes deflecting balls much, much easier. The shield is also a lot more forgiving this time around, just as long as you come close to hitting the ball you`ll make it. At first this turned me off of the produ...