Metascore
56

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 21
  2. Negative: 9 out of 21
  1. An outstanding game for the asking price.
  2. 80
    Networking quirks aside, Deadliest Warrior offers loads of enjoyment for its $10 entry fee. It strips away the mountains of abstruse techniques which characterize most modern fighting games, and revives the accessible short-form action of realistic brawlers like Bushido Blade. It's incredibly fun, and addictive.
  3. Deadliest Warriors is a nice beat 'em up. If you're looking for a traditional fighting game with combos, specials and super moves, simply look for something else. Deadliest Warriors looks like the old Bushido Blade from Square Enix, with fighters with few moves to use, and the possibility to win a fight with a single good strike. This game is cheap, but it offers a deep and complex fighting system, where players must use reflexes and patience to punish every single mistake from the opponent.
  4. Deadliest Warriors is childish, in all the best ways, It takes a ridiculous premise and makes it work by doing everything over the top.
  5. 70
    If you're looking for something simple and bloody (and I mean bloody) that doesn't take itself too seriously, Deadliest Warrior could be for you.
  6. 70
    Overall Deadliest Warrior is a game that casual fighting game fans will enjoy simply because of the instant gratification.
  7. This brutal and unusual fighting game is both sharpened and dulled by its attempts to realistically portray fights to the death.
  8. 65
    Deadliest Warriors lacks in depth but makes up for it by having some great graphics. The game fails to impress in many areas and for ten euros you should be able to find a better fighting game on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
  9. Official Xbox Magazine
    65
    Warrior isn't nearly as deep as other Arcade fighting games, but when buddies and beers are near, it's a decent choice. [Oct 2010, p.81]
  10. The combat, plain and simple, feels hurried. That isn't excusable. Add in the fact that there are just so many great fighting games available on the Live Arcade right now, and there's no reason to even consider buying this game.
  11. The gory limb removals and impalements-via-javelin are cheap fun that will treat anyone with the patience to tangle with some sluggish controls and simple combo moves.
  12. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    50
    Guilty pleasure - with emphasis on guilty. [Oct 2010, p.111]
  13. Deadliest Warrior fails on two fronts: as a representation of the show it's based on and as a fighting game altogether.
  14. The world is still waiting for a title that can successfully merge history with the art of taking your opponent to pieces bit by bit. Deadliest Warrior just isn't it and when you consider that you could probably pick up a genuinely good scrapper in the bargain bins for the same price, it really isn't worth you blowing your dough on this.
  15. It's fun for all of 20 minutes, and then you'll either be ready to delete it forever or will have moved on to a better fighting game. Either way, don't bother. You'll have more fun watching the brilliant-but-awful TV show and then playing something - anything - else.
  16. If you are a hardcore fighting game fan then Deadliest Warrior probably isn't for you. It feels very clunky at times and will be short lived as the unlockables can be obtained in just a few hours.
  17. Few characters, boring design and terrible animations make Deadliest Warrior a fighting game that's best left ignored.
  18. Thanks to a quite absurd damage system, you can find yourself downed in three or four hits, usually meted out with all the precision of a Friday night drunk in Basildon.
  19. It's a clever idea, but the mechanics of this high-damage fighting game don't lead to a lot of interesting depth, making it all fall flat.
  20. If you like a good fighter with some depth and complexity, it's not the game for you. And if you're just a casual player who likes the show and is excited to try a fight game that explores the same concept, you likely won't last an hour through the lackluster production values.
  21. 33
    Gather a few friends around the TV and Deadliest Warrior can provide about an hour of brainless laughs, but I don't see much appeal beyond that.
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 81 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 81
  2. Negative: 16 out of 81
  1. May 24, 2019
    7
    For a game about warriors you'll think that there would be a story mode. But there's not, even though this game Is about historicalFor a game about warriors you'll think that there would be a story mode. But there's not, even though this game Is about historical characters. The game only have two different long range,close combat, and projectills these two different one's Is defult and unlockable. Same thing with outfits 1 defult and 1 unlockble. If you played as all the characters you'll unlock a sightly fun challenge mode It's not really the best. But things I like about this game is it's gore, you can decapitate opps but It doesn't end their. You can peform these bloody finishers by pressing X A, Y B or B A their pretty cool expect the ninja's finisher. The ninja finisher is dry. If you press Y on the menu screen It'll give you bio's about the warriors and their weapons. You can go to extra and change the color of your warriors outfit but It's pretty dry. The animations aren't so good, this is minor but when the your character hoster their weapons the animation looks a bit goofy. You can only play In 4 stages. You can unlock a fifth stage but It looks lame like the other stages. Pros: Lots of blood and gore. Finishers. Fun mini games. Bio's. Cons: Poor roster(They didn't add the galdiator or the hun even though they were featured In the show before this game). Lack stages. Bad stage designs. Lame costumizations. Lack weapons. Lack outfits. No story or plot to a game about history(It doesn't express It's historical characters. Even with the bio's so it lacks that too) Full Review »
  2. Apr 22, 2013
    3
    Painfully bad...
    +- basically the game has realistic damage so you die pretty quickly, I would usually be on the fence whether this is a good
    Painfully bad...
    +- basically the game has realistic damage so you die pretty quickly, I would usually be on the fence whether this is a good thing because it requires fine tuned balance among the characters to pull it off well... but here the balance is broken.
    -The game requires for you to find the broken over powered 1 hit kill combo's or 1 hit kill ranged attack.
    The characters are not balanced, some have ranged weapons and one of them has a one hit kill ranged attack (Spartan), the game essentially requires you do use the dodge button alot and thankfully its the only game mechanic that seems to work
    -Parrying, is broken. It requires absolute perfect timing and it never works.
    -Stamina drains when swinging your weapon or blocking. When you run out you can't block and your attacks become weak & slower. Problem is regardless of how much stamina you have the block sometimes works and other times fails. It can fail if your not facing the enemy perfectly! Like a few degress off and you'll end up being hit without knowing why unless you've played enough to know this.
    If your stamina drains in the middle of a combo you stop blocking.. its so iffy its really unacceptable.
    -Controls are wonky as hell, your fighter does not auto turn to face their opponent and turning around is slow so you'll end up getting killed if someone moving sideways rolls behind you, they'll end up killing you real fast.. basically all about using the bad controls to your advantage. Fast characters have an advantage if they can figure out this (indian and ninja).
    -8 fighters, thats nothing compared to all the new fighting games out there

    Graphics are pretty mediocre, I don't know how else to say that this game is a waste of money and time. Even the first Street Fighter that came out 20 years ago is better than this game.
    +It draws upon Mortal Kombat's severe blood & gore, but that does not make a good game, its supposed to be icing on a cake not icing on a bucket of vomit.
    Full Review »
  3. Oct 9, 2010
    4
    This game works, there is no doubt about that, but really I just don't like the game, it's not because it's based on a show, I like the show,This game works, there is no doubt about that, but really I just don't like the game, it's not because it's based on a show, I like the show, it's just that this game is broken, it looks awful, some characters are completely and utterly useless. frankly this game is a waste of ten dollars, I can buy tons of better PS2 games for the same price. I mean this was a poorly done clone of bushido blade, I saw potential in bushido blade, but this game isn't so much a step up as a leap backwards. Full Review »