Deathrow - Xbox

Ever wanted to take part in an unmediated slugfest? Well, Ubi Soft's Deathrow lets you do just that, with an entire team of ultimate fighting wannabes. Now go fight, and go win.

A test of skill, stamina and strength between two teams of four fighters, Deathrow challenges you to play matches for cash, using any means necessary to win. Held in a closed arena, you must engage in hand-to-hand combat with extremely cunning AI opponents in a deadly game of 'fight or die'. Quite simply, once one team is wiped out, victory is awarded to the other and they walk away with the profits.

More than an uninspired button bashing beat-em-up, Deathrow also contains a dynamic team management component, which allows players to customise teams to suit their own playing style. Whether your tactic is brute force, speed or agility, there's an ample supply of upcoming fighters in the pipeline to choose from.

Naturally, you're not going to make it through the entire game without without injuries and losses, so to maintain a competitive team, you must use funds accrued through previous victories to heal your players and buy back lost warriors. You can also maximise players' statistics and gain power and speed bonuses for good performances.

From a graphical standpoint, Deathrow is very accomplished. Characters are highly detailed, modelled using some 55 'bones' for lifelike movement and around 7,000 polygons for realism. Facial animations and expressions bring further life to the game and the overall graphical feel is improved by Xbox's enhanced bump-mapping and lighting techniques.

All in all, Deathrow is something of a surprise release from Ubi Soft. Definitely worth a few hours of your time. more