Iron Phoenix's premise is firmly rooted in fantasy, with both Asian and Western influences at work. The title refers to a mysterious meteor that fell from the sky and caused a hefty amount of destruction and was subsequently sought out by a blacksmith and his apprentice. The pair saw the meteor fall from the sky and leave a ghostly afterglow in the shape of the mythic phoenix. Upon reaching the point of impact, the blacksmith gathered the ore from the rock and crafted nine of the finest and deadliest weapons known to man. The weapons came to have their own legend, which said that anyone who wielded them would be assured victory in battle.
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Iron Phoenix's gameplay will likely be its most surprising component for many players. While we've described the game as a 3D fighter and a brawler, neither description is entirely accurate. The fighting system in the game is made up of equal parts traditional 3D weapons-based fighter, 3D action game, and Double Dragon-style brawler, with some Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon thrown in for spice. The hybrid gameplay system plays with a number of standard conventions that may confuse and frighten fighting game veterans, but this should provide a flexible system for dedicated players to master
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As mentioned, the core combat in the game will revolve around the weapons you'll find in the levels. The weapons will each have their own unique combos and speed attributes that will have a noticeable effect on how your attacks come off. When you want to get your hands dirty, you'll find you can grab your foes and throw them around, not to mention you'll be able to interact with some elements in the environment that become handy projectiles when you're in a pinch.
The graphics in the work-in-progress build of the game we saw were coming together nicely. The frame rate was solid during combat, even when the two fighters we saw duking it out leapt about to various parts of the arenas. While the character models look solid and move well even in the game's early state, showing off their eclectic designs, the arenas are looking the most impressive right now. The 10-plus arenas in the game will offer a mix of indoor and outdoor environments of varying sizes. The scale to the arenas that we saw was impressive and also impacted the gameplay. The massive outdoor arenas will likely be the easiest to use when getting a handle on the combat system, since the wide open spaces should provide ample room to get the hang of all the combat mechanics. The smaller arenas and indoor spaces, on the other hand, will likely prove to be tests of skill that force you to think on your feet. The reduced maneuvering room will not reward sloppy button-mashing; you'll have to work for your victory.
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From what we've seen so far, Iron Phoenix is a promising game that Xbox owners, especially those with Xbox Live, will want to try out. The unique combat system is a nice change of pace that should let players of varying skills mix it up a bit more fairly. The 16-player Xbox Live support should make for some hectic and insane versus matches, although the multiplayer team stuff looks like it should be an addictive blast as well. While we'll have more on Iron Phoenix in the coming months leading up to its release later this year, visit our media page for an exclusive interview with the first footage of the game in action
)... jedenfalls mit meiner 3mbit leitung 
