I'll come right out and say it. I'm one of the five million or so people who tunes in to the show on a weekly basis. Obviously, I was looking forward to playing the game, but after looking at early pics and playing the game very briefly at E3, my faith in the title was waning. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when I received a final copy of the game.

I wasn't surprised because the game was anything spectacular, but surprised because this wasn't the Tomb Raider clone I was expecting. The game actually has much more in common with a title such as Fighting Force rather than anything Lara Croft has starred in. There are a couple of puzzles littered throughout, but nothing that will take more than a few seconds to figure out. Also much unlike Tomb Raider, Xena's levels are very short. Each level lasts, on average, about five to seven minutes. Quite a change from the thirty minute levels the Croft crowd is used to.

As far as visuals are concerned, Xena falls somewhere in that grey area. Pretty average fare as far as PS games go - nothing great, nothing horrible. Xena and Gabrielle are pretty recognizable, as are Ares and Hades. Unfortunately, the CG which is littered throughout the game is hardly up to the standard set by current PS games. It's very grainy and not at all detailed.

Since I already mentioned a few of the major players in the Xena universe, I feel obligated to also mention that besides Xena, none of the other characters play a major part in the game. Gabrielle is kidnapped early on, Ares only appears up a few times and most of the characters, who people would know, don't show up at all. Where's Callisto? How about Autolycus and Joxer? The story, and game for that matter, could have been much more enjoyable had these other characters played a part in the game, even if they only appeared for a level or two.

Besides having the familiar yells from the television show, not many of Xena's sound effects live up to the name. As fans of the show will quickly notice, the characters' voices aren't done by the actors themselves. To the game's credit, though, they are fairly good likenesses. One thing I waited for the first time I turned the game on, was the intro from the TV show. Unfortunately, the only time we get to hear the music (not actually see the video) is after completing the entire game. That also happens to be the only music straight from the show. While the music may not be anything from the program, it's far from bad.

Not many PS titles in this 3D platformer genre seem to get the control down perfectly. Xena is no exception. Don't get me wrong, the game is quite playable, but a few things could have been worked on a bit more - jumping, for instance. I actually would have no problem with the jumping control being a tad below average, since, in most levels, it was hardly used. Unfortunately, there are three levels about halfway through the game in which jumping is key. Due to the inadequate jumping control, these levels went from entertaining to down right unenjoyable. Just a tip for those of you playing through the game. Don't give up once you get to these unforgiving stages. If you can battle past them, you'll move on to much more enjoyable levels.

If you thought Xena had a lot of moves on the television show, wait until you see her video game counterpart in action. While these can come in handy if you spend the time to learn the button presses for them, most of the time you're better off just holding the run button and mashing on the sword attack button. One thing that really separates Xena from the other button mashers is the ability to throw the Chakram (you know, the frisbee-like weapon that Xena uses to cut ropes, slit throats, etc.). Once thrown, the camera changes to a first person perspective, allowing you to aim it any way you like. This works great, not only for killing foes who may be out of reach, but also for surveying a level before advancing into enemy traps.

Xena's major downfall, however, doesn't lie in its control or graphics. Not even close. In all honesty, the game is just far too short. While twenty-one levels seems like a lot, as I said before, each stage takes no more than ten minutes. You can pretty much do the math to figure out that Xena could be completed fairly easily within a rental period. On the other hand, for fans of the show who will purchase the game no matter what, it is short enough to finish again if you find yourself wanting to play through a game some weekend.