Honestly, if you grew up in the late nineties, you remember the scream. That iconic, blood-curdling battle cry of Lucy Lawless echoed through living rooms every Saturday afternoon. But for those of us who spent our weekends glued to a CRT television with a gray controller in hand, that scream meant something else. It meant it was time to fire up Xena Warrior Princess PlayStation and hope the tank controls didn't send us flying off a cliff.
It’s easy to look back at 1999 and think everything was a masterpiece because of nostalgia. We’re all guilty of it. Yet, when Electronic Arts (EA) dropped this title, it wasn't just another cheap licensed game meant to suck lunch money out of middle schoolers. Well, maybe a little. But it actually tried things. It had ambition. Developed by Universal Studios Digital Arts, the game attempted to bridge the gap between the campy, high-fantasy drama of the show and the burgeoning 3D action-adventure genre that Tomb Raider had kickstarted a few years prior.
The game is a weird relic. It’s a snapshot of a time when developers were still figuring out how cameras should work in three dimensions. Sometimes it feels like a genuine attempt at an epic; other times, it feels like you're fighting the hardware more than the cyclops.
The Chakram: A Masterclass in Satisfaction and Frustration
You can't talk about Xena Warrior Princess PlayStation without talking about the Chakram. It is the soul of the game. For the uninitiated, the Chakram is Xena’s circular throwing blade that defies physics and logic in the best way possible.
In the game, EA actually nailed the "feel" of this weapon. You press a button, and it zips out, clanging against armor or stone, and—if you’re lucky—ricocheting back into your hand. There’s a first-person aiming mode that, while clunky by today's standards, felt revolutionary back then. You could steer the blade. You’d throw it, the camera would snap to the weapon, and you’d guide it around corners to hit a switch or decapitate a baddie.
It was technical. It was difficult.
If you missed, you were left standing there like a dork while the blade slowly made its way back to you. That’s the nuance people forget. Most licensed games of that era would have just made it a standard projectile. By giving the player manual control, the developers respected the source material. It wasn't just a skin; it was a mechanic.
Combat, Combos, and the Ghost of Xena Warrior Princess PlayStation
Let’s be real for a second. The combat was stiff.
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Xena moves like she’s wading through waist-deep honey. But—and this is a big but—the combo system was surprisingly deep for a 32-bit era title. You had your basic slashes, sure. But then you had the kicks. The jumps. The "running up a wall and flipping backward" moves that defined the show's choreographed fight scenes.
The game utilized a three-button attack system. Square was your sword, Triangle was for kicks, and Circle handled the Chakram. Mixing these allowed for specific strings that could stun enemies or knock them back. It wasn't Devil May Cry, but for 1999? It was respectable.
The enemies weren't just fodder either. You had to deal with everything from standard Roman soldiers to mythological beasts. The boss fights, like the encounter with the Cyclops or the showdown with Callisto, required actual strategy. You couldn't just mash buttons. You had to time your blocks. You had to use the environment.
Why the Graphics Actually Mattered
Look, by 2026 standards, the game looks like a collection of jagged brown triangles. But at the time, the character model for Xena was impressive. They captured the silhouette. The leather armor looked like leather. Even the way her hair moved—rendered as a single, stiff block of polygons—was a feat of engineering for the PS1's limited RAM.
The environments were the real star. You went from the village of Oryn to the Underworld, and finally to Valhalla. Each zone had a distinct color palette. The Underworld, specifically, was moody and oppressive, filled with shades of deep red and black that pushed the PlayStation’s transparency effects to their absolute limit.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Development
There’s a common misconception that this was just a "reskin" of another game. It wasn't.
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Universal Studios Digital Arts actually built this from the ground up. They wanted to capture the "spirit" of the show, which meant balancing the darkness with the camp. This is why you have serious levels involving the literal end of the world followed by Xena doing a goofy victory dance.
However, the game suffered from "middle-child syndrome." It was released right as the PlayStation 2 was being hyped up. Everyone was looking toward the future, toward the "Emotion Engine" and DVD playback. Consequently, Xena Warrior Princess PlayStation didn't get the long-term polish it probably deserved.
The camera is the primary victim of this.
The camera hates you. It wants you to die. It will tuck itself behind a pillar right as a centaur is charging you. It will spin wildly when you’re trying to platform across a narrow ledge. It’s a testament to the era’s "Wild West" approach to game design. We didn't have the right-stick camera controls we take for granted now. We had L1 and R1, and we prayed they worked.
The Sound of the Amazon
The music in this game? Absolute fire.
The developers didn't just loop the theme song. They brought in Joseph LoDuca, the actual composer for the TV series, to ensure the score felt authentic. It has those driving Bulgarian female choirs and the heavy, tribal percussion that made the show feel so distinct from other fantasy properties like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.
When the drums kick in during a fight, you feel like the Destroyer of Nations. It masks some of the gameplay flaws. You're so pumped up by the chanting that you don't care that Xena just got stuck on a 3-inch tall rock for the fifth time.
Legacy and the "What If" Factor
What really happened with Xena Warrior Princess PlayStation is that it became a cult classic rather than a mainstream hit. It sold well enough to be a "Greatest Hits" title (the ones with the green spines on the box), but it never sparked a massive franchise on consoles.
There was a later game on the PS2, The Talisman of Fate, but that was a fighting game. It lacked the adventure and the world-building of the PS1 original. It felt hollow.
The PS1 version remains the definitive Xena gaming experience because it tried to tell a story. It wasn't a "The Ultimate Guide" to Xena's life; it was a standalone adventure that felt like a lost episode of the show. It dealt with the interference of the gods, the redemption of Xena, and the unwavering bond with Gabrielle—though Gabrielle mostly just stands around and gets kidnapped, which is fairly accurate to the early seasons.
Comparing Xena to Her Peers
If you look at other games from 1999:
- Silent Hill was reinventing horror.
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was redefining sports.
- Xena was just trying to make a licensed game that didn't suck.
In many ways, it succeeded more than Superman 64 or the various Star Wars tie-ins of the time. It was competent. It was fun. It was flawed.
Actionable Steps for Modern Gamers
If you’re looking to revisit this classic or experience it for the first time, you can’t just go to the PlayStation Store. It’s not there. Licensing hell has kept Xena locked in a tomb.
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- Check the Used Markets: You can usually find a physical copy of Xena Warrior Princess PlayStation on sites like eBay or at local retro game shops. Look for the "Greatest Hits" version; the disc is usually more durable.
- The Hardware Factor: While it runs on a PS1, it actually looks slightly better on a fat PS3 due to the internal upscaling. If you have a PS2, turn on "Smooth Textures" in the system configuration menu before booting the disc. It helps the pixelated mess look a bit more like actual art.
- Master the Chakram Early: Spend the first twenty minutes of the game just practicing the first-person throw. If you don't master it, the later puzzles in the Underworld will make you want to throw your controller through a window.
- Accept the Tank Controls: Don't try to play it like a modern 3rd-person shooter. Think of it more like Resident Evil with a sword. Move, stop, aim, strike.
The game isn't perfect. It’s a clunky, loud, ambitious mess of late-nineties energy. But for fans of the show, it remains the only way to truly step into the boots of the Warrior Princess. It’s a piece of gaming history that reminds us of a time when games didn't need to be 100-hour open-world epics to be memorable. Sometimes, you just need a sharp blade, a loud scream, and a world full of gods that need a good kicking.