The Unholy War is a PlayStation game developed by Toys For Bob

Toys For Bob

Toys For Bob is a small video game developer founded in 1989 by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford. They are most known for creating Star Control and its sequel Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters, but they were not involved in the development of Star Control 3...

 and published by Crystal Dynamics

Crystal Dynamics

Crystal Dynamics is an American video game developer based in the San Francisco Bay Area and founded in 1992 by Judy Lang, Madaline Canepa and Dave Morris...

 in Europe and Eidos Interactive

Eidos Interactive

Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....

 in North America. It is a fighting game

Fighting game

Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...

 in which character

Player character

A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...

s fight in a 3D

3D computer graphics

3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...

 environment using mêlée

Mêlée

Melee , generally refers to disorganized close combat involving a group of fighters. A melee ensues when groups become locked together in combat with no regard to group tactics or fighting as an organized unit; each participant fights as an individual....

 and projectile

Projectile

A projectile is any object projected into space by the exertion of a force. Although a thrown baseball is technically a projectile too, the term more commonly refers to a weapon....

 attacks. The game features two modes: Mayhem Mode, in which the player fights other characters in one-on-one battle

Battle

Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...

s; and Strategy Mode, in which the player fights campaigns on various battlefields.

Story

The game is set on the planet

Planet

A planet is a celestial body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.The term planet is ancient, with ties to history, science,...

 Xsarra, on which two powerful forces are at war

War

War is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...

: the Arcanes (Xsarra's original inhabitants) and the Teknos (cybernetic

Cybernetics

Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...

 conquerors who want the planet's resources for themselves). The Teknos crash-landed on Xsarra because they were fleeing from the "hunters", a powerful alien race unusually bent on the Teknos' destruction. The Teknos were hoping that the unusual radiation in Xsarra's atmosphere would mask their ship from the hunter's radar scanners. Finding out that there was Aur on Xsarra, they decided that if they stayed here and mined all the Aur on Xsarra, they needn't worry about the Hunters ever again. But the Natives of Xsarra didn't like this idea, so they formed an allied group, the Arcane forces. They waged war for 20 years, until an uneasy peace was formed that lasted a few years. There was only one common rule: no two people (one from each nation) can have a baby. A few years later a rogue quicksilver (a human-like creature that can transform into a silver being) and a rebel Dark angel/stygian (an experiment gone wrong that created humans with wings) escaped into the wastelands to hide. Eventually they were captured, but they didn't get to have a child. This is what started another war, but if they did have a child, the war would have "destroyed all of Xsarra" (the Observer states this). This is where you start off: commanding one of the sides in the last war between the two nations.

Gameplay

In both modes, the game is based around arena combat. Each character has three attack moves that take power from a constantly regenerating energy bar. The arenas have numerous hazards, teleporters and power-ups. Every character has its strengths and weaknesses against other characters.

In strategy mode, the overview map is made of a series of interlocking hexagons (called Hexes). On most maps, both sides have a base occupying a single Hex that can be used to buy or sell units. The aim is to destroy all of your opponent's units and their base. Strategy mode is turn-based; you are allowed to make up to three moves before control switches to your opponent, who then makes three moves before you regain control and so on.

A 'move' consists of either moving a unit, or using a unit's special skill. Buying and selling units do not count as moves. You can only move the same unit once per turn and use its special skill once per turn. Different units move different distances.

To attack an enemy unit, you move a unit onto an adjacent Hex and confirm an attack. The game then enters arena combat mode. Whoever loses the battle has the option of bringing another unit into the arena, provided it is next to the Hex being attacked. Combat ends when the loser surrenders or all of his 'backup' units have been killed.

AUR is a magical resource that can be mined by placing a character onto a Hex containing AUR and as with moving and fighting, some units are better than others when it comes to mining. You will get an extra 20 or 40 AUR at the start of every turn, provided the Hex stays occupied. AUR can be used to buy units or use a unit's special skill.

The enemy base is destroyed when one of your units enters the Hex it occupies, and all units guarding it are killed. The base generates 10 Aur per turn until it is destroyed.

In between each level, you will receive more information on the game's story by an unknown being called "the observer". Reading these will show you how the story develops.

Arcane characters

"§" Denotes that this character is playable in a demo of the game

• Dark Angel: Humanoid character with wings. Can fire eye lasers, deliver a shockwave attack or place a crystal that heals him gradually.
• §Brontu: Resembles a six-legged rhino. Can charge at high speed for a ram attack, roar a shockwave into the enemy, or place toxic gas clouds.
• Ecton: Humanoid devil. Can place net traps, drain opponent's health to restore his own and whip a beam that damages and slows the enemy.
• Fire Witch: Flying woman made of fire. Can place patches of fire, shoot fire balls and dive bomb the enemy. After the dive-bomb she needs a few seconds to get back up.
• Mogalin Rider: Humanoid woman riding a bipedal monster known as a Mogalin. Only character with four moves; can fire a quick magic beam, switch places with opponent, use a weak tongue attack or swallow a power-up to deliver a homing belch attack when tongue attack is pressed again.
• Magus Lizard: Humanoid lizard with mage clothes and a sword. Can swipe his sword, summon homing ravens, or summon meteors.
• §Prana Devil: Demon creature resembling a scrawny lizard. Can bite opponent, fire spit balls and lay eggs that hatch into Prana chicks. There can only be 3 chicks in the arena at one time and they are easily slain.
• Megaprana (Secret Character): more powerful version of the Prana Devil. Has the same moves, but are all more powerful and can jump much higher too.

Teknos characters

"§" Denotes that this character is playable in a demo of the game

• Jaeger: Tank-like droid fitted with arms. Can shoot homing missiles, fire a powerful laser or deliver a heavy punch.
• §Killcycle: Humanoid cybernetically attached to a flying jetcycle. Can fire plasma blasts, drop bombs, or sacrifice its life to deliver heavy damage.
• Mantis: Mechanical insectoid robot. Can lay suction-vortices, crush the enemy with his mandibles or launch homing techno-tics that take health from opponent back to Mantis.
• Quicksilver: Humanoid woman similar to the T-1000
  T-1000
  The T-1000 is a fictional nanomorph mimetic poly-alloy assassin and the main antagonist in Terminator 2: Judgment Day controlled by the series main antagonist Skynet. The T-1000 is portrayed primarily by Robert Patrick; however, being a shape-shifter, the T-1000 is played by other actors in some...
  
  . Can fire orbs, deliver a slice attack, or use shield that can protect against any attack and reflect projectiles.
• Tesla Lord: Humanoid carrying electricity conducting staff and backpack. Can teleport to a random spot, fire a shock beam or plant a crystal that shoots lightning balls.
• §Razorfane: Human brain in a mechanical body with circular saws and spikes. Can fire ripsaws, place bladewalls (saw-barriers) or spin on the spot for a close range attack.
• Wasp: Cyborg woman outfitted with hovering wings and blaster. Can hover, freeze enemies, drain their health (giving it to her) and fire a gun.
• BetaRazor (Secret character): Razorfane with twice the health, bigger energy meter, thrusters, fires energy blade circular saws, razorfane's spin-on-the-spot and energy field slam attack similar to Fire Witch's (but without the slow recovery).

Maps

• Cenotaph (Ecton level)
• Desert Ruins (Magus level)
• Factory (Jaeger level)
• High Temple (Dark-Angel level)
• Juicer (Quicksilver level)
• Mystic Glen (Mogalin Rider level) - if the player jumps down the pit at one end of the arena, they pop up out of one at the other end.
• Proving Grounds (Mantis level)
• Steel Hallway (Razorfane level)
• The Depths (Prana Devil level)
• The Hive (Wasp level)
• The Lab (Tesla Lord level)
• Toxic Dump (Killcycle level)
• The Volcano (Firewitch level)
• Water Hole (Brontu level)
• Menhir Circle (Mega-Prana's level) (SECRET)
• Dark Maze (Beta-Razor's level) (SECRET)

Secret maps are unlocked by completing Strategy mode on Normal.

Secret characters are unlocked by completing Strategy mode on Hard.