Review
Skeleton Warriors is an ambitious effort. It mixes in pre-rendered sprites with polygonal backgrounds and even includes several stages that involve you zipping over terrain on a sky bike. It's not an especially innovative game, but it puts fourth a genuine effort to create a memorable experience, which isn't something you often see in titles that fall short of the mark like this one does.
Based on one of the last major Saturday morning cartoon attempts from a major network, the game's plot is simple: an evil baron steals half of a crystal that keeps the realm in balance. Who needs a government when you can have a crystal keep things in check? As this was an inconvenient thing to happen to his kingdom, Prince Lightstar assembles his troops to chase after the baron.
The problem is that the baron is able to use the crystal to transform his followers into hard-to-kill skeletons. So you as Prince Lightstar only have one choice. You have to hack your way though the assembled troops and kill the baron so that you can reassemble the crystal and return to your princely life.
The prince has a solid arsenal behind him. His sword not only cuts through things, it also possesses the ability to charge-up energy blasts. The prince can also block attacks with his weapon. The energy blast options are impressive; some fully charged blasts literally fill the screen with projectiles. It's a nice spectacle even if it does cause the game to grind to a halt with slowdown problems.
Prince Lightstar is immaculately animated thanks to the computer generated pre-rendering. The enemies are also nicely animated, though some of the character designs are a bit odd. You'll be attacked by skeletons wearing cowboy hats, spider skeletons, skeleton bats, and just about anything that can be made into a skeleton. The stages are polygonal, and they provide a good sense of depth to the action. Good dramatic color use will keep your eyes engaged as well.
Skeleton Warriors is pleasing to the ear with Tommy Tallarico supplying the soundtrack. Though the setting is a light mix of futuristic and fantasy elements, the resonant chants and other gothic-edged tunes give the game a mysterious air and an attitude you don't expect from a game based on a Saturday morning cartoon. All things considered, the soundtrack fits the game well. The effects aren't all that exciting in comparison, but the soundtrack is so rich and so full of personality that it's a minor complaint.
At this point you're probably wondering why the game falls short. Great sound, good graphics, and a nice variety of moves ought to add up to something, right? Well, it does to a point. The biggest problem is that the game is simply boring.
Despite all your options and the wonderful presentation, there's little variation in what you need to do from stage to stage. This is further compounded by the lack of a save or password feature, which means you have to dedicate a good chunk of time to playing the game straight through in one sitting. This takes hours, and there's only so much slashing one can do without interruption before things break down.
If you're a big platform game fan, or someone with a skeleton fetish of some sort, this title is probably worth playing once or twice. It does have a nice visual and audio presentation if nothing else, and the cut-scenes showing the prince's progression through the ranks to reach his evil cousin tell a brief but interesting story.
Graphics 
Great animation and detail to the onscreen characters. Good looking stages as well.
Sound 
Tommy Tallarico's score is amazing.
Enjoyment 
Unfortunately, the game is boring. There's not enough variation to support a game of this length.
Replay Value 
There is not much motivation to keep at this one. No secrets of note, and no rewards for playing better.
Documentation 
Covers the basics, but doesn't really go into detail.
