Digital Legends on bringing Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior to iPad and iPhone

More than any other game genre, the beat'-em up has resisted the call to go casual.

Sure, the likes of Street Fighter, Tekken and Virtua Fighter have always been popular but as the rest of the market embraced the gamefication of society, all we got was Soul Calibur.

Which is as it should be.

Like martial arts, being skilled at beat'-em ups has always been about an almost mindless repetition of complex moves until the memory of the action is locked into the muscle.

And it's this purity that means fighting games haven't yet succeeded on touchscreen devices. The controls and more importantly, the feedback mechanism, just isn't ideal.

Still, having worked on both versions of ONE, the acclaimed beat-'em up for Nokia's N-Gage phones, designer Oscar Escamilla, of Spanish developer Digital Legends, knows better than most about overcoming the input limitations of mobile devices.

"We tried a dozen control methods before we came up with one we thought worked well," he explains of the fundamental decision underpinning Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, the company's game for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

As developer, Digital Legends worked with publisher Indiagames and licence holder Universal to create the game, which took around seven months to complete.

Perhaps the most important element of the game is how feedback is provided.

As well as the usual visual reactions to attacks and blocks provided by character animation, audio cues in terms of the impact of blows and the cries of fighters ensure players can intuitively react to fast and fluid gameplay, even using a touchscreen D-pad plus a punch and a kick button.

Escamilla doesn't commit to Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior being a hardcore fighting game however.

"The casual player can just tap the buttons and have a good time, but the advanced player who learns the moves will have an advantage," he explains.

Bridging the gap is a well featured training mode to encourage players to spend time improving their technique.

You also earn experience points through the Story mode, the better you perform in terms of using special moves and stringing together combos.

These unlock playable characters and their moves, which can, in turn, be used to customise your Bruce Lee character in other modes; mixing and matching to optimise your fighting style or just to look good.

Loosely based around Bruce Lee's early years in Hong Kong, with the story advanced via static inter-level comic panels, the game features a total of 10 characters, including Lee, who fight across four martial art styles; Jeet Kune Do, Kung Fu, Karate and Thai Boxing.

Care has been taken in terms of the look and feel of Lee himself; Digital Legends working closely with The Bruce Lee Foundation to ensure the veracity of what can and can't be portrayed.

His characteristic fighting style was the most vital aspect. The game moves were motion captured using Joaquín Marcelo, a dancer, martial arts actor and choreographer who has a 3rd degree Jeet Kune Do certificate.

The other fighters' styles are more evolved in terms of making the gameplay interesting however, with characters inspired from those who feature in Lee's films; notably the Drunken style, and the floating moves of The Master.

Balance is vital

Similarly, the special finishing moves are perhaps more Mortal Kombat than the dojo, minus the gore and body parts of course.

They are the most obvious reward for spending time with the game and learning moves, and when to use them, as the finishes only because available when you've stunned your opponent.

It's much the same when it comes to the advanced combos and grabs, which can only be triggered if you have enough Chi, or fighting energy. This is accumulated as you attack but drains away when you're hit.

In this way, it provides advanced players with a more tactical way to approach bouts, building up for a quick finish, albeit it one that means you have to manoeuvre close your enemy to launch.

It's a classic risk versus reward mechanism, which Digital Legends expects to provide the additional depth that advanced players require, while also maintaining an enjoyable entry level experience for button-bashers attracted more by the Bruce Lee brand than pure beat-'em up thrills.