The concept behind the Xiaolin Showdown cartoon, young martial artists fighting the forces of evil in pursuit of artifacts, is tailor made for a video game adaptation. While the game captures the look and spirit of the show, it doesn’t quite capture the look and feel of the game it tries to emulate.

Xiaolin Showdown uses cel-shading to recreate the show’s simple visual style. Characters are true to form and are everything fans would expect. Environments are big and share the same minimalist attention to detail as the characters. A few locations from the show are featured, such as the dojo courtyard. Some levels feature breakable objects, which adds a bit to the chaos that makes up a typical battle.

Sound is decent. Music, like the visuals, is true to the show and the voicework is good.

Omi, Raimundo, Clay and Kimiko – four students charged with finding and protecting ancient artifacts. The only things standing in their way are a young boy genius named Jack Spicer (and his army of robot goons) and Chase Young, an evil wizard. Going by ancient rules, whenever one of these artifacts, known as Shen Gong Wu, is contested, it must be battled over in a Xiaolin Showdown.

Again, the show’s concept is perfect for a game, and on the surface, the concept looks like a winner. Gameplay is based on Smash Brothers, only instead of Nintendo characters you are playing with characters from the cartoon. At first the idea sounds fun, and it is, until a number of technical glitches and a general lack of polish ruin the experience.

Xiaolin Showdown is split into two gameplay modes: Adventure and Showdown. In Adventure, you and an A.I. controlled partner battle in open arenas against robots and other assorted enemies. Problems start to pop up once you notice that your A.I. partner is just as hell-bent on collecting power-ups as you are. Rather than helping you out, it does everything it can to make the game even harder. Since power-ups appear at random, there is no point in going after them unless they appear next to you.

Levels and characters unlocked in Adventure mode are available in Showdown mode. Compared to Adventure mode, Showdown is pretty fun. You still have to deal with buggy gameplay and mechanics, but at least you’re not beating up the same three robots.

Here’s where things get tricky. Xiaolin Showdown isn’t a hard game, but still offers a fun challenge. But, you also have to contend with technical issues which up the difficulty level considerably. First there’s the greedy A.I. that scoops up every power-up on map, then there’s the "ability" to attack your partners… or rather their ability to attack back. Controls are slippery and when things get going, it is possible to accidentally hit your partner, causing them to retaliate.

Combat begins with basic attacks like kicks and punches that can be combined into combos. When you get power-ups, you can increase your power and bust out newer combos. Overall, the system is easy to use though it can feel slippery at times. This is primarily because of the targeting system, which is hard to get a handle on. You’re either targeting the wrong person or being pummeled as your try to target the right person.

Power-ups include health and ability boosters as well as the Shen Gong Wu artifacts. Grabbing these artifacts makes combat chaotic, which is a good thing. There are over 30 artifacts in the game with a variety of uses that can quickly turn the tide in battle. Most matches will usually come down to who can use their obtained items best.

Xiaolin Showdown does a pretty good job emulating the Smash Brothers formula. All of the necessary elements are here and used correctly. At the same time, the technical flaws aren’t something you can simply ignore. Younger fans of the show might be able to overlook the flaws, but that would depend on their level of patience.