While Dead or Alive Ultimate, Halo 2, and MechAssault 2 will be the primary Xbox Live games in 2004, Sammy Studios is looking to start off 2005 with a bang, literally. Their upcoming Iron Phoenix Xbox Live title opens with a meteor hitting the Earth, and that's basically the effect Sammy is hoping to have on the Xbox community when the game is released in February.

Last night, Sammy held an online test with a few media outlets so we could try our hand at 16-player online melees. Five characters were readily selectable for the preview, however, in Iron Phoenix, it's not about which character you choose. Instead, the gameplay focuses on the weapons your character wields. Each weapon is rated in strength, speed, and range, using a three star system.

The weapon you choose will drastically change the way you fight. Choosing a weapon with minimal range, but a high attack speed proved to be a challenge. Characters using long range weapons seemed to easily keep you out of their range. However, once we learned how to work our way inside, the faster attack speed proved extremely useful. Think of the weapons in Iron Phoenix like characters or fighting styles in other fighting games.

In addition to the primary weapons your character can wield, there are also various projectiles you can pick up throughout the stages. Our favorite would have to be the poison darts, as they will slowly eat away at your opponent while you close in with your primary weapon to finish the job. Strategic players will quickly learn when to use the projectiles and when to keep them in reserve.

If you get surrounded by enemies, each character has the ability to unleash a powerful chi attack that will clear out anyone around you. It's here where the projectiles came in handy the most. When we rolled up on a group of opponents, and saw one unleash this chi attack, we kept our distance and bombarded them with projectiles until it was safe to close in and use our primary weapon.

There are also other chi attacks available that can lead to powerful combos. However, your chi is limited to a blue meter in the corner of the screen. When this meter is depleted, you'll have to build it back up by either attacking your opponents, or collecting blue orbs that will appear throughout the stages. You can also collect yellow or red orbs as well. Yellow will refill the meter that controls your ability to dash, wall run, and various other feats, while the red orb will replenish your life.

All in all, Iron Phoenix is shaping up very nicely. Even without having a full grasp of the gameplay in our session last night, the 16-player matches were full of heated competition and on-the-fly strategy. With the ability to play team and free-for-all matches, with a multitude on Xbox Live 3.0 options, Iron Phoenix looks to be the first step for Xbox Live gamers in 2005. We'll have more on Iron Phoenix before its February release date.