Review of Gladiator: The Story of a Gladiator

 Review of Gladiator: The Story of a Gladiator

It's unclear why Activision Value and Cat Daddy Games selected October 2002 to release Gladiators of Rome, a PC strategy game based on classic Roman arena warfare, given that the popular feature picture Gladiator had already come and gone two years before. The game's graphics and sound aren't particularly impressive, and the gameplay falls short in several areas. However, if you can get past the game's flaws, you could find Gladiators of Rome to be a fun strategy game to play—at least for a time.

You get paid a thousand dollars for your magnificent victory?

You command a team of up to ten gladiators in Gladiators of Rome, which you purchase from a local slave pen. Basically, you select gladiators from a variety of weapon-based character classes (such as mace, hammer, blade, axes, and bows) and then fight other gladiators in predefined bouts as part of a single-player campaign. Each gladiator class has a standard attack, a standard defensive maneuver, the ability to walk or run to different parts of the arena, and two additional special abilities (the hammer gladiator, for example, has a double attack that deals double damage and a stun attack that temporarily paralyzes a group of enemies), but long-range weapons like slings and bows aren't as reliable as close-range weapons for the majority of the game. The actual gameplay consists of commanding your gladiators to attack the opposing team until one group dies off, though you can also play the crowd by cheering at them or using "finishing" attacks to take out nearly-dead opponents—either of these actions will earn you more prize money at the end of a fight.

Gladiators' fighting mechanism is clearly inspired by the Baldur's Gate role-playing game series. All fights take place in real time, but because you'll be spending so much of your time giving specific orders to certain gladiators, you'll need to pause the game frequently, just like in Baldur's Gate. Gladiators is surprisingly engaging at its best because it features simple tactical components, such as employing a hammer fighter's stun ability to set up a follow-up attack by another gladiator. Gladiators is sluggish and monotonous at its worst, because all of your gladiators' movements are based on onscreen bars that represent your stamina, and you'll frequently find yourself waiting for your gladiators' stamina to regenerate before executing your next maneuver. You'll also have to deal with your gladiators' poor pathfinding and slow foot speed, which may lead to pitched battles becoming an one hideous mass of arms and legs on the battlefield, making it harder to target the enemy you want to beat.

Battles are prone to become a shambles.

There are a number of other issues with Gladiators of Rome that you may bring up. For example, the game isn't overly long because it only has three venues (each of which contains a small number of bouts that you must complete in a specific, linear order). To get any fun out of the game, you'll have to overcome the game's mediocre graphics and sound, much as your gladiators will have to beat their basic rivals to progress to their more formidable foes. Gladiators of Rome is a 3D game that depicts its drab venues and restricted range of gladiator models with simple, often rudimentary 3D graphics. Despite the fact that these gladiators can be outfitted with different weapons and armor that match the actual character models, they're still blocky, and their motion is incredibly limited, consisting of only walking, running, and a few maneuvers.

Gladiators of Rome's sound is also unremarkable, since your gladiators only have a few generic sound samples that rapidly get repetitive, and the entire game is set to forgettable synth-orchestral music that is suitable yet easy to overlook. The game also makes no attempt to remain faithful to its subject. For example, rather than training in a slave pit, you buy your equipment and slaves with "dollars," and you train your gladiators by clicking on a small statistic button that enhances their talents (which are represented by green numbers on a status screen).

The idea of conducting enormous tactical battles against enemy gladiators and dangerous monsters in Gladiators of Rome had a lot of potential. In its current state, the game is still simple enough to be pleasant, but it's unlikely that you'll enjoy it for long.