The first-person viewpoint is the starkest change from Nintendo's boxing series, and it's also one of the low points of the game. The lack of any kind of on-screen avatar makes dodging and judging whether or not you're going to get hit difficult, which is integral to doing well in the game. What you see on screen are your hands, which are filled with a hammer and a shield. The hammer is your basic manner of attacking, and the shield can be used to block or knock enemies off balance.
Throwing a wrench into the Punch-Out!! style are magical powers and a skill tree. The magical attacks are kind of like Punch-Out!!'s star punches, but with a lot more visual flair. For example, there is one attack where you slam your hammer down into the ground and unleash a pillar of fire. You gain and upgrade these attacks, as well level up your offense and defense, by putting points into your skill tree, which is split into three different sections: Offense, Defense, and Magic. It's quite novel, and you can power up your character in a variety of ways. However, once you make a decision, you're stuck with it for the entire game. You can only get more skill points by getting better grades on past bosses, and you can't repurpose ones you've already spent. This wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't ramp up in difficulty as you worked your way through it.
As far as controls go, your hammer is represented by the Wii Remote, and your shield is represented by the Nunchuk. You can pick between different directions to swing your hammer (up, down, left, or right), which is emboldened by Wii MotionPlus if you have it, but it does nothing more than allow you swing in a direction and attack as opposed to holding down a button and swinging. In general, all of the motion controls have slight delays, which make the parts of the game that require precise timing difficult to complete. Luckily, there is a Wii Remote-only control scheme - reminiscent of Punch-Out!! - that solves most of these problems.
The game's presentation is its biggest triumph, as it features some of the best 3D graphics on WiiWare, and also features voice-acting for every one of the 11 bosses you fight. Additionally, every one of the bosses has personality and style, whether it's the drunken former warrior or the comical snake tamer.
Each bout is pretty long, as they all have three distinct rounds. On one hand, the bosses learn new tricks and become different and more difficult as you go through each round, but on the other, they often run long and repeat the same pattern too many times.
Rage of the Gladiator tries to be a Punch-Out!!-esque game, but it doesn't quite live up to the promise. Still, it's an entertaining game with solid production values that manages to wind its way down the road of quality despite some superfluous controls, rigid skill trees, and extra-long battles.
Pros:
Lastability: 6.0
With 11 different bosses and 21 battles, there's a lot to tackle in this game, especially when the difficulty ramps up. You also get graded for each battle, so you can go back and improve your grade. However, you can't go back and power up your character and get more skill points, which is unfortunate.
Final: 7.0
The promise of fantasy-based Punch-Out!! holds true. If you're a fan of Nintendo's boxing series, you'll probably enjoy this game, as long as you go into it expecting a little less polish than the typical Nintendo title.
First off, score's are subjective, sir. I'm glad you think this game is awesome. I thought it was ok, but not anything amazing.
I actually disagree with you on all three of those points why RotG is better than Punch-Out!!. I really could care less for the MotionPlus support, the star punches aren't too interesting, and I gladly paid $50 for Punch-Out!!.
Nice review. My only question regards lastability: is the relatively low score solely because you don't get more points by reaplying them? Or are the fights not fun enough to retry, a la Punch-Out!!? And is there some sort of score meter or timer, so you can compete against yourself/friends for high scores?
If you would like to continue this conversation, please PM me. Let's not crowd this talkback thread with our squabbling.
Nice review. My only question regards lastability: is the relatively low score solely because you don't get more points by reaplying them? Or are the fights not fun enough to retry, a la Punch-Out!!? And is there some sort of score meter or timer, so you can compete against yourself/friends for high scores?
You can go back and get the highest grade for more points, but also, the bosses go on for so damn long the first time around anyway (three rounds of repetitive battling) that I didn't have much of a will to go back and fight them. They're little puzzles that, once you figure out, get kind of old. You can, if you want to, compete with your friends for higher grades and go for stuff like "not taking any damage," but there's no real reward for that (besides a token skill point or two).
So about punch out (exclamation point exclamation point): you gave this game a 7 and it I'd guess something in the 9s.
At $10 vs $50:
7.0/$10 = $0.70 a point
9.5/$50 = $0.19 a point
Therefore Rage of the Gladiator is a much better value.
So about punch out (exclamation point exclamation point): you gave this game a 7 and it I'd guess something in the 9s.
At $10 vs $50:
7.0/$10 = $0.70 a point
9.5/$50 = $0.19 a point
Therefore Rage of the Gladiator is a much better value.
^Do you work for Ghostfire games?
You seem specifically defensive over this one game when I'm sure dozens of WiiWare/DSiWare, Wii, DS and every other game here was reviews in the exact same way(I hardly read any of the actual reviews, just the wrap-ups at the end, so I could be wrong). Why does only this specific game review rub you in such the wrong way?
BTW, to the readers of this, Ghostfire Games is giving away free copies of Rage of the Gladiator.Everyone who reads the front page already knows this.
Read more at: http://www.ghostfiregames.com/gladiator/want-a-free-copy-of-rage-of-the-gladiator/ (http://www.ghostfiregames.com/gladiator/want-a-free-copy-of-rage-of-the-gladiator/)
BTW, to the readers of this, Ghostfire Games is giving away free copies of Rage of the Gladiator.Everyone who reads the front page already knows this.
Read more at: http://www.ghostfiregames.com/gladiator/want-a-free-copy-of-rage-of-the-gladiator/ (http://www.ghostfiregames.com/gladiator/want-a-free-copy-of-rage-of-the-gladiator/)
Which means nobody here knew it.
coffeewithgames: What if Neal truly played the game to the fullest enough to write the most detailed review ever created by man and STILL didn't like it? What is your argument then? That he was biased towards Punch-Out in order to give it a fair review? That he doesn't have the right mind set to enjoy a game as magnificent as Rage of the Gladiator? Most importantly, what if the review was very glowing and was still inaccurate? Would you raise a stink over those minor details or would you ignore that since what matters is that the review matches your mindset?
Seriously, dude, you have been warned. Reviews are first and foremost opinion pieces. Yes, its important to be as detailed as possible so the information is accurate. That I will agree with. But if the reviewer had a sour experience with the game he has the right to express it, despite what everyone else is saying about it.I don't think I ever typed, "Your review is wrong!" and just left it as that.
We have no problem with readers putting their two cents in and offering a different opinion. The problem here is that Neal has explained to you why he didn't like the game and offered you his honest opinion and you still see fit in claiming that his review is wrong, all under the basis that you enjoyed it far more than he did.
You called an opinion incorrect. That's laffable. An opinion/argument can be poorly formed or invalid or the author can be factually incorrect, but you ran out the starting gates with a poor choice of words.
Is it better than Punch-Out!! on Wii? No, I don't think so. But it's cheaper and easier to buy, has some great modifications like the skill tree advancements, and definitely isn't lacking in challenge or entertainment value.
