Topic: Gladius

[odifiend]

Being the cheap person that I am, when I found Gladius new for 13 USD, I could not refuse.  What suprised me about this game is, it is secretly an RPG, yet it is never mentioned when talking about the GCN's RPG drought.  Gladius is a strategic RPG where you pick from two main characters and you attempt to build a school of gladiators (of course there is a more epic story that unfolds though ).  Players compete in turn based matches where they face other schools, tribes or attackers.

Gameplay: 9

There are many rules of battle and this is where gamers who will enjoy the game and those who won't will be divided.  There are many factors that can influence a battle.  The arenas in which gladiators fight offer height advantages which alter the amount of damage dealt.  Some character class relationships work in rock, paper, scissors fashion.  Attacking from the sides or behind your opponent also increases damage.  Therefore strategy is a large part of the game.
Attacking in this game begins with a standard swing meter- a short counter warns you the cursor will begin moving, then you attempt to hit a sweet spot that will deliver critical damage.  However as you progress in the game, and have your school grow, different kinds of meters appear, changing the way you attack.
This said, Gladius is battle after battle.  New battle rules, different character classes, leveling up, upgradeable weapons and magic all help to alleviate this problem, however.

Controls: 10

The controls are really simple because Gladius is turn based.  It is the rules that require an effort to pick up.  However, throughout the whole game you have Usus, your mentor who guides you in the beginning of the game and gives advice on the loading screen throughout the game.

Visuals and Sound: 8

The graphics are pretty good but not overwhelming impressive.  The storytelling in the game is done through sequences of cinema and pretty sweet drawn images.
I don't have a home theater or anything, but the sound has never offended me or been detrimental to my gaming experience.  Voice acting is really good in this game.  And characters sometimes offer one-liners during battle which can be pretty funny or pretty lame.

Lastability: (8+)
I've clocked 26 hours into this game and I'm not even half way through, so it should last you a while but since I haven't beaten the game, I don't know what LA has to offer when the game is finished.
There is also a deathmatch style multiplayer mode if you have a sibling or friend who has a school on the same or on a different memory card.  This mode is pretty fun and gets more so at higher levels.
And there is a co-op mode as well.  Extra players can take control of a gladiator from player one's school in any battle during the game.  Nice addition but meh.

Overall: 8.5
Dang good game- very well put together and fun to play. Load times are an issue though.  If I bought the game for 50 USD (standard game price) I would be satisfied but for 13 USD, it was a steal.  I highly recommend it if you find it in a bargain bin.

[couchmonkey]

Argh!  This is another of the 20 or so good games that came out last year that I may never play just because I don't have time.  Nice to see someone giving it some love, though, since it didn't seem to get much attention.

[joeamis]

I had Gladius for Gamecube a few months ago I picked it up for 20 bucks new, it's a decent game.  The graphics are subpar, the level of detail for character textures is very low.  The sound is alright, good voice acting, okay music.  Being able to control animals on your team is nice, but other than them and the regular humans, I didn't dig the mythological allies art style.  The game consists of very little random battles on the small overworld map and entering battles through icon clicking when at the arenas.  The crowds watching the battles are scarce and don't add any visual excitement to enhancen the gameplay, it really seemed like there should've been more people watching the gladiator matches.  Overall the crowds made it seem more fake and uninspired.  A nice thing though is that when you do something well in battle the crowd chants for you and vice versa, there is also a meter for each team in battle who gains bonuses as they grab the crowds favor.  It's odd though with so few people watching...  The game offers two characters to play as your main character, a girl and a guy.  If I recall correctly the guy's is the hard mode and the girl is the easier quest.  The game is your standard tbs strategic rpg (ala ff tactics) but has no grids for moving.  The game offers loads of hours of gameplay.  I sold the game yesterday after logging in maybe 25 hours?  something like that.  It just got boring and the story can't compete, I had high hopes for the game even though I knew it didn't sell well.  However, I wasn't overall impressed at all even for just 20 bucks.  The time based gameplay parts are nice and alot better than I expected.  Pro: its better than Future Tactics, Con: there are so many better tbs strategic rpgs out there even the ones for playstation one and gba.

[WuTangTurtle]

Lol, i bought this game about 3-4 months ago.  Pretty solid game, I would have got this game on GCN but i couldn't find it so i got it on Xbox and there is no real differences but i would have rather had it on GCN so i could use my Wavebird but oh well.  If it wasn't for this game i probably wouldn't play my xbox much.

This being the only exception I've logged +40hrs into this game.

Very Addicting Turn Based Strategy game, so if you liked FF:tactics, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, etc you should definately try this game out.  The game recieved high marks on most Online and Magazine reviews.  Check it out now!