Gladius Review - Xbox

The shadows of the Great War have passed by, and the lands of Gladius are serene once more. Now combat takes place only in the gladiator arenas, where schools from around the world compete for the title of Imperial Champions. Follow the grand saga of two young heroes, Valens and Ursula, as they recruit and train a team of warriors and compete in the gladiator games.

Gameplay

First of all, I think the most important thing to mention about Gladius is that it's not a free walk-around game like so many people would expect it to be. The only movement you make is in battle, the rest is pretty much done via a list of options. There's still a shop, and everything you'd expect to find in a gladiator driven town, but it isn't the open-ended atmosphere that I was expecting. You own your own school that used to be your fathers until he was slain, and it's up to you to rebuild it and make it the best gladiator school in the area. As you build up your school, you will get more young dedicated gladiators willing to sign up, and your school will become replenished, making your slain father proud. Picture Harvest Moon, except with a gladiator school instead of a farm.

For each battle, you select as many gladiators as you're allowed to take part, and then you decide whereabouts in the arena you want them to start off. The arena is often full of piles of crates, and poles, and all sorts of objects to run around and jump on top of, so tactics will create a new form of victory if your strategies are superior or even indecorous! For each battle, you get to see the class of the gladiators you're fighting against, but you don't really get told much about who they are. Lucas Arts has said for this game that you can choose from 100+ warriors. This is true; however you can't just select one at the start of your journey. You choose between Valens or Ursula, and then you build up your school by recruiting certain warriors out of the 100+ that Lucas Arts has presented you with.

Each different league and tournament in Gladius has its own arena to battle in, and the arenas are all completely different from one another. As you can see in the screenshots, you'll be battling from ...