Not ye daddy's videogame In fact, Gladius isn't really anyone daddy's videogame, or anyone's brother's videogame, nor anyone's any other kind of relatives' videogame.
It's kind of unique, you see.
If that tickled your pickle, read right on.
Live by the sword Gladius, as the sharper ones amongst our readers have undoubtedly guessed, is a gladiator game. Despite the image that immediately formed in you head at the sound of this, it does not take place in the Roman Empire (aka Imperia), or at least doesn't start out there, at least not for Ursula :) - your "beginner-level" storyline. It starts in the far lands of the Barbarian King.
For, you see, there were these witches.
Now witches, I tell you, are rather charming creatures. Except when they are old and ugly, in which case they can actually still be charming, just not good-looking or anything. Witches can do cool tricks and are for that reason welcome in many stories; in Gladius, they are even given the honor of officially kicking off Ursula's tumultuous little tale. They dance around the pot and non-chalantly toss in some of the customary vile-smelling herbs and disgusting-looking lizardy thingies, and then, once the purple Lucas Arts(tm) smoke clears, to our great surprise, we have an opening cut-scene that is not rendered, but drawn, and quite beautifully at that, and pleases us with this fresh approach beyond anything (Ding! Ding! Ding!) But enough rambling. On to the story!
It's a boy!
That's basically the problem that started it all. According to the witches, a girl with strange powers and a dark future was to be born to the wife of the Barbarian King, and these witches (they were the old and ugly kind, for the most part) already had their gnarled little fingers stretched out for her; but instead, a boy was born, a rosy-cheeked little prince, weighing in an a healthy 6.8 pounds. So the old hags grumbled a bit and went home, and then - tada! - please, sir, could I have some more? - the Barbarian queen has another! And sure enough, it's a girl, it's a blonde, it's Ursula. The king (like a wise king), knowing good luck when he runs into it, keeps the whole thing hush-hush, hides the girl away and essentially falsifies her age to anyone who wants to know, to conceal the fact that she was born on the prophesized date. And so she grows up to be a hottie, and she is not bad with the sword, and does she want to see the world, you ask? Oh yes. Yes, she does. The long story short, old dad puts her in the charge of her brother, Urlan, and together, as part of the Orin Gladiator School, they begin their fateful travels. Naturally, this is where you enter.
Mr. Gladiator School Manager, sir Not being a typical game, Gladius cannot easily be shoved in a well-defined category in terms of gameplay. Sure, it's touted as a strategy RPG, but what does that really say to you? Probably something different than what you will see once you pop in the actual disc. Here is how it actually pans out.
There are two stories and correspondingly, two levels of play, beginner and advanced. The beginner's story is Ursula's story; the advanced story is a story of a young Imperial named Valens. The two stories are somewhat tied together, but are independent enough to warrant two separate paths through the game; regardless of which one you pick (as there is a good chance you will eventually return to pick the other), the story will serve as a rather simple (albeit pretty) backdrop against the core aspect of the gameplay, that being running a gladiator school. This, not the story, is really the driver; this is what advances the progress and moves everything forth. It's important to be clear on this - Gladius does NOT play like a typical RPG. Now what does running a gladiator school include? I am glad you asked.
There are two aspects: the fighting and the managing. The fighting will take 90% of your time; it includes choosing a town, a league, and a particular battle in which to compete. You choose your gladiators (your school will eventually grow quite large, 10-15 gladiators, while each battle usually requires 2-4 only) and then engage in the actual battle. The managing will take 10% of your time (depending on what kind of player you are you'll be able to adjust that up and down somewhat), and include hiring and firing gladiators, outfitting them with weapons, artifacts and armor, choosing which skills they learn as they level up, making sure your school has a right mix of different gladiator types (heavy, light, medium, support, beast, arcane), etc. Combat will be turn based, taking anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes per battle, and the managing will be done through a system of menus. When you move from town to town (as you defeat the local leagues and tournaments), and consequently regions (after you win the regional tournaments), you will do so by navigating on a free-roaming map; while it's free-roaming, there is not all that much to do on it except move to the next location. The story will move along as you enter new towns and achieve key victories; there is a nice selection of side quests and stories that you can involve yourself in by talking to the local store owner or league officer. There is a chance that at first the game will feel like it's missing a little atmosphere; this comes from the fact that the battles start out simple, yet the story is not particularly more rich at the beginning than it is at later stages. However, if you give it a little time, it will begin to feel just right, and in the meanwhile, if you so choose, you do have the option of being proactively inquisitive and reading the optional histories that are often associated with new cities, leagues, and even specific battles. These are short enough to warrant the small distraction, and are sometimes quite interesting.
A Christmas List of minor annoyances I'd like to say right off the bat: Gladius is not perfect. However, in light of it's otherwise stellar gameplay, and in the good holiday spirit, let us make a small list of Gladius annoyances to know and love. Well, not love perhaps. But try to forgive, certainly.
1. Loading times.
There are lots of loading screens, ranging from 1 to 7 seconds, and for the life of me, I can't give you a good reason why. I can understand one when you transition into battle mode from the menu driven selection screens: sure, you have to load the environment, the models, etc. But there is one going from the town menu to the "outside town" menu, and there is one going from that to the School menu. Why? Who knows. And then as you scroll through your gladiators, the 3-D model of each will take a good 3 seconds to load, even though you do this LIKE, A LOT (ever hear of caching?). And then when you pull off a certain spell during battle, your character will remain so perfectly motionless as the necessary graphics are loaded (from the next solar system, it must be), that the first time this happens you will think the game froze on you.
2. Interface could use a bit more work.
Granted, there is lot's of information to be considered while managing your gladiators in Gladius, but the interface could still use work. If you don't remember certain things about your gladiators you will have to flutter back and forth between menu systems more than you'd like in order to make educated purchase decisions. And the loading times still don't help.
3. Difficult learning curve.
Learning all the intricacies of Gladius will take a fair bit of patience. There is a lot to learn, and the game does try to ease your pains in a number of ways, so I guess this more of personal gripe than a real game flaw. However, I felt like more help could have been provided in several areas that dealt specifically with the interface. Do read the manual, for the little that it's worth.
Ad Stratagem And here we finally arrive at the core of the game that is Gladius. I mean there is got to be some, even if ever so insignificant justification for all that bitching I just did, right?!
Correctumundo. Plainly speaking, there are quite a few tools in this toolbox, and then there is that other adjustable socket wrench set on the side as well. In plain English, that means that the options the game presents to you, the well-traveled strategizer, are quite extensive. Yes siree-bob, indeedy. You have your positional attacks, you elevation advantages, your light-medium-heavy fighter class triangle, your ranged and magic support units, your beast transforms and your special skills, your offensive and defensive affinities, your terrain and your special, per-class abilities, your destructible shields, your backstabs, lunges and counterattacks, your initiative, mobility, agility, evasion and the lot, your accessories and your level, item and skill upgrades, your king of the hill, capture the flag, most damage in 3 mins and battle to the last scenarios... What am I trying to tell you here? I am trying to tell you there are as many different ways to loose a battle as there are to win one in Gladius, I am trying to tell you that if you have your CPU searching for life in outer space in it's idle time, disconnect that and hook it up to your brain instead; I am trying to tell you this is strategy the way it should be. Trying to describe all the intricacies of Gladius combat would take pages upon pages (hey, they don't even do it in the game manual!), and are best discovered by yourself. But, all in all, this is one hell of a strategy game.
One key thing that makes this possible (on top of the obvious, very solidly thought-through design) is the tremendous variety of everything: weapons, items, skills, effects; and the fact that this variety actually ties into the strategic gameplay. In other words, not only do you have 100's of different swords, dozens of moves, tens of abilities; which ones you pick actually makes a difference in a number of subtle but important ways. This sole fact is what largely makes Gladius the great game it is, and is the reason that some of the smaller design goofs are so easily forgivable. Arguably, this game was incredibly easy to botch up to the point where it would be nothing more than another shallow and ultimately unimportant attempt at console strategy; instead, it shines as a bright star of the genre. Job well done once again, Lucas Arts.
Bitter-sweet harmonies Before all the sugar completely eats away at your tooth enamel, let me point out, that despite all it's strengths as a strategy game, Gladius remains a very niche, subjective gaming choice; if you don't like strategy, it's appeal will be very limited, and with the highly demanding learning curve that it throws at you, it's presence on your shelf may indeed be very short-lived. If you do like what it's all about, however, that same shelf of yours may never see a more welcome and permanent visitor.
Summary: One of the best, deepest and most enthralling strategy games that have ever walked this earth 1-5 squares at a time.
Already played it? Trade it for another game at
Systems: PS2, GC, Xbox
Genre: Strategy/RPG
Setting: Roman Empire and Barbarian Lands of the same period. Or, Imperia and Nordagh, respectively, to be politically correct. Plus a nomadic desert land and a Greek-like region. Pretty nice mix.
Mood: You are building a gladiator school and spending 90% fighting in gladiator battles. What mood would you be in?
Story: Good
Graphics: Like, not good enough to warrant THOSE load times! Lots of nice hand drawn artwork, though, if you can appreciate that kind of thing.
Music/Sound: Excellent
Voice Acting: Up and down.
Script/Dialog: Down and up.
Similar Games: See the first paragraph of the review. Nothing, really. I guess if you ripped the battle system out of a Dungeons and Dragons type game (a good old original one too, not a dumbed down modern kind!), and wrapped it in a Roman, gladiatorial context you'd get something like Gladius. Maybe. (Someone less pedantic than I might suggest some cross of a war strategy game with a team management simulator).
Gameplay: It's a deeper strategy game than you have even played on a console.
Strengths: Deep strategy, high replayability, no need to reload - ever; ability to fruitfully play in sessions as short as 3 minutes; excellent choice of weapons, items, gladiators, skills, places to fight and pretty much anything else.
Weaknesses: Long learning curve, annoying loading times, having to go through a bunch of menus to get the information you need when it should have been right there in the first place.
Depth: It's deeeeep, baby, at least as far as the strategy is concerned.
Length: 80+ hours
Pace: Carefully, evenly paced, like any good strategy. No rushing. (Also known as 'slow' in some circles).
Difficulty: Medium
Control: Perfect. But then it IS a turn based game, you know.
Learning Curve: Long
Replayability: High. Read the review to know why! Hey, that rhymes! Oh god.
Will keep you up until (a.k.a Fun
Factor): 4:00 am, believe it or not. Once (and if) you get into it.
Notable Features: The sheer complexity and richness of combat.
Fav. Character: Gungnir support unit. There is nothing like nailing someone with a javelin attack combo from 5 paces away.
Instant Classic: Yes, though squarely in the strategy genre.
Publisher: Lucas Arts
Developer: Lucas Arts
Release Date: 2003-10-28
Players: 1
Multiplayer: No
ESRB: Teen
Target Audience: Those who love turn-based strategy and sure don't mind a story on top of it. "Gladiator anything" junkies.
Recommended For: "Gladiator anything" junkies who don't hate strategy; strategy lovers who don't hate "gladiator anything" junkies.
Not Recommended for: Those who don't care for deep strategy or could only take it in moderation. If real-time is your game, stay away: you won't get any of that in Gladius. Those who can't take a long learning curve.
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