Rage of the Gladiator: Promising or Epic Fail?

Kris Erickson • Aug 4, 2009 • Comments ()

This is almost as good, or at least it has the potential to be. Insted of human opponents, players will now do battle with an array of mythical beasts, from centaurs to magicians to Djinn.

According to the developer, this WiiWare release is a fantasy fighting game. You control a gladiator, fighting for your life in an arena. Armed with your magical warhammer and a trusty shield, you must defeat fantastic bosses including a Chimera, Beholder, and a Dragon. The game is set in first-person perspective.

"Rage of the Gladiator is a series of epic boss-battles," said Ed Roman, CEO of Ghostfire Games. "There are no 'fodder' enemies - its all bosses, which we find to be the most fun part of games!"

As usual with the Wii, however, problems started to emerge when we caught a glimpse of the game's graphics. Somewhere between a bad 1970s fantasy movie and early 3D PC games like Rise of the Triads, this gladiator sim certainly isn't pretty. We just hope in can manage to be fun, camp and ridiculous all at the same time. If so, Ghostfire could have a winner on their hands (and a mandate to create an Xbox Live game for Natal!)

Features of the game include:

• Insane "finishing moves." You have 14 finishing moves that destroy your opponent in over-the-top cutscenes:

o Leap to the skies, then plunge your warhammer into the ground, creating a pillar of fire that burns your enemy to a crisp.
o Transform into a hulking colossus 10 times the size of your opponent, pounding him into the ground.
o Darken the skies with a solar eclipse, sending a beam of light to fry your enemy.

• Customize your character. As you defeat bosses, you earn skill points. You can apply those skill points to one of three skill trees: Offense, Defense, and Magic. This gives you new powers. It also provides great replay value since you can replay through the game with different skill tree decisions.

• Fantastic 3D-graphics. Fully rendered and realistic, you do combat in a fully lit 3D arena. This polish level is rare for a downloadable title.

• Extremely realistic animations. When you attack bosses, the impacts and hits feel "real." Each boss has been painstakingly animated to react properly to each of your attacks.

• Outstanding replay value. Once you've beaten the first 10 bosses, you must face them again in Challenge Mode, which is a completely new experience - the bosses are more difficult with new powers. There are 21 total battles.

• Epic soundtrack. The music has been designed to be exciting and memorable, and really gets your blood pumping.

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We just can't make up our minds about Gostfire Games' latest Wii project, Rage of the Gladiator. On the one hand, it seems to offer exactly what we were asking for in a recent column on Xboxist: total motion control gladiator action. In that article, we envisioned a setup using Microsoft's upcoming Project Natal camera, in which the player could use household items to fend off enemies in bloody hand-to-hand combat.\n\nThis is almost as good, or at least it has the potential to be. Insted of human opponents, players will now do battle with an array of mythical beasts, from centaurs to magicians to Djinn. \n\nAccording to the developer, this WiiWare release is a fantasy fighting game. You control a gladiator, fighting for your life in an arena. Armed with your magical warhammer and a trusty shield, you must defeat fantastic bosses including a Chimera, Beholder, and a Dragon. The game is set in first-person perspective.\n\n\"Rage of the Gladiator is a series of epic boss-battles,\" said Ed Roman, CEO of Ghostfire Games. \"There are no 'fodder' enemies - its all bosses, which we find to be the most fun part of games!\"\n\nAs usual with the Wii, however, problems started to emerge when we caught a glimpse of the game's graphics. Somewhere between a bad 1970s fantasy movie and early 3D PC games like Rise of the Triads, this gladiator sim certainly isn't pretty. We just hope in can manage to be fun, camp and ridiculous all at the same time. If so, Ghostfire could have a winner on their hands (and a mandate to create an Xbox Live game for Natal!)\n\n\n

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\n\nFeatures of the game include:\n\n• Insane \"finishing moves.\" You have 14 finishing moves that destroy your opponent in over-the-top cutscenes:\n\no Leap to the skies, then plunge your warhammer into the ground, creating a pillar of fire that burns your enemy to a crisp.\no Transform into a hulking colossus 10 times the size of your opponent, pounding him into the ground.\no Darken the skies with a solar eclipse, sending a beam of light to fry your enemy.\n\n• Customize your character. As you defeat bosses, you earn skill points. You can apply those skill points to one of three skill trees: Offense, Defense, and Magic. This gives you new powers. It also provides great replay value since you can replay through the game with different skill tree decisions.\n\n• Fantastic 3D-graphics. Fully rendered and realistic, you do combat in a fully lit 3D arena. This polish level is rare for a downloadable title.\n\n• Extremely realistic animations. When you attack bosses, the impacts and hits feel \"real.\" Each boss has been painstakingly animated to react properly to each of your attacks.\n\n• Outstanding replay value. Once you've beaten the first 10 bosses, you must face them again in Challenge Mode, which is a completely new experience - the bosses are more difficult with new powers. There are 21 total battles.\n\n• Epic soundtrack. The music has been designed to be exciting and memorable, and really gets your blood pumping.\n\n\n

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