System: PSP
Publisher: Aksys
Developer: Aquire

In recent years gladiator themed movies and TV shows have risen in popularity.  Most of this popularity is attributed to films like Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” and the Starz network’s edgy TV show “Spartacus: Blood & Sand”.  Video games in past years have also attempted to cash in on the appeal of arena warriors spilling each others’ blood in gladiatorial combat.  A few years ago, on the PS2, Shadow of Rome was released by Capcom and Colosseum: Road to Freedom was released by Koei.  Due to the bloodlust of gamers and lack of proper advertising, the gory Shadow of Rome overshadowed the nearly unheard of arena combat sim with RPG-lite elements known as Colosseum.  Come 2010 and Colosseum’s prequel is released on the PSP as Gladiator Begins now developed by Acquire and published by Aksys.  But are the simplified controls, addition of blood, new RPG elements, and expanded customization enough to gain the attention of PSP owners looking to test their might in the gladiator arenas of old?

Gladiator Begins is a fighting game packed with all kinds of RPG elements to create something truly unique.  The first thing players will do is create their combatant from a few template pieces.  Once complete it’s off to the slave training grounds where the basics of combat will be learned via tutorials for the first few encounters of the game.  The gladiator will travel to various arenas on the map and face-off against others in small arenas.  The combat ranges from one-on-one, multiple opponents, battle royale, battles against human and beast, and boss battles with gladiators who are of higher level.  Higher level gladiators with better or special equipment that can be looted should they be defeated. That’s one of the drawing factors of Gladiator Begins, collecting better equipment to use.  The weapons and armor have stats just like one would see in a full-on RPG.  Armor and weapons can be placed on the arms, head, and legs or the gladiator. This equipment can be purchased by merchants at arenas, but taking that scimitar or helmet off the body of a freshly slain opponent is free.  What will cost though is crafting better equipment at the merchant’s shop.  Equipment can be combined to create better or worse variations.  As the game progresses equipment dropped in arenas will have better stats and even status effects or upgrades attached to them.

Also worth noting is that after each return home to the ludas the player is allowed to distribute earned skill points in areas such as Strength, Endurance, etc.  And eventually the gladiator will begin to earn special combat moves for the fighting styles that can be used in-game.  The fighting styles range from Hand-To-Hand, Weapon and Small Shield, Weapon and Large Shield, One-Handed Weapon, and Dual-Wield Weapons.  Each combat move earned levels up as it is used in that fighting style.  These moves use up Endurance though and will leave the gladiator tired and vulnerable to attacks if used unwisely.  Up to four special moves can be mapped to the face buttons before a battle.

The combat in Gladiator Begins is fast, furious, brutal, and loads of fun.  As stated before, the combat has some RPG elements working behind the scenes to enhance the hack-and-slash action.  The player has the ability to make their gladiator block attacks, dodge, parry and counterattack, use special moves on the fly, and pull off some nasty-looking combos.  Each connected blow brings up a damage number above the head of the victim.  Blue is armor damage and white is damaged health.  Armor can be knocked off fairly easily with a well-placed, unblocked attack and weapons can be disarmed.  That’s means it becomes open season for health damage to that unarmored body part.  And the HUD has a weird icon that represents the health of the player’s gladiator and its limbs and torso.   The player’s gladiator can also initiate a rage mode once the proper bar is filled atop the screen.  Rage mode allows for a barrage of special attacks that incur no loss of Endurance.  As the game progresses the battles will become increasingly difficult and new tactics will have to be employed to complete later battles.  Beware the female gladiators.  Heed this warning!

From a presentation stand-point Gladiator Begins looks pretty good, but suffers in other sections.  Graphically the game gets the job done with some great looking character models, decent textures, and well-designed weapons and armor.  The gladiators look awesome all decked out in their armor pieces.  Where the game suffers is the audio portion.  There is no voice at all, just a collection of grunts and yells to accompany the subtitles.  The music is good, but very repetitious.  The same tune will be heard way too many times over.  The story of this gladiator’s journey to freedom from slavery via the arena is there, but is pretty much as straightforward as it can be with barely any sidetracking.  Some will appreciate the game’s linear approach though.  After all, Gladiator Begins is still basically a fighting game.

Gladiator Begins is something of an oddity in 2010’s gaming market.  It presents a nice mixed bag of good gaming elements that aren’t exactly perfect, but get the job done.  There are currently no other new games based on gladiatorial combat on the shelves either.  Gladiator Begins will be a gem for those looking to spend hours grinding to create a powerful arena warrior.  For those who are looking for a more traditional 3D fighter, this game just may be a disappointment.  But even the most jaded fighting game player may find something engrossing about Gladiator Begins’ more customizable approach to combat.  Also worth mentioning is the game’s Ad-Hoc multiplayer mode and some upcoming DLC.  For true fans of all things gladiator this PSP game should not be overlooked!

So here’s the teaser for the greedy. More please.