Despite the obvious hit
potential, there really hasn’t been a console based action game set in
ancient Rome. Most of the games themed around the period are PC strategy and
simulation titles with hour upon hour of gameplay focusing on the minutiae
of troop movement and management as well as behind the scenes political
intrigue. The closest thing to action has probably been the tug-of-war mini
game found in Warrior of Rome, which made it to the Sega
Genesis ages ago. After the success of Ridley Scott’s film Gladiator
a few years back, a number of game developers decided to see if they can
bottle up and sell you the same roar of the crowd and blood rush found in
that movie’s battles, as well as provide a sweeping epic storyline. Not too
long after Lucasarts’ interesting strategy/RPG/golf sim hybrid,
Gladius, comes Acclaim’s Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance,
a decidedly more action oriented title that delivers the goods from start to
finish.
Gladiator: SoV goes for a more visceral gameplay experience than Gladius, and is immediately accessible to those looking for as much action-based combat as possible. It’s not perfect, but it does what it does quite well, easily earning its M rating with some of the bloodiest action ever seen in a video game. There are some similarities to be found here if you compare the plot to the one from Gladiator (the movie), but things take a more welcome mystical turn after the game’s stunning opening scenes. As Invictus Thrax, a former slave to the dead emperor Trajan, you’ve been fighting undefeated in the evil (and quite mad) emperor Arruntius’ bloody arena. Arruntius plans to raze Rome and construct a massive city named after him. Thrax suspects him of being responsible for the death of his former employer, and after dispatching quite a few foes (in an excellently implemented tutorial), he attempts to go after Arruntius. Unfortunately, Thrax meets up with an untimely demise, and he awakens under a tree in Elysium with the sons of Mars, Remus and Romulus above him offering a chance to return to Rome and end Arruntius’ reign for good. There’s a catch, of course, and here the gameplay switches to combat-based challenges and some minor puzzle solving.
Gameplay and controls are simple to pick up, yet the
game throws curveballs left and right with some really tough battle
sequences. In order to progress to new areas or pick up new skills and
certain item bonuses, you’ll need to defeat enemies in timed combat areas.
They start off quite easy and fun to blaze through, but soon get difficult
and slightly frustrating. This is partly due to the automatic targeting
system which can’t be toggled off and forces you to learn how to properly
switch between opponents or move and lead enemies to a specific point. The
fighting is fast-paced and visually, some areas may remind you of films like
Jason and the Argonauts or Demitrius and the Gladiators.
And, yes, there’s a bit of Ridley here, especially in some cinemas and the
amazing opening arena. You can practically hear Peter Graves doing his “Say,
do you like gladiator movies?” line from Airplane.
And you won’t mind much
at all, especially when you see the game in motion. Gladiator: SoV
has some amazing lighting and visual effects. The designers and artists
went wild with the character designs for the mythical creatures and the
in-game engine cinemas that give the game a very movie-like feel. You’ll be
in awe from the moment the gates swing open for the first time and you see
the overwhelming mob in the stands awaiting your every move (although if you
look closely, the foreground folks are facing the wrong way- D’oh!). Compare
this to the 14 or 15 spectators you’ll see attending matches in
Gladius, if you have a copy of that game lying about. That bunch
reminded me of the number fans watching the last out of the 9th
inning of the last Mets game this season, but I digress. The game camera in
Gladiator: SoV works beautifully, and is one of the best I’ve
seen in a game of this type. There’s a lot of excellent motion capture work
throughout, and combined with the great story, voice acting and music, the
overall production values are superb. Some character models and a few minor
visual elements that could have been better push the score down a little,
but there’s no denying the power on display here. Oh, before I forget: the
fatalities are quite gruesome, and not just for the sake of the juvenile
minds that’ll groove on them. When you set a game in ancient Rome you gotta
show a bit of the red stuff, I say.
