Gladius | DJcube

An Epic Gladiatorial Saga!

NA release: 3rd November 2003
EU release: 28th November 2003
NA release: N/A
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts (NA), Activison (EU)
NGC Magazine Score: 70%
Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

Despite not being a fan of turn based or tactical games, Gladius is a game I played a lot as when I was younger. It’s a strategic combat set in a fictional version of Rome, where a dark god had been banished and Gladiator battles are a friendly sport that has replaced war. There are two campaigns, one where you play the son or a gladiator or the “for beginner” where you play as a barbarian princess with magical powers.

While both their stories start off different, they eventually come together as they join forces to stop the plot to revive the dark god. The story itself is only something you deal with sporadically, as gladiator combat is the main bulk of the game. The start of Gladius is daunting as there is a lot to teach. You can skip tutorials, though, which is nice, although you still have to complete the starting matches.

The combat sort of feels more Dungeons and Dragons like than a typical grid based tactical RPG (although I guess D&D was one of the original forms of that gameplay). Each character has their own turn (rather than doing your entire squad at once) and you can move, attack and use abilities. When moving, you can order someone to move beyond their standard move and they will slowly move during other turns, with the caveat that you can’t cancel it if the opponent does something you don’t expect.

Attacks have a simple rock, paper, scissors style strength and weakness between light, medium and heavy characters, but there are factors beyond this as terrain height and attacking from beyond also comes into play – although for the latter, an opponent will always turn to face you if they’re not already engaged in combat. On top of this is a magic system that comes in different affinities and requires using matching weapons and armour to charge up.

After you learn all of this (and more, as there’s hiring and equipping gladiators), you’re then left on your own. A lot of the tournaments in the town you start in are locked behind the requirement of badges and the game doesn’t help you know where to get them from so you have to wander the overworld map hoping to bump into a town that lets you fight in a battle that has a badge you need. The overworld also has random encounters, which are the only time your gladiators can die, but thankfully these are very uncommon. The game really needed to show you where the required badges are from and where to get them from, as randomly stumbling around doesn’t seem like an intended part of the difficulty.

Once you get past this first hurdle, it’s smooth sailing, with a ton of different fights and tournaments to compete in. These aren’t just about killing enemies as there are different match types such as destroying barrels, king of the hill and scoring the most points worth of damage, which helps with the variety. It’s a shining example of its genre, and seems to be one that has been largely forgotten.

Fun

Developing favourite characters and watching your rise through increasing more opulent amphitheatres does, with enough defecation, make the initial flaws pale into insignificance. If you have the patience to sit through the game’s rather tedious opening stages then, you’ll find a huge and ultimately rewarding strategy title.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #88

Remake or remaster?

A remaster with a streamlined start and directions would be great.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy Gladius.