Could have been a masterpiece, but suffers from lack of vision and scope. Some elements were great, others bombed.
The Good: 1.) The actual fighting is great, it's what I wanted "Gladius" to be like. Killing a bunch of people as the fans cheer is as cool today as it was 2000 years ago.
2.) There are several different match types of different difficulties; beast fights, one-on-ones, you against 20, team fights, and "main events."
3.) The Colosseum looks good, and it looks like research was done for accuracy in its rendering.
4.) you can buy slaves; females give you a bonus, males fight in the arena with you.
5.) You and a friend can load your gladiators and go at it, or team fight. (Separate game mode)
The Bad:
1.) There are only two arenas, a small one, and the Colosseum.
2.) Outside of the arena, the graphics suck.
3.) The story sucks, and looks like it was taken from the movie "Gladiator."
4.) There should be more weapons to chose from. There are a variety, but there should be more.
5.) This game has a "time-limit." Earn your freedom in 50 "days" or lose.
6.) Freedom and slaves cost too much money. So does everything for that matter.
The Ugly:
1.) The good weapons and armor are too hard to get, and too easy to lose.
2.) A guy comes out during the fights and cleans up the goodies off the arena floor, but he has a bad habit of picking up the awesome weapon that just got knocked out of your hand; once he gets it, its gone forever.
3.) Once you die in combat, you wake up in a hospital and all of your hard-earned equipment could be gone, as well as half of your money.
4.) The game is challenging but playable, until a point when it just becomes too hard. You spend all this time building a character, only for him to be outclassed by even the lowely peon later in the game.