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Addictive, extremely replayable, leaves you wanting MORE!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I found this game as I was wading through a huge bin of used games at a local Gamestop. I had never heard about it before though I love Roleplaying games and anything having to do with swords and magic. Anyway - at first I wasn't sure if I would like the turn based play but I soon realized that it is extremely compelling. This game has now turned into my favorite game to play on my xbox and I am really hoping that Lucas Arts creates a sequel. I love all aspects of this game from the funny banter between Ursula/Urlan to the ability to equip and modify your gladiators. This game is never the same game twice mainly because there are infinite combinations of gladiators, skills, weapons and magic. My husband also likes the fact that we can jump into each other's game at anytime just by hitting "start" on the other controller. When you get to a certain point in the game you can do head to head competition and we love that also. Highly recommended for those who love games like Morrowind, Oblivion and Baldur's Gate. My only complaint is that I wish I had known about this game when it came out in 2003!

Still one of my favorite Xbox games!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a very deep turn-based rpg, although light on story/plot. If you are into turn-based combat, stat-building and item management, you really need to give this game a spin.

A campaign can easily take over 100 hours of play if you want to complete everything. The number of weapons, armor, misc items, skills and character classes is incredible. It is very satisfying builing up your gladiator school and experimenting with different combinations of combatants, skills and items. As the game progresses, different types of battles are introduced and conditions are placed on battles to keep things interesting. Side quests, unique items and characters can also be discovered. There is so much to this game!

Once you are experienced, the game can feel a bit easy, but there is a simple code to increase the level of your opponents: (Pause at a league office and press: Right, Right, Right, Up, Up, Left, Left, Left, Left, Right, Up, Up, Up, Up, Down). You can repeat this code and increase enemy levels more than once for some real challenges.

best game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: May 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

gladius was the first rpg that i have ever played this is by far the best game ever everything about this game is good you play as valens or his sister ursula as you battle and many arena to become the top gladiator i give this game a perfect 5 out of 5 its the best

GLADIUS! WHOOP WHOOP!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

THIS IS BY FAR MY FAVORITE XBOX GAME!!! I bought this soon after I got my Xbox, and even after buying best sellers(such as Tony hawk Underground; Halo 2; Splinter Cell; Jedi Academy; 2 James bond games; Rainbow six; SW Battlefront etc...) I still find myself comeing back to this game! I've had it for like a year and a half... But it never gets old. The graphics are WONDERFUL and the gameplay EXTREMELY in depth. There are countless "easter-eggs" and secrets, well over 2 dozen side quests, and It is different every time. You get to manage you school of gladiators each by name. So if you win the game and start over again, you can still re-recruit your same dudes. There are like a million cities and a billion Random Encounters. You can never Truly be finished with the game. There is always a higher goal, ie get all dudes to highest rank; complete every city ; etc... You will attach yourself to this game like you never thought possible! There have been times when both me (15 yr old guy) and my sister (17 yr old girl) have litterally cried over losing a gladiator. You begin to feel on a personal level with your commrades.

This is a timeless classic and ANYONE WHO RATES IT LOWER THAN FOUR STARS IS A CRAZY LUNITIC!!!!!

Good fun....for the first while anyways.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: September 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am not into giving a detailed review of every element of a game, so here's the short and sweet:

Great RPG game, but it gets a bit repetitive, and you have to be in for the long haul if you want to finish the game, especially if you hope to get through every "arena." The game starts off great (and continues to play great- if you like turn based RPG's), with plenty of weapons and "spells" to use with the characters. But after awhile the incessant whining by some of the characters, combined with a sloooowww progression of the plotline, leave it to the gameplay to carry the game. And again, it's great initally, but after awhile it gets to be the same thing over and over. Then to boot, you find to get past a number of the arenas, you almost have to remake your gladiator school at times, requiring hours more playing to bring new characters up to speed.

Definitely for the in-depth/long-game palyer, not the "I'm looking for 20-30 hours of fun" gamer.

Yawn...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 45
Date: September 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game should be in the Platinum Hits sections. No, make that the Old Copper Penny section. Paying anything over 10 bucks for this game would be a mistake. Only hardened RPGers will like this game (you know the type--the guys who sit over by themselves and even the computer nerds won't talk to them). After Sudeki, Fable & Jade Empire comes out, Gladius will be relegated to the Bargin Bin right next to Pong. Anywho...this game is about as much fun as visiting a friend's dying grandmother in an old folks home (unless of course, you enjoy that sort of thing).

Mediocre at best

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: August 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As I said in the title, this game is mediocre at best. In the beginning it starts off fun, but once you immerse yourself into the "expansive" lands, you find that there isn't all that much you can do other than participate in these games that get outrageously repetitive. The weapons are accurate, but the shields are horrible, and there's too many attempted "twists" in the plot that just become annoying and can even screw you over, for example, losing 30 hours of gameplay in less than 5 minutes.

Good fun, but not enough choices!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was looking forward to playing this game for some time... and when I finally did, I was pleased with the graphics and the voice acting was certainly much better then in most games. But I was disappointed with how little variation there was in the game, regardless of which characters you played.

SPOILER:
If you happen to be "lucky" enough to obtain the Hell's Gate skill, turn it off. You can run through the end of the game using this skill once, and I mean once, on everyone and everything. No fun...

Gladius? Blah

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: July 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game started out great. During the first half of the game I thought I was playing one of the best turned based strategy games ever made. The character classes were unique, interesting, and fun. Unfortunately, that did not last. The last half of the game is an exercise in boredom. The caster classes enter the game during the last half and proceed to use the same abilities over and over. Wonderful animations such as "steal affinity" or "summon power" were used so many times the sounds and animations have been etched in to my brain. Surely, the developers and play testers found this to be rather mind number and annoying too, this would have been an easy problem to squash, and really detracts from the game. The casters are bad, but they are not the worst part of Gladius.

The absolute worst part of Gladius is the totems on the arena floor. These wonderful objects get one turn per round and do the same thing each and every round. Very bad and very boring. The later tournaments have as many as 8 totems on the arena floor. You will spend more than half of your playtime watching a totem spin and spit out some form of magic. It is painfully boring and completely pointless. After playing a series of 2 vs 2 gladiator battles with 8 totems on the arena floor I completely lost interest in this horrid and extremely boring game.

I would sooner scratch my own eyes out than finish this game.

Doesn't recieve the credit it deserves...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I rented Gladius by chance the first time I played it. The day I had to return it, I went and bought it.

Gladius is first and foremost a strategy game, and the way it is put together -- every type of fighter can best another type (sort of Rock Paper Scissors) -- makes it challenging. The graphics, the settings, and the player depth are all wonderful. There is a great number of types of fighters, all of whose appearances and skills are customizeable. The game is very addictive, and most aspects of the game deserve thumbs up. Great game all-around.

I would have liked to have seen more animation cut-scenes with more action (the character poses were always the same) and less text -- not that I'm against reading, it just takes away from the game.

I do suggest that if you purchase Gladius, you also get the strategy guide... unless this is only game you own. It will take quite a while to complete even with the strategy guide. Also, the strategy guide may clue you in on things you might have otherwise missed.

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