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Gladius Preview
Chris Leyton
00/12/0000
Gladius merges RPG elemtns with action combat in a game inspired by Ridley Scotts 2000 epic movie.
The latest hero for the next-generation to be announced by LucasArts is Gladius, a turn-based action RPG game that follows the saga of two young heroes, Ursala and Valens, as they recruit and train a team of warriors to contend in the fiercely competitive gladiator games.
Set in an original world that blends elements of third-century Earth with a fair amount of artistic license, players take the role of either of the aforementioned characters. Ursula, from the northern land of Nordagh, is the daughter of a great barbarian king. Valens is the son of one of Imperia's greatest gladiators. A bloody conflict between their two homelands gave rise to a vengeful dark god, which nearly destroyed all of mankind. Only with the help of the revered Valkyrie was the dark god defeated, but it came at a great cost of many lives. This gave rise to an uneasy peace that has existed for decades between the two lands. Now the two young heroes must fulfil their destinies to keep the world from heading into another disastrous war.
Ursula and Valens join forces and travel across many lands, competing in gladiator tournaments where they recruit a variety of warriors. They also become immersed in the evil plot to revive the dark god. Once this wicked plan is put into action, the gladiator games cease and the small band of fighters go on a challenging quest to solve the mystery of the dark god and defeat those who would bring him back to the land of the living.
To begin with, the main bulk of the game is for you to build and train a legion of gladiators to compete in the gladiator competitions, held across 20 different arena and 12 other locations. During fights players have a high level of interaction by way of an arcade style swing meter that enhances the power of attacks. The actual battles are turn-based affairs and involve a fair amount of strategy, having to select the right gladiators for the job and balancing the team to cope with any adversaries that you may face. As you pull off cool moves the crowd meter will increase, improving various aspects of your groupâs performance such as accuracy and strength. A successful fight will earn victorious players highly coveted certificates and the approval of the Emperor. With each certificate collected, players move one step closer to unlocking the next region. In between battles cut-scenes will drive the plot forward, and youâll be given the option to upgrade your gladiators, building up new skills, tactics and buy new equipment.
There is a substantial amount of depth to the actual management of your squad. Selecting your team from 16 unique classes, including the powerful Imperial Legionary; the witches of the Galdr class, who can sing magical songs and chants; and the javelin throwing Peltast class. In all, the game offers more than 100 customisable character types, hundreds of skills, and over 400 unique weapons, helmets, shields, and other accessories with which to equip warriors.
Visually Gladius is already looking very impressive, each gladiator model is comprised of between 3000 â“ 6000 polygons, whilst the arenaâs number anything between 80,000 â“ 100,000. Texture quality looks to be very high, characters sport impressive details such as tattooâs and body hair. Combine that with impressive animation and notable special effects such as the particle and lighting systems, and Gladius is looking to be a very solid looking title on all formats. Whilst the core engine has been developed in-house for the PC, the team has designated programmers ensuring that each version will make the full-use of what each system has to offer, a hopeful claim that every developer seems to be making at the moment, however weâll have to wait and see.
In addition to the games single player story mode, the game will feature an exhibition mode allowing up to four players to compete against each other or add a few computer controlled teams to make up the numbers. Whilst finishing the game, the tournament system will remain open to allow you to continue building up your team and exploring the four different territories.
