Rage of the Gladiator Preview (WiiWare)

Can you say, "Drama queen"?

At this week’s Nintendo Summit event in San Francisco, a lot of great games were shown.  Tucked away in a little corner, however, was an interesting effort from Ghostfire Games, one that kind of resembles a medieval Punch-Out!!  Rage of the Gladiator is a fun beat-em-up where you’ll have to think strategically while also pummeling your opponents with attacks and special combo techniques.  We gave it some hands-on time to see how it was shaping up.

You play the game in a first-person perspective, able to only see your warrior’s shield and weapon (in the case of this hands-on, a battle axe).  The number of opponents is vast, ranging from a three-headed demon named Gargadan (complete with quarrels in-between rounds to devise a battle plan) to the savvy ninja Nagnao (who threatens to stab you with each attack).  They vary in difficulty, so you might want to start off small against the lesser-looking thugs before taking on tougher opponents.

Gameplay is easy to get into.  You use the analog stick on your Nunchuk to dodge incoming attacks, and press the C button to utilize your shield.  Both are useful when it comes to dodging projectiles and other attacks.  Successfully dodge or counter a move, and your chosen opponent is left wide open for a brutal combo attack.  You can hit him up to five times by swinging the Wii remote in multiple directions (with or without the WiiMotion Plus, which is fully supported).  Furthermore, if you score crucial hits (indicated by lighting strikes on your opponents), you fill up a combo meter.  To activate it, simply swing the Nunchuk, and watch them go down in a flurry of punches and kicks.  Or you can store up energy to unleash one of 14 finishing attacks, such as summoning a sunbeam from the gods.

On top of beat-em-up action, Rage of the Gladiator also features customization.  You earn skill points over the course of each round, which you then distribute across Offense, Defense and Magic.  You apply these via skill trees, essentially making your warrior more powerful.  Considering the tougher opposition awaiting you in the game’s later rounds, this is definitely a necessity.

For a downloadable WiiWare game, Rage of the Gladiator looks terrific thus far.  The enemies animate with a heaping amount of personality, whether it’s Horlan the Crusher blowing his snout furiously or Gargadan having conversations with itself (“I’m trying my besssssst!”).  We only saw one of the in-game arenas thus far, but it resembles the classic design style of most battle arenas, complete with cheering fans in the seats.  The audio is quite good too, with mostly top-notch voicework (the ninja character sounds cheesy at times as he discusses impaling you) and battle music.

Rage of the Gladiator isn’t too far off, as Ghostfire is set to release next month.  We’ll be back with the blow-by-blow review at that time.  From what we’ve seen, though, this one's got some quality sparring.