Freeing The Gladiator In You

I’m a fan of the movie Gladiator that came out a few years ago. I own the DVD and watch it over and over again from time to time. Lately I was following ABC’s similar six-hour special epic drama series, Empire, which completed airing a couple weeks ago. Coincidentally, KOEI recently released a gladiator-themed action game that puts you right into a gladiator’s life.

Colosseum – Road to Freedom, is an action role-playing game where you can live the life of a gladiator in his sandals. You are taken into slavery, purchased by a man named Magerius, and have 50 days to earn your freedom through battles. Your survival depends on the ability to fight other gladiators, animals, and reenact glorious Roman military victories.

In the beginning of the game, I was able to create my character based on a place of origin, philosophy and what Greek god you follow based on your beliefs (all of which you can vary and make up as you go). The game took me through training and quite a lengthy tutorial (which is optional) on the Gladiator Training Grounds. The points you earn through this process will strengthen your character. For additional character building, you collect skill tablets from defeating other gladiators throughout the game. Keep tabs of your skills on the Skill Wall located in the sleeping area. The wall enables you to change out your skills accordingly, as you prepare for the next battle. Whenever you are in a battle, just remember to impress the crowd because they are the judges of your performance leading to how much money you get, further leading to the eventual ability to buy your freedom.

As you go about the fights, there are six types of battles:
- Survival - All gladiators attack you. To win you must defeat all enemies or stay alive until time is up.
- Battle Royal - All gladiators fight each other. As with the Survival type, you must defeat all enemies or stay alive until time is up.
- Duel – Fight a single opponent to the death.
- Team Battle – Fight with a team. To win you must defeat all enemies, kill the enemy leader, or protect the leader of your team.
- Hunting – Fend off all tigers or bulls. To win you must beat all the beasts.
- Mock Battle – Re-creations of famous Roman battles.

All-in-all, I enjoyed (and am continually enjoying) Colosseum – Road to Freedom. It’s not that difficult to master and there’s enough action to keep my attention going.

Colosseum: Road to Freedom is available (for the PlayStation 2 only) for $39.99 at your nearest Toys n’ Joys or Toyriffic. It is rated M for Mature (ages 17 and up), so parents be aware. For more information and screenshots of the game, log onto www.koei.com.