E3 2003 –
First Look
After seeing
Maximus hack and slash his way to vengeance and box-office records, who didn’t
want to don some chainmail and thrust steel into the flesh of opponents for the
satisfaction of the people? Acclaim’s Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance grants us
all this wish with this latest action-adventure title for the PS2 and Xbox.
The game takes
place in 106 A.D. in the sprawling Roman Empire. Once a glorious collection of
nation-states, the declining empire is now befuddled with many problems at the
hands of Emperor Arruntius, a negligent despot drunk on his own power. He
succeeded the well-liked Emperor Trajan, who met an untimely death. In the land
of fantasy, death is not the end, and Trajan is back from the netherworld to
avenge his death and fix the damage Arruntius has caused. How’s he going to do
that? With tons and tons of killing of course.
Gladiator is a
third-person adventure game featuring devastating swordplay, blazing magic, and
Herculean powers granting a swift and gory death. Trajan has several
combination moves at his disposal, and these moves and other abilities will
increase as he progresses through the game. Trajan also has the ability to
perform unnecessary violent finishing moves on dazed opponents that will surely
be a highlight of the game.
All the blood
that is spilled just wouldn’t be that great without incredible looking ground to
spill it on. Many of the landscapes in the game almost look like photographs,
the clarity and rendering of the water, mountains, and interiors are
jaw-dropping. Couple that with the fluid motion, realistic lighting, and detail
on mythical creatures and gladiators, and Acclaim has produced one beautiful
game.
Gladiator is
scheduled for a Fall release.
