SPARTACUS Legends - Review

 

I read about this game a few months back and saw the trailer with its snippets of gameplay; obviously I was instantly crazed about this game and was in dire need to play it. I mean gladiators is a theme that I want more games to be made using, I loved Shadow of Rome, back on the PS2 and I also loved the part in fable where you have to compete in the area, I don’t know what it is about the setting of the arena and gladiator but I just love it.  The fact the game uses the Spartacus TV series IP is just a big 1+ for me, as I loved the TV series from begging to end and it had one of the greatest ending of a series I have ever seen, I was extremely sad to see it go.

Off the bat when loading up this game you can feel that it is using the Spartacus IP well, the sounds, the visuals and just the gritty look of the game really says, this is Spartacus. You start the game and you get one slave to train as a gladiator. My guy was a sword a shield user, at first all you have is your weapon and some dingy cloth for armour, but as you win battle you gain more coin and this allows you to buy better weapons and equipment. The setup of the game is cleaver it makes you feel like a lanista from the series owning your own set of gladiators and sending them to battle to gain glory and coin for you. You can recruit more gladiators as you gain more coin and fame, each gladiator has a different fighting style ranging from sword and shield to hard hitting hammers or even dual daggers. I found while using these different styles, that none of them are at a disadvantage to any others; the hammer guys are slow but powerful whereas the dagger guys are fast but do less damage. The main menu is a map of Capua (the city in which the game and series is set) there is different section where you can go and fight but at first many are locked because your ludas(your gladiator fighting school) must gain fame and coin to access the higher paying fights. So you start at the bottom beating the lower tier gladiators, eventually you will unlock a primus fight, which will be against a more renowned gladiator, when you win these primus fights you unlock perks for your gladiators to use that give little bonuses to sway a fight in your favour. One you gain enough fame you will unlock a boss battle and these battles use characters from the TV series as your opponent and they are extremely hard to defeat, but when you beat them you unlock them and can add them to your ludas to improve it (or so the game says).   

Now as this game is about the fights let’s talk about the game mechanics, the battles are fast a fluid and all the moves are recognisable for anybody who has watched the series from Gannicus’s jumping dual sword slash and even including my favourite move “the superman”.

 You have light attacks and heavy attacks, grabs and defensive breaks such as kicks or shield bashes. You can block and also roll and dodge. Using all these moves in combination makes for a fast paced energetic fight. At the moment I am using a dual sword user he is fast and aggressive and that how I like to play, on the constant attack, whereas if you use a sword and shield user he’s a little slower and more about jabbing your opponent and then running back. You really get the feel the developers did their research to see how the gladiators moved and used their weapons because you have to watch your opponent and take advantage of any mistakes or missteps. There is a health bar and a block bar, the block bar goes down as you use dodges or block an opponent, but when it empties you are defenceless and this is the perfect time to strike and really go to town on your opponent, but if you’re smart you can go on the assault when you bar is emptied and let it refill while your smash your opponent up.  One final thing about the fights there is a crowd metre and depending on how your gladiator looks and performs it goes up and if it full at the end of the fight you get to perform a killing blow such as severing an appendage from their body. This is where I think multiplayer would be amazing I haven’t tried it myself as I can’t seem to get a match but as the game is so heavily focused on psyching your opponent out and using their mistakes to your advantage I’m guessing it would be an amazing experience against a live opponent. 

I must touch on the big thing about this game and that is that its free 2 play, this game tackles it very well, there are two currencies in this game, gold and silver coin. Silver coins you gain in the game from winning fights and so on. Whereas you gain gold coins from only levelling your fame or buying them. The gold coins allow you to buy better weapons and equipment for your gladiators and also it allows you to get this stuff a lot earlier. So far though I have found you could play the whole game and not spend a penny. It would take a lot longer to complete all the fights as the coin values of the equipment and gladiators you need gets extremely high. I feel though that you could pick this game up play for a few hours and not play again for months. It’s just that kind of game, at its core it’s a fighting game with a sprinkling of gladiators. 

In conclusion I think Ubisoft have done a great job with this game and I think everybody should give it a try, there is near to no bugs and problems that I have found and for a free 2 play game there is nothing to moan about here. i advise everyone to play it as its free and something that shouldn’t be misses especially if you are a fan of the TV series.