"Story of a Gladiator"

"Story of a Gladiator"
Reviewer: Carless Yen
Publisher/Dev: Brain Seal Ltd.
Platforms: PC, Switch, Xbox, Ps4
Release Date: 11/27/2019
Price:10.99

Story of a Gladiator is an area beat em up where you play as a guy who loses his wife and family and doesn't have much to live for. You go on a drinking spree pretty much giving up on life until one day you see a impressive looking man in a bar, and discover he battles to the death for coin. After meeting him you decide that is your destiny, and go to do battle in the arena.
There are three different Arenas 12 different battles in each one. You can get from one to three stars after your battle depending on how well you do. You also receive coin and XP. Each Arena is different from different enemies, animals and even traps. There are pits, spikes, and even fire. There are 80 different enemies, and 20 different animals. Each ones have different move sets and attacks. Each level has different amount of waves, and enemies. Your character choice determines skills starting out. You can pick between three different characters, as well as three different skill levels. The skill level determines how many lives you get. On Easy you can die as much as you want, but on hard it is limited. It can get really chaotic with the screen just full of enemies, so it's certainly a challenge either mode.

You use your coin to buy things in the marketplace. You can purchase new armor, weapons, and shields. These raise your health and attack power. Each time you purchase one it will unlock a few until you reach the end. There are achievements for buying all of them. You get some really cool weapons, shields, and armors though all the way up until you are wearing a awesome lion skin and carrying gold weapons. I really like how you progress this way. It keeps it a challenge. You can also purchase animals to help you fight. Lions, Tigers, and Panthers at your side is really cool they follow you even to and from stores. You can also use your coin to give to your God of choice. This will give you perks and abilities in battle.Each god has 2 different things they provide help you get for free, and also help from donation. Can come in handy. The Cats are the same as well, they will also provide extra perk if you feed them well. There is a butcher shop to buy food to give you small boosts before battles, and also General store to buy bandages and throwing items to use in battle. In the Marketplace there is also a place to purchase and upgrade amulets. You upgrade them with the stars you unlock on each level. Each Amulet does different things like helping you to gain more coin. There is also a trainer in town who will teach you new moves like running, rolling, and even more important back stabbing. It's the best, and important for hard mode.

The game looks really cool, I love it's art style in cut scenes as well as the arena. It has a nice cartoon appearance to it. The music and voice acting are also very nice. The Narrator has a Morgan Freeman like quality to his voice that delivers the story nicely. I was really surprised by this game. I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. I found myself not able to step away. I beat it on one sitting, and started it over on hard. You can get all the Achievements but one on easy, the other is for beating Hard mode. One of the Achievements appear glitched for me. Upgrading the Amulet, I had 100 stars and it still didn't pop. Maybe update fixes down the road, but that is only issue I experienced with this game. No freezing, or glitches in two whole play through.
I really recommend this game if you want a game to spend a evening with. There isn't a ton of replay value. I say you play it through twice, and never come back to it, but at that price that is good enough. You'll have enough fun playing it twice to cover the great value of it. Would be nice if they added some multiplayer like battles or coop in the arenas. Could add some replay value to it, maybe in the sequel.

Pros:
Great Voice acting
Spot on controls and glitch free
Tons of marketplace options for character appearance
Cool bosses, animals, and gladiators
Challenging

Cons:
No replay value
Multiplayer would have been fun addition

Overall: 8.0

Story of a Gladiator is a awesome way to spend a evening. Chopping down Gladiators and beast will feel so fun and rewarding as you watch your character progress and change.

#brainseal #storyofagladiator