Recently released by GhostFire Games on the WiiWare service, Rage of the Gladiator is a new take on the “Punch Out!!” style gameplay we’ve all come to know and love. Does that justify the spending of our 1000 Wii Points to dive into the world of Avelencia and smash up some goons? I say we find out 
Time Played: About 4 Hours
Completion Status: About 60%
(Normally I like to beat games, but this game has earned an early review.)
As I like to do, let’s get to right to it. This game is very fun if you are a fan of the “Punch Out!!” series. The gameplay is very similar in that you learn and memorize the patterns of your enemies and counter, dodge and fight back accordingly. If you’re into a good time on the cheap, you have absolutely no reason to NOT pick this up. It is definitely worth the purchase!
My score for Rage of the Gladiator is an 8.0
Looking more into detail, let’s touch on the graphics and design in general.
They are nothing that you’ll write home to your mom about, but you have to remember that this game is NOT retail and is a downloadable title. Ghostfire Games has managed to wrangle up a cast of full 3D characters with great animation that really sells you home and makes the combat feel very satisfying all while keeping within the limitations of the WiiWare filesize. While the graphics are not too impressive, there are some fun effects with particles and lighting that make up for this.
Great Animation. Boom Boom!
Ooo pretty lights!
The menus are sadly navigated by the D-Pad or Control stick on the Wii Remote/Nunchuck and I would have really liked some pointer controls. This was a weak choice in my opinion and makes menus that should be easy to navigate a slight pain. On the plus side, this game offers you 3 methods of controls. You can play NES style (with the remote on the side) if you really want that Punch Out!! experience. You can also play with the Wiimote/Nunchuck combo where the Wiimote acts as your weapon. And of course, for better swing detection, Ghostfire Games has enabled use of the WiiMotion+ in this game. I prefer this method of control, but don’t expect 1:1 controls as you can only attack in 6 directions (actually 4, but the game has the option of high/low side attacks.)
Very nice art, but cheap and confusing!
The storyline in this game is fairly cringe-worthy but keep in mind I’ve yet to play to the end of the game. Keeping this part short and sweet, my main critique is that the story feels very out of place and often feels unrelated to the action going on in the actual game. It is also delivered very poorly through static cinematic artwork (which normally involves a 1-3 minute zoom on a single picture.) This is the sacrifice we make when considering how much Ghostfire Games has pushed the size limits with the character models and animation.
Wut? I want to ride a horse too!
The audio is another positive point to take note of. Some of the music in this game is just excellent. Pieces with epic choirs really give the battles a sense of suspense. It’s nice to enjoy great music while someone is pounding your face in. The voice acting, while not horrible, is not the best. Nonetheless, I found it enjoyable and the voices fit the characters very well. The voice-over for the “cutscenes” however, was pretty bad.
And now, the final point: Lasting Appeal.
If we are going to spend 10 dollars on something, it should last us for some time right? Well this game isn’t going to last you a year. It might not even last you a couple of months. However, I find a lot of fun to be had in this game, especially if you are a big fan of “Punch Out!!” like myself and I can see myself actually coming back to this to pound some faces in. As you go through the game, you will build up your character RPG style with skills and combos to help you fight future foes. There are a lot of options and you have to choose between 3 categories of upgrades. Overall, I enjoyed this aspect very much and found this is something the game improved on from “Punch Out!!”.
I CANT DECIDE! BRAIN ANEURYSM!
The game includes a Challenge Mode which is a clever disguise for what is actually the 2nd part of the campaign. I would have liked an actual Challenge mode with objectives for each enemy like in “Punch Out!!” for the Wii, but it’s good they extended the game in this method (otherwise the main game would have been very short.)
This isn’t the greatest game in the world, but I can guarantee you will have a good time with it. While the 1000 points seems steep, 10 dollars is right around the proper value of this game and there is no reason for you NOT to pick it up!
So what are you waiting for?
April 11, 2010 at 12:56 am |
Augmented Reality seems to be a game changer, indeed. I wonder if some day people will be able to point their mobile device towards just about anyone or anything anywhere, and it will recognize that person or thing and provide any desired information about it.