Galdius, for the Xbox, may resemble the award-winning movie Gladiator, but this game, from LucasArts, is 100% original. In this game, mythical creatures, such as ogres, are just as common in the gladiatorial arena as lions and humans. In this strategy-RPG, you’ll build up a squad of gladiators, equip them with a wide array of weapons and armor, and pit them against the various opponents in the arena. Once you win, your characters will gain experience points which can be used to attain special abilities. The fighting is similar to “Final Fantasy Tactics,” but the concept is fresh and original (something the RPG genre is missing).

The game is set in a land similar to Rome, and its outlying areas. In these areas, an uneasy truce is reached between the varying cultures. In order to satisfy their cultural demand of violence, the gladiatorial games take place, where spectators can watch warriors, wizards, and beasts compete against each other for the sake of entertainment.

At the start of the game, you need to choose between to main characters: Valens, a fighter, and Ursula, a princess. Like every good RPG, their fates are intertwined, so while you’ll have a somewhat different story to follow for each character (which boosts the replay value sky high), the ultimate goal is to have Ursula avoid the witches, who need her to revive the “dark god.” OK, so the plot isn’t very good, but it is very well executed.

While Gladius does have a plot, the main focus (as in every strategy-RPG) is the battles. You’ll travel from town to town, fighting in the various arenas. This game is so focused on combat that the interface for the towns is basically a selection for the various arenas you can fight in.

Your goal is to win that country’s championship. To do that, you must win various cups in towns. Once you win enough cups, you’ll be eligible to fight in that town’s tournament. Win the tournament, and you’ll be one step closer to the championship. There are a number of different towns spread across four regions, which doesn’t seem like a lot of content; but, the battles in Gladius are very lengthy.

To keep things interesting (since the constant repetition could get boring), restrictions are placed in each arena; for example, you may be limited to 2 gladiators, different classes (light, medium, or heavy), or gladiators of different race. While this does help increase the variety within Gladius (forcing you to keep a well balanced group), it often feels like a far-reaching excuse for strategy, rather than an actual reason.

The AI in the game, while not flawless, will kick your butt if you’re not careful. There are some times when you’ll scratch your head and wonder “what the heck is the computer doing,” such as when an opponent goes around the entire arena in order get around one of their allies.

After the battle, your main combatants will gain experience points, while the gladiators on the side will also get a minor slice. One of the nice features (or flaws) is that you do not need to worry about having one of your best gladiators dieing, because every arena has “healers” who will bring your warriors back to full strength at the end of a battle. Now, if you’re a “hardcore” strategy-RPG fan, you’ll probably find this to be an annoying feature; but, for everyone else, it’s great to know that the time you’ve invested in your highly trained gladiators won’t be thrown away because you made a mistake. In fact, this feature almost encourages you to invest time in a few gladiators that can dominate in a few different competitions.

Your gladiators are associated with various “affinity gods” which represent the various elemental powers your gladiator can wield. If your gladiator spends skill points on “affinity attacks,” and they use equipment that earns “affinity points” they’ll eventually be able to unleash a devastating “affinity attack,” To add some strategy to these battles, the combat system has a weighted “rock-paper-scissors” balance between the three weight classes. It’s not so weighted that it’s impossible for a heavy class warrior to hit a light class warrior, but it does benefit you to deploy your gladiators in a way that fits this model.

Archers and summoners add another layer of strategy to the battles, because their ranged attacks can wreak havoc on your team, but they’re not too much of a threat up close. As with every strategy-RPG, if you attack an opponent from the side or back, you’ll dish our more damage than if you had attacked head-on. Also, by dealing out more damage, you’ll please the crowd. And, if you please the crowd enough, you’ll gain some special power-ups – from a speed boost, to a critical damage boost – which can help you quickly eliminate your foes.

In order to hit your foes, you’ll have to master the “swing meter.” This meter comes in three flavors: a meter that pulses between several stages, a random button sequence, and a button-mashing sequence.

The first swing meter is similar to the kickers meter in the Madden NFL games – it quickly glides to the optimal range, and then goes beyond it. If you hit the attack button before the meter hits the “sweet spot” you won’t dish out as much damage as you could, and if you go beyond it, you’ll miss altogether.

The second swing meter is something similar to the system found in “God of War.” In this system, you’ll have to press a random sequence of buttons in order for the attack to succeed. I happily found this to be the easiest of the three systems, because the timing is forgiving.

The most annoying swing meter, by far, is the third and final one: pure button mashing, which alternates between two buttons. Your thumbs will hate you.

While the swing meter is a nice feature, as it can keep you engaged in the battles, it only helps to lengthen the game, which is long enough as is.

The sound isn’t going to win any awards anytime soon. While every town has their own theme, the battle theme is the same in every battle, and is short, which, given enough time, will drive you insane. Also, while the voice acting is excellent, the characters have catch-phrases that are repeated too often.

The graphics in this game are excellent, and LucasArts did a wonderful job of bringing your gladiators to life, with full facial animations, and fluid movements. Sadly, there are some clipping issues when your characters come too close to certain objects, but this is a very minor issue and does not affect game play. While the game does come on all three systems, only the Xbox has all of the graphical beauty without any of the framerate issues. The Playstation 2 version isn’t as beautiful, and the GameCube, unfortunately, has some framerate issues.

As an added benefit, Gladius offers cooperative or competitive multiplayer. The Xbox and Gamecube sports 4-way connection, while the Playstation 2 sports 2-way connections. While its nothing spectacular, mainly because it takes so long to build up a team of gladiators, it’s a nice addition.

Overall, this is an excellent game. If you enjoyed Final Fantasy Tactics, or any other game of this genre, you’ll love Gladius. While it’s not for the very casual game fan (you can’t pick this title up and play it over the weekend), if you enjoy becoming engrossed in the gameplay, you’ll like what Gladius has to offer.

Click here to get Gladius for the Xbox