Spartacus Legends

[ThryllSeekyr]

I found this game after hopping back on my Playstation Three after many months of leaving it to collect dust.

I had just created my account on Playstation Network without giving away my credit card details.

I am now known as SLAINE-THE-KING on Playstation Network and Mitigated Shark (It was a suggestion from the console itself and I thought it sounded cool at the time before looked up what Mitigated actually meant) on X-Box Live.

If you want to add me your friends list if there is such a thing.

Anyway, I found this game called Spartacus Legends based on the Starz television series of similer name.

It's about Gladiator battles.

First you shown how to fight with your Gladiator in a tutorial. The Gladiator looks a lot like Spartacus himself. The second one portrayed by Liam MacIntyre.

It is here you are shown how to slash quickly at your opponent with your wooden gladius with a press of the x button.

You are shown how to make a slower but heavier attack with a press of the triangle button.

You are shown how to grab and thro your opponent to the ground with a press of the circle button.

I forget what the other button does.

He will perform a roll if you wiggle the right thumb stick.

He will block if you  press the left bumper.

He will perform a execution move if your opponent is dazed or already on the ground if you press one of the  previous attack buttons. (I think)

This where you are then treated to a nasty visual of the other guys face being sliced off by Spartacus.



Then the actual game starts and you are given a lowly slave for your starting Gladiator is called just that. The slave.

Though, he can buy him other titles, better titles with money won in game.

You can buy him a lot of things with money won in a game.

Better weapon that are not only made of wood, better shields.

Metal Equs rather than rounded wooden.

Helmets, leather helmets and metal ones as well.

My slave currently has a very silly leather one with funny tassel thing sticking out of the top of it. I am eager to upgrade from this but the other better choices are very expensive.

Better body armour and foot wear. Anything from cloth to leather to steel.

So far I have spent nearly 2000 silver pieces and you can win any thing from 50 to 100 to 200-300 silver a fight.



Once you slave is ready to fight, you can choose to practice  or to enter a real fight.

You can even fight other players online, but have to wait in a queue.



You are shown a map that I think is just the immediate area around the Ludus you start in and this shows all the areas you can visit and fight in.

Sometimes the battles are in the Ludus, sometimes the battles are on the streets and in the dark alley ways and at other times they may end up in the big arena.

You click on one of the floating icons on the map and it takes you to the spot to fight the waiting opponent.



Some fights need you to be of certain level to compete.

Once I started fighting, I found it very hard to pull off any special moves or executions (Maybe, because my slave didn't have any purchased.) and just had to swing repeatedly at the other opponent until he just fell down. I think it also depends on your weapon as you start the game with just a wooden dagger and I had only just upgraded to a rusty gladius.

I'm not even sure if you can mutilate your opponent with a deft swing of your weapon. Although the face slicing was shown in the tutorial and I 've seen the bottom of a leg come off and a decapitation in the game trailer I've linked towards the bottom.



Just like in the television show, it is.

When you win, you get some silver coins, I'm not really sure how much, it varies and after about five fights I think I had about 1000 silver pieces.



You also get awarded favour from the crowd. The more of this you have , the more popular you become and I'm not altogether to sure what that really amounts to. But this score can go up or down depending wether you have won or lost many fights.



There are other things you get from winning fights that I don't quite remember......... and there are unlocks where you can choose specific weapon, shields, helmets armour, footwear that will become availebl at the market when you can take your Gladiator to upgrade his equipment. I had thought these unlocks would immediately go into inventory at first,  but no they just become available at the market.



You also sometimes get awarded perks.

A perks is some other quality that your gladiator gains to will allow him the fight better, give him a automatic special move or a special defence or something like that.



My gladiators first perk was Thick-Skull and I exchanged it for another.

It would appear that you can only have one of these perks at a time or that perhaps as you become a better Gladiator you may proberly possess more than one at a time. I'm not really sure about that.



As your Gladiator survives each battle and wins others they may gain a level. Levels are important for challenges that require your Gladiator to be of a certain level before they can even compete in those fights.

Pretty soon you will more than enough money to handle and you will be able to buy or create other Gladiators and soon you will have your own Ludus full of them.

Here's a Spartacus Legends - Game Trailer

The initial game itself is currently a free download on Playstation Network and I think it's also available on X-box Live.

I may download on this game  the X-box 360 as well.



By Jupiters cock, it's such a great and bloody game filled with many a promise of severing of faces, limbs, bollocks and decapitations.