Gladiator 3D
Mobile Game Review


Title: Gladiator 3D
Developer: Fishlabs
Publisher: Fishlabs
Release Date: 30/9/08
Format: J2ME
Game Features: 3D Environment, Characters from the film.
Reviewed on: SE K550i


Summary

Action, action and still more action. Another Fishlabs creation is apparent. Gladiator is the mobile adaptation of the hit film starring Russell Crowe.Well, its not official, but enough characters from the movie feature in the game, to say its loosely based on the movie. The game follows no storyline as such, but focuses upon what it was meant to be, a fighting game.

Review

The first thing you notice on starting the game is the amount of work done to get players absorbed into the era of gladiators. The game begins with a small prologue, an introduction to the world of gladiators. The main menu has Mace and Maximus fighting in the background.

The game has four fight modes, Arcade, Survival, Quick Fight and Bluetooth. Finally, a decent Bluetooth multiplayer game. Quite frankly, I was tired of MicroMonsters. In arcade mode, you pick a character, and try to defeat five others. Fishlabs have tried to incorporate the story of the movie, the last fight is between Maximus and Commodus. This is the mode where you unlock characters, so that you can play other modes using them. The hidden character unlocked on defeating Commodus using Maximus is Commodus himself !! It's nicely done - and best of all, you can cheer just after you've spilt some gladiator blood all over the sand to score additional 'fame points'. Fame points earn continues and damage bonuses. Higher your fame, more the damage you inflict. There are two difficulty levels, slave and gladiator. The latter is unlocked when you complete the slave level.

The fact that all the characters are different adds to the variety. Each has his own moves and different stats. They use different weapons, yet manage to fit in. By “fit in” I mean that, it does not seem unnatural, to see the same move blocked in different ways. The Bluetooth mode is, I am glad to say, very well done. No lagging and phone compatibility issues there.

Moving on to the graphics, all I can say is “awesome”. Fishlabs has done really well with this part (as always, I might add). The arena is well designed, the detailing of the characters, impeccable. In true Fishlabs style, the special ranged attacks are shown in slow motion. Great pains have been taken to design the weapons too. Sound effects are nice, not overly done. The background melody is sort of irritating though. The controls are not very comfortable, I’m afraid to say. You have to press the “ * ” key every time you want to perform a ranged attack. It just hurts the thumb.

Conclusion

All in all, a must-have!!! I’m really impressed by what Fishlabs has managed to do in their first attempt at a one on one fighter. As they say “Gladiator is a compelling and thrilling challenge that provides you hours of adrenaline-soaked gameplay.”



Screenshots


Graphics: 9/10
Couldn’t get better

Sound: 7.5/10
Will do

Gameplay: 9/10
Very entertaining

Story: 6/10
Not much of a story


Overall Score: 8.5 out of 10