Rage of the Gladiator (Nintendo 3DS) Review

Gracius, prince of Avalance, is the main protagonist of Rage of the Gladiator and a typical, if maybe a bit generic in looks, gladiator. He was initially sent into the arena to die, as a death sentence for being falsely accused of killing his father. In order to survive, he must defeat his opponents in this arena before they do the same to him. Doing so takes place in first-person fights against fantastic enemies, ranging from mythical creatures like a Minotaur to everyone's favourite long-bearded serpent-charmer, amongst many others. Ten opponents await (with a secret eleventh one accessible under certain circumstances) and defeating them all is the only way to clear the game, with higher difficulty levels unlocking when doing so.

As will be obvious from here on in this review, from all the comparisons drawn to it, this game plays very much like a Punch-Out clone, at least at its core. Basic actions include left and right punches, left and right kicks (which basically are the counterparts of the lower left and right punches in Nintendo's franchise) and a shield guard. Where it starts going beyond Nintendo's recipe is in everything else.

As Gracius fights, a blue mana meter fills at the bottom of the screen, not unlike that of certain 2D side-scrolling one-on-one brawlers from Capcom or SNK, actually, with three levels to it. That meter, once filled up enough, lets players unleash devastating special powers with highly varying effects, with some requiring the meter to be filled to a higher level than others.

Those powers have to be unlocked and purchased from the in-game shop using the money won from fights (because, yes, death sentenced pit fighters earn money from fighting for their life - how sweet is that?). There are a lot of them, too! Powers come in three different flavours; some focusing on devastating physical attacks, others on greatly increasing the hero's aptitude to parry the enemy's most powerful moves, and the third and final type is magic, allowing more combos to be performed. In a sense, this corrects the sometimes unfair nature of the Punch-Out fighters who are allowed all kinds of nonsensical moves, whilst Little Mac is limited to just using his punches!

Moreover, potions may be purchased to be used in battle to replenish the mana meter mentioned above, as well as the health bar, which adds more accessibility for less skilled players. Indeed, Punch-Out games may become quite unforgiveable, especially on younger and less patient players who want to continue kicking ass beyond the first pitiful opponent. Rage of the Gladiator, however, offers a much smoother learning curve, and as a matter of fact, a longer period of gameplay, as each difficulty level sees Gracius fighting the same opponents.

The opponents are the same ones, yes, but they are then much quicker, hit harder and show some new moves that they never performed before, allowing even the less skilled players to get some great enjoyment from it right away. That's not to say that Punch-Out!! is a worse game, but whereas it offered enjoyment on durability and trial and error to try to spot weaknesses in the opponent's moveset, Rage of the Gladiator offers something similar but smoothened to be more directly accessible without sacrificing too much of the "hardcore" fun that the most skilled players may want to look forward to.

This is all served through good graphics that are quite on par with those of the WiiWare version, although jaggies are a bit more visible due to the lower resolution of the 3DS screen. However, the main addition, as one would expect, is the stereoscopic 3D effect, which works incredibly well - as it tends to in games relying on a first-person view - and is a feature which makes this 3DS version perhaps all the more appealing compared to its Android and iPhone counterparts, let alone due to the fact that the 3DS offers the comfort and accuracy of having actual "buttons" on it! Obviously, the motion controls of the WiiWare version are no more on the portable system, but some can't have it all, anywhere, anytime, right?