Gladiator Begins

by Aksys

• Fight for Glory and Freedom! Your Gladiator will face many trials in his/her fight for freedom. You'll encounter slaves, nobles, gladiators and furious animals.
• Earn the respect of politicians and the love of the Romans! Gain a patron's favor and experience unique story paths. There are 5 different patrons to devote your allegiance to!
• Develop your own signature techniques Every Gladiator has their own personal flair! Master the art of combat with dual weapons, sword & shield, hand-to-hand, and polearms.
• Learn new skills to entertain the crowd like Smash, Cyclone, Drop Kick and Wild Dance!
• Players now the battle map and adventure map are one and the same. What you do before battle affects the terrain, and vice-versa

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B003V3O4A0
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 14, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,103 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #11 in Video Games > Sony PSP > Games > Action > Fighting
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Sony PSP

Customize your own Gladiator and win your freedom! Choose from several different builds, faces, hair styles and skin tones. Depending on which gender you pick, NPCs will react differently! Ad-Hoc Multiplayer action, battle a friend using the Ad-hoc multiplayer option. Weapons and Armor Galore with over 500 plus swords, shields, spears, clubs and axes. Refine blessed weapons to make them stronger at the blacksmith.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars THE most underrated game ever!! April 29, 2011

By set

Platform for Display:Sony PSP|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

my total purchased price: 22.49

First off, I really HATE action games because I suck at it. My preferred poison is RPG.

Only "action" games I ever finished to the end were the first Tenchu (PS1),MGS 1 (PS1)and Resistance Retribution(PSP)...I can only finish games that are extraordinary and this game fits the bill.
I know this isn't pure action game but it made me stop playing GOW the ghost of Sparta, Ys7 and also highly highly regarded DS RPG, Radiant Historia. AND THAT"S SAYING SOMETHING.

Graphic wise, this game has ton of blood, gores (amazingly, much more blood and realistic violence then GOW) and a very natural fighting animation.

Game play wise, this game has more then enough RPG elements (earning money to buy weapons and armor, receiving battle loots from winning battles to use or sell, and player adjustable point system for HP, stamina and strength. Finally, earned skill experience and technique experience to use on battles).

It has just right amount of "very graphic and gory" battles ( that actually shows bloody cuts and slash battle damage on your players face and body!!)with tight control to see me to the very end. I'm only in my 16th day and so far it is not frustratingly hard nor boringly easy, just P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

Story? Like I said I'm a RPG fanatic and even I don't care about all that. There's very thin story of many different "patrons" you can choose and will fight for. It's shallow as Monster Hunter...okay maybe little more but whatever.

The only nitpicking some people might have it might be bit repetitive but that the nature of of this "game" so I am not counting against it.

It's EXCEEDINGLY fun.
It gets my highest HIGHEST recommendation....

UPDATE: I just finished the game last night (5/09/2011)
Wow~ what an amazing ride.... The 20th day was really REALLY hard for me. To overcome, I had to back tracked to 16th day save file and pour all my points to strength.
From that day on I spent 80% of my points to strength and 20% to HP and endurance.
Also, make sure "easy combo" is turned OFF in the option menu...that helped A LOT!!!
Lastly I thought "passive skill" was overrated...
Again, great GREAT game!! I can't recommend enough. I'm going to play it again right now on HARD MODE with different patron.

UPDATE: 6/10/2011
Wow~ hard mode is R E A L L Y hard , again, on about 21st day..
UPDATE: 6/13/2011
Now I add ALL my points to strength and I also refine everything to upgrade my weapon's damage points. It seems to be working. I'm at day 35 at Hard mode.
UPDATE: 7/10/2011
Just finished the hard mode by paying little more attention to what moves the opponent using and countering by using my combos appropriately. I use combo till I see the "combo" bar goes down almost to red then use normal attacks while the combo meter recharge again and switched to combo again. This method seems obvious, but on normal I mostly used brute force and that seemed to work fine. I'm on to "nightmare" mode...I can't wait!!
UPDATE: 8/02/2011
Just an outstanding game. Of over twenty years of gaming, this is my only and first game ever to play multiple times.

IT'S THAT GOOD... Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Gladiator Begins for PSP October 10, 2010

By Blair mountainbike1

Platform for Display:Sony PSP|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Gamers often have differing opinions on what is good and what is not. I for one like most 3d platformers and action like God of War and Prince of Persia. This game is a standard fighting game with some RPG elements and frankly has been consuming alot of my time lately. 8/10 for a PSP game.... pretty good.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great game!!!!!!!!!!!!! September 27, 2010

By Chia Lueh Beng

Platform for Display:Sony PSP

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

How come there is so little publicity for this game? Read the description on the PSP, got interested as I love fighting games, and am now fully hooked. Controls are very easy to master, however, speed and coordination come into play if you want to progress further!! Love the battle arena mode where you can break from the storyline and just fight against any random opponent.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So FUN! December 26, 2012

By nebbyKnezzar

Platform for Display:Sony PSP|Amazon Verified Purchase

The game is not very complex, the story literally doesn't exist, and you don't get any feeling for your character but it's SO FUN. It's an RPG where you can level up skills. There is an insane amount of blood (probably somewhat realistic. Chances are if you hit someone with a war hammer in the head, there will be some gushing blood). This alone makes it addicting. There are a TON of weapons and armor pieces to customize your character with. Easily thousands of combinations of armor and weapons that can give you whatever fighting style you choose. Fast and quick to deal out damage or slower and more defense minded. Spears and pikes for battles at range or the cestus and a buckler shield to quite literally kickbox your opponent to death. The combination of items to make it the gameplay you want is what gives Gladiator Begins its fun and replay-ability for me. Graphics aren't mesmerizing, sounds aren't crazy, story doesn't exist, but I still give this game a 10/10 just because of the hours I've been playing it nonstop and the continued hours ahead.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best PSP games February 7, 2011

By Scott Johnson

Platform for Display:Sony PSP|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

Gladiator Begins is one of the best PSP fighting games. Starting off as a slave, purchased and briefly trained to entertain people by fighting in the arenas of ancient Rome. You pick up fighting moves, techniques and styles from opponents and use them to their best effect to survive combat and amass victories to the point where you can buy your own freedom back. There are five story lines interwoven within the repetitious combat, but the main thrust of the game is to defeat opponents in the arena, gain experience, collect better weapons and equipment, struck from the limbs of your opponents, and having the blacksmiths refine this gear further. As the game progresses, you are promoted to higher ranks of the gladiators and are pitted against stronger and more famous opponents, and the crowd expects more of a spectacular show from you than from the lowly gladius fodder who hack each other to bits with little finesse.

The fighting system has great depth and diverse breadth. Pick a style, weapon and small shield, weapon and large shield, two weapons, or pugilist (armed fist weapons) and assign four different types of attacks for the style chosen. Experiment with different types of attacks with the style along with a general fighting technique learned from defeating a famous gladiator. Assign experience points to the attacks, train with these techniques, and find out what works best with what you have.

Combat is brutal and gladiators that swing wildly end up tiring themselves out, leaving themselves vulnerable to attack. Know when to flee a dangerous situation (when surrounded by enemies), back away from attacks and when to close to deliver an attack at a vulnerable part of an opponent.... Slamming away at each other, helmets, shields, weapons, and pieces of armor can be smashed away from their owners and then the real damage can be done when a gladiator is robbed of their protection.

A very good hack-and-slash game that works well for the little PSP. Read more ›