an addictive, surprisingly varied, involving game for veterans and novices of the genre alike.
Now, for the general overview of the game itself.
I'll start with the bad just to get it out of the way. The music is a little repetitive, but the sound is good. Voice acting is decent even if the dialogue can be a little cheesy. In the very beginning scenes, the characters have dialogue sequences in which they converse while in their fighting stances for some reason. That's a minor flaw and not a permanent issue.
The graphics are great, gladiators are well animated in the arena. The characters are customizable not just by equipment and skills but, to an extent, by appearance. Appearance changes apply to the characters in the cutscenes as well as in the arena.
The attacks are more interactive than in most strategy and role-playing games with the swing meter being a nice touch. I have yet to revisit it (need to soon), but there is a practice area available in one of the towns so that one can learn/practice new skills and master the sometimes difficult to understand button combos for more elaborate moves.
I'm not very far into this reportedly long and deeply involved cross between strategy and role-playing game, but it appears there is more to the story than just developing a successful and popular gladiator school. I'm curious to see how this Dark God comes into play and how the storyline/character I didn't choose (I chose Ursula of Nordagh) is supposed to intertwine with my own story as I play forward.
Usually, four or five hours into a game, I can get a pretty good impression of how I'm going to rate it. I'm about ten hours into it now and I rate this one very highly. If you happen across it in a bargain bin (it is a couple of years old), I say don't hesitate to pick it up. A rental just won't suffice.