A fun game with an exceptional business model. Worth checking out.
Spartacus Legends is a brawler set in roman times. You play a 'house' (which I imagine is a noble family of some sorts) that hire gladiators to increase their glory. There are six districts, each with their own challenges and boss fights. You can buy new gladiators that each specialize in a certain style, for example sword and shield, hammer or dual daggers, among many others. You buy new weapons and armor for your gladiators using either gold or silver. Gold is the premium currency, and silver the standard. More about the business model later.
So let's talk about the combat. It is the game's biggest strength and it's worse weakness. The different weapons can provide a bit of variety to the combat, but essentially it's the same for most gladiators. There are light and heavy attacks, kicks, grabs, rolls and blocks. You can combine these together to create some pretty sweet combos which are a lot of fun to pull off. However, the combat is quite shallow. A lot of the time you will just find yourself mashing X and Y, however from what I have seen that gets increasingly difficult to do as the game progresses. Despite the button-mashing, the game is actually quite difficult. You can get caught in combos that smash your health down to nil in a matter of seconds.
If you manage to pull off combos and suchlike, the crowd meter will start to fill up. If the crowd meter is full at the end of the match, you can perform executions that range from cutting off limbs to sticking your sword through the bottom of your opponents chin and out the top of the head! Some of these executions are brutally fun and make me really work to fill up the crowd meter, which discourages button-mashing. The boss fights are punishingly difficult, and can get frustrating, but otherwise pretty standard stuff. Overall, the combat is quite good, and encourages to play the game however you want, whether it be lots of rolling and dodging with two daggers, or a heavily armored tank with a hammer.
Graphics wise, the game is pretty standard. Textures are a little sub-par, but the animations are great and lighting is very realistic and nice-looking. Character models are ok. Not much else to talk about, pretty much what you would expect from a free-to-play console game.
The multiplayer consists of simply fighting different players in different districts. It would have been good if they had included more modes such as mortal kombat's king of the hill or a new innovation, but sadly that is not there. Just simple quick matches. Therefore, this should NOT be seen as a multiplayer-focused game. The single player is worth investing more time into.
Now the big fish. How is the business model, with this being a free-to-play game? I am happy to report that it is good. Actually, very good. You get free gold upon leveling up, and this gold is used for nothing more than to speed things up or getting better weapons and armor earlier on. You can choose to speed your character up and get him better stuff early, but there is no exclusive content and it is not pay-to-win. Congratulations ubisoft for pulling this off so well.
Overall, spartacus legends is a game I will certainly be playing more of, and I suggest you do too. Download it for free and you will not be disappointed.