Spartacus Legends is worth the price, but is it worth your time?
I must admit, the combat in this game isn't all that bad and it kind of has a charm to it. Most fighting game fans will probably find nothing new or exciting here but it plays alright. However, it's also no without its flaws. For instance, the controls are sometimes unresponsive, especially when trying to pull off combos. There have been times when I've gotten a certain combo to work but other times, it just doesn't for some reason even if I have the right class for it. Also, try rolling out of the way only to go absolutely nowhere and get stabbed because the game failed to respond correctly.
It doesn't help that the difficulty spike is outrageous. At around rank 6 or 7, the game starts throwing heavy hitters at you and you're screwed unless you rank up even higher and get better equipment. At this point, the game turns into a serious grind fest if you ever want to stand a chance when progressing through the single player.
The matchmaking is a complete mess too. I have a decent connection, and the lag in this game makes it beyond unplayable. You'll be fighting and pulling combos off like crazy only to find that the game read none of it and so you get destroyed all of a sudden and lose the match. Hell, win or lose, you'll be lucky if you actually finish the fight before your server craps out and boots you. Maybe it can be fixed some day but as it stands, online isn't even worth your time.
While that is pretty bad, the worst part of the game is the one thing I hate about almost every F2P game; Spartacus Legends is a prime example of "pay to win." If you aren't willing to invest money in this game (and you likely aren't), your selection of weapons, shields, armor and gladiators will be very limited. It doesn't help that the best stuff costs real money too, which means you will be at a huge disadvantage should you ever play against someone who is willing to spend their hard earned money on this game. I know paying for content in free games is the norm for F2P, but this game went overboard with it.
It may be worth the price, but is it worth your time? For the most part, probably not. Spartacus Legends is a fine example of a game with great potential, but poor execution. Don't get me wrong, this game isn't completely terrible for a free fighting game and it has its fun moments, but thanks to controls issues, difficulty spikes, grinding and horrible matchmaking, it's hard to be invested. You might as well come up with some money and buy a good fighting game.