ARENA GODS

Review

One of the most deadly games ever invented by humans was officially recorded in 264 BC. And yes, you guessed it . . .  it’s the Gladiator Games. The interesting point is some of them actually volunteer to become swordsmen in order to rise to fame and improve their social standing within the state of Rome. But most of the so-called Gladiators were prisoners of war, thieves and slaves. They were trained under harsh conditions in secluded Gladiator schools until they were ready to walk into the Arena for the first, and for a large number of them, the last time. Now, are you going to be our next champion and crowd favourite, and even become a god of the Roman people? That is, if you can survive long enough in Arena Gods!

ARENA GODS is a top down local multiplayer game where you take control of one of four colourful gladiators and aim to be the last man alive in the arena. At the time I write this review, this game is currently under development and listed as an Early Access Game.

Right now, you can play against three of your friends, or against bots. Your goal is to become the last man standing for three rounds to win the contest. As you face three other opponents there is the possibility for you to play up to nine rounds (assuming that each gladiator won two rounds each) before winning the contest.

The game play is pretty simple; competitive, brutal and so much fun! Within the arena, you have four large tiles with circles on them, and several smaller tiles with hexagon motifs on them, scatted around the arena. The gladiators will enter the Lion den via the large tiles at the same time, with bare hands and a helmet. During the fights, about every fifteen seconds or so, one of the hexagon symbols on one of the smaller tiles will glow white and a chest will appear. Hover your character over the chest to discover which weapon it holds. You will have to grab the weapon first by using one of the buttons on your gamepad or keyboard to acquire it. You’ll be able to swing or even throw it to your opponent for the kill. However, you haven’t managed to pick up a weapon, your fist will be doing the talking. Try to get your adversaries on the ground face down, jump on him and his day will be over soon. If you character is the one who is kissing the ground, you might be able to avoid your enemy before he is on top of you and beating you to a pulp!

The game looks ok in regards to the graphics, and the controls are pretty good too. So far, I am enjoying the game. The content is fairly small right now as you have just a few arenas to play in and no character customizations. The good news is that the developers are working on more content in regards to the arena and might even consider an online mode, too.