Gladius (Xbox):

I've spent about five hours with Gladius now, and have barely scratched the surface. Usually I consider this a good thing, since some games can be beat in that amount of time. (Max Payne/2, anyone?) I'm enjoying the glut of the game, which is the battles. I've never really given SRPGs much of a chance because they all seem too boring to me, but Gladius is enjoyable so far.

Turn based strategic combat is the basis of the game, along with, so far, a pretty decent story that I'm sure will get a lot more interesting. I don't really feel much like delving too much into the game, since you can read a pretty well written review right over here at GameFAQs that adequately explains everything.

The most interesting thing about the basis of the game is that it turns arena fighting (Gladiating?) into a vehicle for rich and powerful people to show economic and political power... sort of like how jousting was used in medieval times. Sure, in this it's a complete work of fiction, but it is an interesting concept to play around with. Now if only we could have put George W. Bush and Saddam Hussien in an area battle... Perhaps they could do doubles, Bush and Cheney against Hussein and one of his sons... Course the Hussiens would win, so maybe that's not such a good idea.

My run down: Graphics are top notch. (IMHO, of course. Some reviews say the graphics suck and I wonder what those people are on, but then again they probably didn't grow up playing Mario or Quake so their standards are much higher for some weird reason). One of the two main playable characters is voiced by Linda Cardellini who I absolutely adore, so that's a definite benefit. Controls are good and battles are interesting to watch so you wont get too horribly bored.

I predict in a future my run down will turn into this: Graphics haven't changed much, so arenas are beginning to all look the same. I've been playing the game for a total of fifty hours now, so any time I turn on my Xbox and see the title screen, my eyes start bleeding uncontrollably. Individual battles can take me around hours to complete so my fingers have been replaced by bloody stumps. I've long since gouged out my ear drums with Q-Tips so I don't have to hear the same damn music anymore over and over again during battle.

But, I like it now, so that's all that matters.