Gladiator's True Purpose

Introducion

Gladiator's True Purpose is a short comedy game created by Superstroke and Rine as part of the Swap in the Middle with You event. As such this game is a fusion of the work of two different developers. Sadly, I couldn't get into either half of this game. The first half struggles because the combat in the arena isn't challenging and is largely just a tedious affair where you spend most of your time spamming uppercut in order to stun your opponent. The second half struggles because the dancing only requires you to randomly tap on the arrow keys. There isn't any real semblance of style or technique on display here. As such, it just becomes a boring affair where you just mash buttons until you win.

Story

On the story side of things Gladiator's True Purpose starts out with a rather cliche story where you play as a nameless orc that is being forced to compete in life and death battles for the entertainment of mere commoners. Sadly, this half of the game isn't all that interesting since you'll merely approach a nameless guard over and over again in order to be sent to the arena to face your next opponent. The game doesn't really put in any effort to flesh out the characters at this point and saves that for the second half where the game tries to lampoon the first half of the game with mixed results.

I have to admit that I couldn't really get into the humor in the second half of the game, but my sense of humor can be rather stunted at times and I wasn't in the best of moods for laugh when I played this game. But it's during the second half of this game that you'll face off against your foes with the most deadly of all martial arts! Freestyle Dancing! Truly, there is nothing more fearsome and awe inspiring then watching an orc get down with his bad self.

Conclusion

From a gameplay perspective Gladiator's True Purpose is rather weak. The lack of threatening opponent's in the first half combined with a second half that is all about button mashing until you win makes for a game that can't really draw the player in. Add in the fact that the game's attempts at lampooning RPGs may not appeal to some players and your left with a game that can fall flat on it's face. Though, if your in the mood for a game that starts out on a more serious note, only to turn into a game that spoofs RPGs then this title might have some appeal to you.