Colosseum: Road To Freedom

Uri, vinciri, uerberari, ferroque necari – to be burned, to be bound, to be beaten, to die by the sword. That’s a gladiator oath, or creed, or thing that men shout at each other to make themselves feel more like men. You don’t need to comprehend Latin to play Colosseum, or even have a small level of conversational Greek. It may help you to know that the game was known as ‘Gladiator’ in its native Japan, but that’s not as useful as understanding that it’s a beat-’em-up with role-playing elements. Think Tekken with multiple opponents, plenty of levelling up and a menagerie of different weapons and armour types. Think that now, and then move onto the next paragraph where we will define what we mean by the term ‘huh-huh-huunh!’. Again.

When a game goes ‘huh-huh-huunh!’ it most probably means you’re bashing buttons and enemies of low intelligence are dying en masse. Games that display this aural behaviour generally get sneered at by passers by, but are often loved by those who understand that victory is rarely guaranteed by random finger fluttering. Dynasty Warriors is a classic example, as is Champions Of Norrath. Indeed, both Colosseum and the delightful EverQuest spin-off fit particularly snugly under the ‘Action RPG’ banner. Dynasty Warriors involves multiple enemies and ‘huh-huh-huunh!’. This is where the similarities end.

Colosseum is gladiatorial combat as unleashed through four buttons that cover high and low attacks, and slashes from the left or right. Weapons can be picked up and thrown during a fight, and two can be used at a time so you can mix the speed of a short sword with the reach given by a trident together for tasty results. If you have a shield, R1 will hold it out in protection, if you’re going in just with blades, the same button will cause your fighter to dodge an attack. With these few controls you can perform basic ‘huh-huh-huunh!’ onslaughts and the fight will be as exciting as watching an ugly dog being poked with a stick until it dies. And you will eventually die. Learn how to string attacks together, combine the right weapons and master the art of dodging and you will be able to disable an opponent before raining jagged death across his body. You’ll still hear a suitably adapted version of the classic ‘huh-huh-huunh!’ theme but the flow of moves will pour together and the crowd will be pleased. And you will be out of breath and leaning over one knee, as your stamina bar strikes zero. You’ll be absolutely bloody knackered.

Colosseum’s stamina bar builds up quickly when you aren’t running or fighting and it’s fundamental to your success that you know how much you have before you decide to attack, since running out will leave you defenceless and prone, and breathing hard. It will recharge quicker while you dodge or block attacks, and you can attack opponents to the side and behind you by pressing the relevant direction buttons. This means that when you become good, and we mean really good, you can take out four men consecutively by unleashing a string of attacks, dodging and recharging, shifting direction and repeating until you stand alone amongst the dead. The game becomes about rhythm and reaction, dodges, recharge and attack. ‘Huh-huh-huunh!’ is just a sound effect, because this one has depth.

… continued