Gladius
[Xbox]

Hmm...where to start. I played Gladius with a friend the whole time I played it. Keep that in mind as you read this review because I honestly don't know how fun it would be with out a second person. I did not finish the game because I got bored, as did my friend, after about 75 hours of hacking and slashing the same (but more powerful) enemies.

Positives: The multi-player is great. Me and my cousin played it for 14 hours with out giving my box a break. That's an accomplishment in itself to keep me entertained and in a room with the same person for that long. Did you catch that? 75 hours of game play and I wasn't done! That's insane. Truly insane. I was on the last stage, and I lost and just got pissed at it and traded it in. Not the game's fault, or is it? Anyways, this is the good stuff. There are tons of characters which can all be molded pretty much to your liking with a character modifier. You can carry something like 20 people in your school. There are tons of weapons suited for each class. The characters are likeable, and most of them are pretty bad ass looking. The fighting system is pretty deep, and the number of attacks each character in your school can gain is at about 20, but you won't get them all. The first thing most people will realize is that you level up fast, so why get the weak attacks when you can hurry and get the best? Eliphino. There are lots of stages and they all look different and feel different. There's a load of time in this game so come with a couple of sodas and a bag of chips, or if you have a phone nearby, order pizza or...cumquat sandwiches...what ever floats your boat.

Negatives: Repetition. Repetition. Repetition. This game gets old fast, but it takes a few losses to realize it. Losses don't come often, but when you do lose, you'll be pissed and you'll probably do like me and disband the game. This game is very open ended BUT, what you're not told but left to find out is how restricted you really are. The battles are set up to require you to have certain character classes, or you can't participate in them (that means you can't advance in the game). So when it comes down to it, it's pretty one dimensional. Also, It's not very fun when that characters that get no action level up and become just as powerful as the ones who fight every battle day in/day out. There is day and night time and a thing that shows how many days have passed but as far as I noticed, it made no difference at all in my game. The graphics are strange and I didn't like them. The voice acting sucked.

Don't get it for yourself. Get it if you have a friend that likes you enough to stay for the whole trip.

Experience 8.5 (I can't deny that when I did play this game -75 hours worth- I enjoyed most of it)
Graphics 7 (clunky and strange but sometimes nice...see for yourself)
Sound 5 (unimpressed with the voice acting, didn't like the tunes...what else is there?)
Control 9 (it's only downfall is in the menu navigation, stubborn bastard)
Overall 8

---Frayed