Spartacus Legends Review: A bloody decent free to play Xbox 360 game

Concluding month at E3, Microsoft and Wargaming.net announced World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition as the next costless to play in development for Xbox Live Arcade. Both Globe of Tanks and Ascend: Hand of Kul (which also has a Windows Telephone companion game in the works) are due out subsequently this year. What we didn't know is that another free to play game would actually exist arriving much sooner.

Quietly announced a while dorsum, Ubisoft and Kung Fu Manufactory's Spartacus Legends became available to download on the 360 last calendar week. Free for all Xbox Gold members, Legends is basically a brutal one-on-ane fighting game loosely based on the Starz TV series Spartacus. Commonly when a publisher releases a game with so lilliputian fanfare, it indicates a lack of religion in the product. But Spartacus is actually fairly entertaining and visceral. Just exist prepared for a bit of a grind.

Going in fresh

Playstation 3 version

You lot don't need to be a fan of the Spartacus Goggle box serial in guild to relish this game. In fact, fans might be disappointed at how picayune the two share in common. Players control Spartacus himself during the tutorial boxing, but subsequently that you'll only encounter characters from the show as occasional dominate battles. Other than a cursory live-activity introduction, there's admittedly no story to speak of either.

The point of Legends is to recruit and manage a grouping of gladiators, working to keep them alive and profit as much from their victories as possible. Instead of playing as characters from the show or custom characters, you'll hire and play as random fighters, each with their own fighting style, stats, and perks. You'll eventually take a full squad of fighters based around the 7 unique fighting styles (swords, daggers, hammer, spear, etc.), though both the characters and the slots to go on them will toll silvery or gold to unlock.

Life or decease combat

The reason for that essential namelessness and lack of characterization? When these guys lose a fight, they might simply die for good. Each boxing has a deadliness rating that yous tin can view earlier deciding to accept information technology on. The college the rating, the more probable that a loss will outcome in your gladiator'south demise. Each character does become i free revival upon dying. Just after that, it will cost silver (soft currency) and shortly aureate (premium currency) in guild to keep a downed warrior breathing.

These high stakes make it tough to become also invested in your fighters, merely they also lend a sense of import to each battle. Your gladiator tin can kill his opponent likewise, as long every bit you raise your crowd favor rating high enough before the finishing blow. Exercise that by taunting, landing series of successful blows, or by using boost items.

With full crowd approval and a winning strike, you'll exist able to sever the opponent's limb or perform a mildly gruesome Mortal Kombat-esque finishing move with the touch of a push. Those fatalities cost argent coins to equip, just y'all'll never run short of silvery so information technology hardly interferes with the fun.

Rated K for Mature

The actual Spartacus show features nasty violence and some naughty sexcapades, so you might look the game to be a bit lewd besides. And you'd be right! By and large that comes in the course of the announcer (who sounds terrible and repeats himself too much) dropping F-bombs randomly, as well as some rough but eh, kinda funny text in the loading screens. Topless ladies and nude statues announced in some backgrounds, but that'southward the extent of the sexual content. The developed rating comes from the potty language and dismemberments more than anything.

Progression

The game map consists of several areas, each with its own random and fixed battles to cull from. Some fights crave a certain fighting manner to participate, locking them away until you purchase the right fighter. As you lot win battles and earn argent coins for buying equipment, you'll also proceeds Fame. Collect enough Fame to level upwards and earn a tiny quantity of premium gold. Leveling upward unlocks better equipment for purchase, and certain level milestones will brand higher level gladiators bachelor for rent.

Unfortunately, the difficulty ramps upwardly pretty quickly. The start two areas are a snap, merely the third area carries a pregnant gamble of death for your fighters. In the areas beyond that, death is guaranteed should you lot lose. Thus y'all'll spend well-nigh of your time grinding the start three areas – probably hours – until you gain access to the equipment that your men need in lodge to survive higher ranked areas. If yous're not hooked, yous'll likely lose patience during that stretch of the game.

Midas touch on

Spartacus' monetization scheme does footling to convalesce its difficulty spikes. Sure, the premium gold currency is essential for sure tasks such every bit unlocking more than five character slots or hiring loftier-stat warriors. But the equipment you lot tin can purchase with gold is just iii levels beyond the stuff that sells for silver.

Early access to weapons and armor is helpful, but it's not THAT much better than the stuff that unlocks at your electric current level. A weapon that costs the equivalent of almost $5 of gold might only practise five points more impairment, and you'd be able to buy that aforementioned tool for silver by leveling up 3 more than times (a lengthy process) anyway. If I'm going to spend real coin on an in-game item, I desire it to absolutely dominate the competition, not barely keep up with overpowered opponents.

The In-App Buy prices are sky high, as well. The minimum purchase amount if 400 Microsoft Points ($5), and then the next highest amount costs $twenty. It goes all the way up to $100! I know free to play games are relatively new to consoles, but nobody is going to want to pay $xx and above for relatively little benefit. Ubisoft would sell manner more gold if the pricing tiers used increments of $ii-5 rather than ludicrous amounts. Some players who might take made small IAPs could exist driven to gain gold through exploits instead…

Achievements

Playstation iii version

Surprisingly, Legends offers just 12 Achievements, only they are at least worth a total of 400 GamerScore. Only two of the Achievements require a truly substantial fourth dimension investment. Ane is for winning all of the Primus (boss) fights in the game. You'll need a good array for warriors to overcome all the bosses, though knowing a scattering of simple and constructive combos also goes a long way.

The other long term Achievement comes for reaching Level fifty. That takes an insane amount of grinding, merely at least it's not hard.

Overall Impression

Spartacus Legends is a surprising game: surprising in that it appeared practically out of the blueish (not unlike an Xbox Windows Phone game!) and considering the cadre gameplay is pretty good, despite its low budget presentation. I'd rather this had been a regular $ten title with less grinding, but a lot more than people will get to try it because it's free. Even if you're non the kind of player who sticks around for the long haul, there's a decent chance that you'll enjoy it for a couple of hours and be no less rich than when you started.

Spartacus Legends – Xbox 360 – ii GB – Free (Gilded membership required) – Xbox.com Store Link

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/spartacus-legends-review

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