If the idea ofPunch-Out!!set in a gladiatorial arena where you fight minotaurs and snake women sounds ridiculous, that’s because it is. But as Ghostfire Games has proven to me with a demo of its upcoming WiiWare title,Rage of the Gladiator, it actually kind of works.
In development for WiiWare, the game is a first-person perspective fighting game that takes a lot of cues from Nintendo’s arcade-style boxing game. You play as Gracius, a gladiator fighting for his life in an arena where he’ll be faced with everything from the Medusa-like Sea Witch to a fire breathing dragon.
At its core, the game feels a hell of a lot likePunch-Out!!, with dodging and weaving of attacks, and pattern memorization to defeat some of the game’s wild combatants. While the game can be played in a number of different styles (including sideways remote for a classic feel, or remote and nunchuk combo), Ghostfire was showing off the nunchuck Wii Remote/Wii MotionPlus combo, which gave the combos a more one-to-one feel — I swung up with the remote, Gracius swung up; I hammered down, Gracius followed suit.
You can also unleash Magic (lighting attacks, for instance) and furious combos by using energy gained from landing successful blows. And unlike Little Mac fromPunch-Out!!, you’ll also be able to upgrade Gracius’ abilities using an RPG-like skill tree; you’ll spend points gained for defeating bosses to get new combos and make Gracius more powerful.
For a WiiWare title, the game sounds like it’ll be pretty robust — the game only features 10 combatants (and one “final” boss), but offers you the ability to battle these combatants a second time, each with new powers and patterns. Ghostfire is even offering up an incentive mastering the game: The first person in North America to unlock the ultimate “Brutal Victory” combo (the game’s ultimate, final prize) will get their name in a future Ghostfire game, as well as receive real-life, gladiator equipment.
You know you want that stuff, so limber up —Rage of the Gladiatorshits WiiWare on March 15.
