Coliseum - PC demo review

If you're unfamiliar with the concept of a text-based game, just think back to something like what Matthew Broderick was playing in War Games. Only with less typing and a wider range of sound effects. Mentioned earlier in a news round-up (Bits and Bytes #2), I now return to the Coliseum demo from Shrapnel Games. Again, the warning, this is a text based game, not unlike Championship Manager. The difference here is that you're the manager of a stable of gladiators in what's probably Ancient Rome, but that's not certain. Nor does it really matter.

As is the case with demos, parts have been neutered. Parts you'd think would later be included in the final version, like more graphics, but no, that's not something you look forward to here. You can't. In the full version, you can just expect more range in the actions you can perform on your fighters and your management. It's largely point and click and not overly exciting point and clicking action either. Check a box, place a bet, rename a fighter. That's the extent of it.

Despite all that, the graphics that are present are well detailed. It's a pity that the action of the fighting comes down to nothing more than lines of prose. It would have been great to see something like claymation characters move about representing the sounds coming from the speakers. But what can you expect?

Expect the confusion as you read the action before your eyes. Expect to be able to walk around the room as the battle rages on. Expect to have no idea who's grunting and who's getting their skull bashed in. Expect the expected, a text-based game playing out in grabs of text.

Watching the fights take place is where the game's at the most imaginative. Unable to draw images in your mind from mere text alone? Too zombiefied to do anything except to accept what others are showing you? You're screwed. The text pops up at a steady pace — dependent on how fast it's been set — detailing what would be read if a commentator were on hand to do so. Random as it goes, the action at times reads erratic with no clear signs of a winner until the final declaration. The willpower of the fighters determines whether or not they have any inclination to continue their battles. That's all the information given to you on the screen between the pillars. No indication of blood loss, tiredness or what exactly the "charm" of each fighter has to do with anything. Every miss, hit and swing affects the willpower, but just how isn't clear.

Stats are something that can help you judge whether or not you come out of a match a winner or crippled in defeat. But they're not entirely true of the performance, most of the time it can be just a crapshoot, throw your fighter in and hope for the best. You can track the win/loss/draw count of each fighter as well as your entire stable. The more wins you have the more likely that a bigger crowd will come to watch. That's not including any advertising means you choose to shoot for. The bigger the audience, the bigger your cut of the attendance fees and hence a bigger balance. A nice stow of cash can let you train your other warriors while the prime fighter is out there in the ring.

Whether your fighters win or lose, there's also the option of making money on the side. The bets you place are on the outcomes of other games. It's a section just before you hit the arena with your fighter, but isn't clearly mentioned as an option unless you're exploring every button or read every line in the help tags. The help screens are convoluted with the text being centred and line spacing a bit of an issue. There's also a sameness to them giving you no other indication as to what the information/help is on.

Where the game actually excels is that of the sound effects. Grunts, clinks of the blades, and the slashing of flesh are nicely sounded out. They'd have to be, that's all the "action" there is. What were you expecting?

Soon Van

Published December 2003 at Vibewire.net - vibewire.net

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