Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games

Additional Screenshots

Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games is a one of a kind RTS. It has great gameplay, an awesome plot, and some really unique features. It also has a few bugs.

Je ne parle pas Francais...

The first thing I noticed about this game is that is was developed by French people. This was noticed by the constant error message I received in French during the opening cinematic in the solo game. This bug really got on my nerves. I was using a desktop with an ATI Radeon 9700 card, and I am assuming that this was the problem. I already had the latest drivers for the card, and I tried to uninstall and reinstall the game over and over game. This, of course, came to no result, so I just decided to play on a different computer. (By the way, the 1.2 patch for the game didn't help either.) Once I finally got the game to work on a different computer, I was able to see the opening video, and I can now explain the basic plot to you.

You are a Gladiator

You are Greg D. Callahan, this guy stuck in a Nevada prison, until a military official heads over to your cell, and takes you out because you are the only person crazy enough to blast off into a black hole. As you cruise through the galaxy, your ship goes haywire, and you are transported into an unknown ship. From here, you meet some unhappy aliens, and take care of them with your machine guns. Once again, however, you end up in another prison on their alien planet. You meet a girl, whose “father has died because of strange circumstances” and she convinces you to be her gladiator. Since the alien leader will kill you in two days anyway, you agree, and try to help yourself and your little girlfriend. What a plot. This story really sets you up to a lot of cool gladiator fights. Before you enter the ring, you will notice the screaming crowd in your face. They usually cheer for you, but they occasionally boo. If this doesn't get your adrenaline up, the fighting will.

Different Units for Different Campaigns

You play as three different characters throughout the game: Greg D. Callahan, General Maximix, and the Infamous Fargass. All of the three campaigns are different, but they revolve around the same story line. Each character has different units, and each of them specialize in different things. The Americans (Callahan) are equipped with the bazooka, trooper, and commando men. My personal favorite out of those is the bazooka men. And don't just think you only get troopers: you also get choppers, M113's, HUEY transports, and ABRAMS tanks. General Maximix's army also has very neat units. For Fargass's army, you get all of these cool demon units. Some include Manowar's, Firebug's, and Skyleed's.

All of the maps look totally different. Some are winter oriented, while other are lush green settings or even deserts. You will love the variety.

An Easy Interface

The interface of the game is very easy to operate. There are only four buttons on right hand bottom corner. You can choose your formation, command to attack, walk, etc. Now don't think that the game itself is simple. It is actually very complex. I love to set up ambushes, and it is even cooler to be able to climb up to outposts and fire on enemies from below. You can even hide in scenery to prevent enemies from seeing you. And since you can destroy everything in your environment, you will never run out of things to shoot at!

Bugs!

The bugs in The Gladiators are simple, and only need a nice little patch to help. Sometimes, the game will freeze, crash to the desktop, have choppy audio, or just not run properly with an ATI Radeon 9700.

Multiplayer

The one mode that is really outstanding, however, is the multiplayer mode. You can play through the entire game in CO-OP mode with all of your friends. It is a ton of fun to do this, and it will bring you tons of tactical planning and strategy moves.

Overall

Overall, The Gladiators is an excellent RTS game that only needs a patch to fix up its ATI issues and occasional freezes.