I’m Spartacus, and so’s my wifeFree-To-Play. It’s a bit of a dirty word (well, three words) with gamers lately. It tends to make your mind switch to annoying mobile or Facebook games where you get bombarded with requests to join your friends in crushing virtual pieces of candy, and if you get stuck then you can just pay to complete the level. In essence, it represents everything that is wrong with the casual gaming scene. But when Microsoft announced that a new Killer Instinct was being developed, but it would be a Free-To-Play, well you could just hear the sound of thousands of gamers having aneurysms the world over.So, when I saw that Spartacus Legends had cropped up on my Xbox dashboard and it said ‘free for Gold members’, I instantly viewed it with a big helping of skepticism and was ready to ignore it. But, then I remembered I’m a married, thirty-something with a mortgage and very little disposable income, and that turning away a FREE Xbox Live Arcade title would be not only looking a gift horse in the mouth, but shooting said horse and turning it into glue.
So, the question remains is Spartcus Legends worth the 2GB download? The answer well, that’s going to be very much down to the individual gamer.
Jul 28, 2017 spartacus legends service not available xbox 360 I don't know if I am the only person having this issue, but I have been trying to go and finish ranking up to 50 and now I can't connect to the servers everytime I try it says. Spartacus: Legends is a fighting-style game. It was released on the PlayStation Network on June 6th 2013 (Algeria) and worldwide on Xbox Live Arcade on June 26th 2013. The game was developed by Kung Fu Factory and Published by Ubisoft. Spartacus Legends is free to play, but some in-game content.
Spartacus Legends is very much, at it’s heart, a very basic brawler. You start off with a single fighter with the most basic of basic equipment and you must get him to battle other fighters in order to level up, unlock more equipment and, most importantly, earn Gold.
Because you will need Gold, and lots of it.To it’s credit, Spartacus Legends, unlike many other F2P games, only has one commodity that you have to pay real money for, which is the aforementioned Gold. This Gold is used to buy various equipment and perks to upgrade your fighter with, unlock slots to get more fighters and buy new fighters to accomodate these slots. While you can earn Gold without having to pay for it, it will take you a lot longer to earn and thus progress through the various fighting arenas and facing tougher opponents. Which is the point with F2P games, whether you’d rather put in the time, or the money.But, let’s forget that it’s a F2P game for the moment. What is the game itself like?The simple answer?
It’s not bad for a freebie.The not so simple answer? It has it’s good points and it’s bad points. It was never going to be on the level of a Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat or Tekken game, but it does possess an odd ‘one more fight’ quality to it that I find it hard to put my finger on.The combat itself is very simple indeed. You have a quick attack button, a strong attack button, a grab button, a block button, a dodge button, and a button that can disrupt your opponent’s defence, and that’s it. While you can string some attacks together, there are no special moves to be had here.
It’s a straight out scrap of who can land the most blows first. There is also the crowd momentum that builds up which will help swing things in your favour, and if you max this crowd meter at the end of the fight, then it will dizzy your opponent and give you a chance to land an execution blow, which varies depending on what perk you have equipped. Gleefully, these executions can be very, very gory indeed, ranging from arms and legs being lopped off to faces being completely sliced off and looks very visually satisfying. The visuals of the game themselves aren’t going to win any awards, but they certainly do the trick, even if it does seem like someone’s smeared vaseline across the camera most of the time. The main problem with the combat is that it feels rather clunky.
While I wasn’t expecting the level of fluidity that you get from Street Fighter, you would think that most games these days would be able to handle having movement correspond to the moment you push the stick or press a button, and not have a marginal delay which may not seem like much, but can make all the difference. There were times during fights where I was certain I was going to land a killing blow, only for my opponent to somehow get an attack in to throw me off my momentum. It may seem like a minor point, but for a fighting game, responsiveness of controls are critical, and for hardcore fighter fans, this could be a deal breaker.Obviously, the fights themselves are the core of the game, but as previously mentioned winning these fights unlocks various aspects of the game. There are various areas of difficulty that only open when you’re a certain level. The higher the difficulty, the greater the rewards.
More fame, more gold, faster levelling up. However, the risk is that if you lose a fight with a higher lethality rating (which range from 1 to 5 stars, 1 being non-lethal, 5 meaning certain death if you lose) then your fighter will be killed and you will lose him. Unless you choose to give an offering to the Gods, in which you can wrest them from the jaws of Hades itself. Which means, in simpler terms, if you pay some of your hard-earned gold, then you don’t have to lose your fighter.
Losing your fighter isn’t the end of the world, thankfully, because as you progress you will recruit more fighters with different fighting skills. These range from unarmed, up to sword and shield, duals swords or daggers, pikemen, two handed swordsmen, or the obligatory guy with a giant hammer. Certain fights require a fighter with a particular style, so you will have to recruit all of these fighting styles at one point or another. Thankfully, your level carries across all of your fighters so you don’t have to level them up separately, and you can use any of the equipment you’ve purchased on any of your fighters, so long as their fighting style fits that equipment. This is a blessing because Ubisoft could have easily have had you level each fighter up separately, which would’ve cost you more time and more money.The unlockables themselves are many and varied. You can equip your figher with weaponry, a shield (if their fighting style allows), a helmet, armour, footwear.
The armour isn't just aesthetic, either, as the better the equipment you unlock, the more it improves your fighter's offensive and defensive stats, as well as give additional benefits like improving your dodging or blocking abilities. Some equipment can benefit some stats at the expense of others, so a shield may improve your defences, but it will hinder your ability to roll out of danger.You can also unlock and equip one or more perk (which can also be gained from certain fights) that give different benefits such as, for example, bonuses to defense or recovering faster from being knocked down.
However, once these perks are equipped then you will have to pay 2 Gold to being able to change them over. Which brings us back to the F2P model. While Spartacus Legends is a perfectly playable, if clearly flawed, fighting game, it will ultimately come down to what you’re prepared to invest in the game.
I have played probably about six hours worth of Spartacus Legends and not spent a penny of real money, but as a result of this my fighters are still at a lower level because I’ve had to settle with progressing with just the gold that I’ve won from fights and not bought in-game. While this is a perfectly acceptable way to play the game, it also means that I’m still fighting in the lower level arenas and thus progressing slower. Also, there are gold charges everywhere that limit things.
Charges to change perks, charges to resurrect fighters, charges to unlock fighter slots and to recruit fighters, and this all eats into the gold available for actually upgrading your fighters and equipment. Unfortunately, this means that the game is getting very repetitive, very quickly, and while you can break things up with different fighting styles, there’s very little variation to keep you interested. The arenas are very samey, there’s no interaction with the environments, and it is very much as vanilla as you are going to get, and I really don’t see myself that bothered in levelling up all the way to the top.I should mention that there is a multiplayer element to the game. In each area there is a live arena where you will be paired up with a fighter of a similar level to you.
Fighting people online reaps more rewards and more unlockables than fighter the CPU-controlled opponents. The gameplay mechanics, though, are absolutely no different. Plus, at this early stage of the game’s release, I found it took an age for the matchmaking to happen and the server to be a bit laggy.
While you can play with another fighter while the other one is queued, they could be in that queue for some time. While there is a quick start option, there’s no guarantee you’d be paired into an even fight.
So there’s clearly work to be done on the mutiplayer side. Spartacus Legends gives me very mixed feelings. While I should hate it in principle for operating via the F2P model, it is one of the better F2P games I’ve tried and even playing for six hours it has meant I’ve got more play time out of it than I have some full-price single player campaigns, and as I mentioned before there is an odd ‘one more go’ factor about it.
So, if you’re willing to put the time, or more importantly, the money, there is some enjoyment to be had here. But looking past the fact it’s free, there’s no denying that Spartacus Legends is, at it’s heart, a very basic fighter which only makes the player carry on because of it’s plethora of unlockables. You just have to ask if that’s enough for you? For me, sadly, it’s not.Positives+ Shedloads of unlockables+ Visuals aren’t bad+ Executions are satisfying+ Enjoyable for time+ It’s freeNegatives- but not paying can limit your progrees- Combat is basic- Controls are clunky- Gets repetitive- Multiplayer takes an age to connect- Loading screens can be a little longVerdict: A valiant attempt at a F2P title, that doesn’t quite make it. Spartacus Legends is a generic fighter based off a tv show, that changes things up a little by having permadeath for your stable of fighters.Story:Basically non-existent.Gameplay:I'm not a massive Fighter fan, but I've played quite a few, and this one is fairly typical - you hit Y for heavy attacks and X for fast attacks, A for kicks, B for grabs and there are dodges, blocking and parries.
Rolling is a somewhat unique mechanic but I don't like it or use it when I play the game.Atop the basic fighting matches, there's a game of accumulating silver and fame to buy more slave fighters and better equipment. This equipment is where microtransactions come in, but fortunately for us and unfortunately for the devs, there's really no reason to ever spend a cent, as the gold coins just allow you to unlock items before you have enough fame earned to use them.The touted 'death of your gladiator' element is just a cash grab - you can pay to miraculously resurrect a gladiator you get killed by losing badly.
Or like me just buy a replacement and fit him with the dead guy's equipment.Style: (Graphics/Sound/Presentation)Bloody, with lame executions after a good match. Graphics aren't much to look at this close to the end of the console cycle - animations are good however, which does a lot to make the game look decent enough.Multiplayer:There is some, the match waiting times were very long when I tried to do it, so I passed on it. It seems like the multiplayer would be exactly the same as the normal game.Achievements:The mentionables are. The achievement in worth 792 points Reach Level 50 Fame.aka play the game a lot.
Basically the achievements are to play the game quite a bit more than I want to.Overall:This game doesn't appeal to me, and it's somewhat too hard for me as well. It's not flawed besides not being my sort of game, but doesn't have much going for it beside the free price - pick it up if you want a free Fighter, just don't expect the world.ratingThe rating has been given as a 'how fun is it' from 1 to 5. With a 3 I am not saying the game is bad, just that it isn't any more fun than any number of games.priceThis review has been made at a $0 price point. If the game intrigues you, no reason not to try it.commentsLeave a comment if the review disappoints - if I've forgotten to mention anything I'll be happy to add on or clarify.
I kept an open mind, and knew the experience wasn't going to be the best due to the fact that it is a free to play game. Now, two rules of thumb for a game:If it is a game based off a movie, or show, and it isn't Mortal Kombat, it's going to be pretty bad as it is just a promoter.andIf it is free to play, you are going to be playing a game that is trying to make money through micro-transactions.This game drove me insane. I usually don't bag on a game this hard. But I just want to warn those who are jumping into this.
The game is difficult. The first 'Legend' I faced was in the starter area. I haven't beaten him, and I am not going to devote that much time to a F2P game.
As soon as I seemed to get 'good' Harder, faster, better enemies seemed to be thrown in my face.If you are looking for a challenge, then this is the game, but even then, it may prove to be more than you ask for.