Gladiator Manager

Great, but could do with a few additional features, all you do is enter fights, eventually you have lots of money and nothing to spend it on, no investments or item.building buying as seen in similar titles. of course it need not copy other titles, but having nothing in that category dont make the title stand out even uniquely. some might define it as lacking.

If you like crunching numbers and trying to understand how to "beat an AI created by these guys, whoever they are" then this is a fun way to do so. I do feel like "these guys" are trying their best and giving me a mathematical system I can understand and try to beat. Keep in mind there's a lot of RNG in there but the RNG feels fair: I've won fights I thought I would lose and vice versa. I'll keep wasting my time trying to beat this game. Fun.

There is nothing to do but recruit and fight, recruit and fight, and the game cycle is satisfying as it is if you bother to learn how to play the right way. Yes the fights and everything else in the game are RNG heavy, but I like it, it gives a better sense of realism than having gladiators behave like perfect killing machines just because the player is outsmarting the AI every time...plus there is nothing like pulling off the upset against the terror of the division with a mediocre gladiator getting a lucky hit out of nowhere! Will it happen often? Hell no, but when it does it's so good. Could the game be better or more ambitious? Yeah for sure, but for its price (especially on sale) it does a brilliant job at entertaining.

RESPONSIVE DEVELOPER. This alone should help to influence your decision if the sports management genre is something you're interested in. The game costs less than $10 and has been out for about a year, with a pretty constant stream of updates following its release. There are bugs, but if you take a look at the bug reporting thread in the discussion forum, you can see that the dev takes TONS of time helping people individually with their problems, offering so much as to FIX YOUR SAVE for you if something goes wrong and you don't mind emailing him. I don't know. If you ask me, that's one of the most beautiful things about a game like this. You can pay $60 dollars for NHL 22 on next gen console that is a completely unfinished game with day 1 bugs still present months after release. Or, you can spend $8 on a game that is constantly getting new content with a dev that interacts with their community and actively looks to make the experience better for the fanbase and not just the 12 year olds buying stupid HUT packs with their mom's credit card. And I've read some reviews and some forum posts about how RNG is a little overboard in battles, and how the better fighters almost always win. Well....yeah. Think about it as if you're playing any other sports management game. Are you in complete control of the outcome? No...it's a management game. Do better teams usually win? Yeah...if the underdog had the same chance to win as the favorite, there wouldn't be an underdog or a favorite lol. Your gladiators will get maimed, they will die. Just as they did in real life.

This is a pretty good all-around team management strategy game. I disagree with some of the other comments that the combat is just wild RNG. Once you understand the mechanics and if you read the detailed log you will figure out strategies to exploit strengths and weaknesses, particularly if the control mechanic is in your favor. It's very satisfying defying the odds and winning from an underdog position, or scoring an overwhelming victory in an even matchup. The damage and injury system is pretty well done although it can be frustrating scoring numerous good hits without inflicting significant damage to the opponent. There does need to be an RNG/luck element to the damage otherwise the fights otherwise the outcome would be much more RNG/luck depending on whether you hit or miss you first few attacks. Strength and toughness seem to be the most important attributes as they can swing the damage RNG/luck heavily in your favor. The class system is pretty well done. Each of the different classes plays differently and are fairly well-balanced although I think . Tier 1: Rogue, Retarius, Defender; Tier 2: Gladiator, Freestyler; Tier 3: Barbarian, Leader. Barbarians are inconsistent because they have vulnerable armor and leaders seem kind of weak but they are intended for large fights of 3v3 or 4v4 so it only makes sense to carry one quality Leader on the roster. Some of the higher level perks seem a bit overpowered but it's also quite difficult to preserve you combatants long enough to unlock them. The biggest issue I have with the game is the schedule is quite grueling and the large volume of matches dilutes the importance of each individual one. There are few off weeks during the season, especially if you are contending for "The Cup" and it's a bit of a grind. Kind of like in baseball it doesn't matter if you lose some games, whereas in football each win or loss has much larger weight on the success of the season. Other than the schedule, there are some other potential areas of improvement, specifically around the recruiting and roster management. The progression is simple and in the early game there isn't any value in developing prospects because once you approach peak levels of reputation and popularity you will gain access to much stronger fighters. It seems the AI is too reluctant to release badly maimed fighters so some of the AI teams struggle with lack of depth. It's also too easy to "reload" your roster with very strong fighters once you reach the peak. It's feasible to field a team of only criminals (free to recruit, 0 salary, temporary contract that can't be renewed) and win the league.

Ottimo potenziale ma un gioco a metà. Non si discosta molto da altri prodotti simili, ma ha alcuni aspetti che lo rendono noioso e poco avvincente, sebbene si veda la cura degli sviluppatori (al netto degli ovvi limiti in termini di risorse, ma d'altronde lo valuto considerando la fascia di prezzo). Buone alcune meccaniche e molte idee, si prende una squadra di gladiatori all'infimo livello e si cerca di portarla ai massimi attraverso delle leghe dal sapore calcistico/sportivo: e già qui una maggiore aderenza storica lo avrebbe reso più affascinante. Possiamo scegliere 7 categorie di gladiatori, di tre diverse estrazioni: cittadini, condannati e schiavi. solo i primi vogliono un salario, ma sono quelli su cui si può puntare perchè gli altri hanno un numero di incontri predeterminati. Ecco, qui abbiamo il problema dello sviluppo: crescere un gladiatore è costoso e richiede anni, ma il più delle volte riporta danni fisici permanenti eccessivi, che ci costringono a congedarlo. Manca un sistema di "accademia", le possibili assunzioni sono molto random, basate su quello che ci viene offerto A seguire, la gestione economica permette poca strategia e soprattutto diventa un limite enorme per quanto è centrale. Poi, i combattimenti live, a turni. Ecco, qui l'iniziativa gioca un ruolo troppo importante, per ora, e non poter fare la prima mossa (lo schieramento) quasi sempre finisce in un massacro dei nostri. Combattimenti troppo lunghi e sfiancanti, molto basati sul tiro di dadi, con conseguenze nefaste (infortuni lunghi e mutilazioni perenni) che in un attimo mandano in malora ore di gioco. Tutto molto basato sul caso. Sarebbe bello se si potesse essere "assunti" come manager da altre scuderie, o acquistare gladiatori da altri: questo sarebbe, nel caso, un vero sviluppo verso le vere dinamiche di un gioco manageriale.