Colosseum: Road to Freedom
| Colosseum: Road to Freedom | |
|---|---|
 Cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Ertain |
| Publisher(s) | Koei |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Third-person action Fighting RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Distribution | 1 x DVD-ROM |
Colosseum: Road to Freedom (originally Gladiator: Road to Freedom in Japan) is a video game for the PlayStation 2 console. It is a hybrid fighting/RPG game loosely based on the Roman Empire around the time of the Emperor Commodus.
Gameplay and story
Colosseum: Road to Freedom has the player take on the role of a slave that must partake gladiatorial games in order to earn enough money to purchase his freedom. The majority of the game is spent training the player's character and fighting in arena battles. The story in Colosseum takes a backseat in order to allow a higher degree of open-ended gameplay. Players have the freedom to tailor their game avatar to their liking depending on how they answer questions prior to gameplay.
Depending on the player's performance, it is possible to pay off the character's debts and still remain a freeman gladiator. The game allows for multiple endings depending on the player's performance over its course.
Characters
- Narcissus
- Commodus
- Laetus: An associate of Marcia, whose true colors will be revealed on later in the game.
- Marcia
- Magerius, Gnaeus, Decimus, Celadeus: Magerius is your owner for the majority of the game and he runs a gladiatorial training facility. Gnaeus, Decimus and Celadeus are responsible for your training.
All special fights in the Colosseum pit the player's character against other named gladiators.
Reception and legacy
While reviewers commended Colosseum 's open-ended gameplay, the lack of additional scenarios had some impact on its image.
On September 1, 2005, Ertain and Koei released Gladiator: Road to Freedom Remix which contains a few updates to the game.
A sequel called Gladiator Begins was released in 2010, and a second one called Clan of Champions was released in late 2011.