Gladiator: Call to Arena Review

Some games have their own personality that makes them a bit unique and fun to play. Gladiator: Call to Arena is a neat little base builder strategy game from Cheetah Studios that doesn't blow anyone away while still being a fun time killer.

In Gladiator: Call to Arena your job is to recruit Gladiators in a card collecting type fashion and train them up to fight little quick battles against the computer or other players. The game has some resource collecting elements involving iron, food and money to provide you ways to make your gladiators better. You will not only train up the gladiators themselves but their equipment also.

upgrading your equipment at the smithy is a big key to winning

The main focus of the game though is collecting the gladiators themselves. This is done through your tavern which will present you with random 3 gladiators of various quality. If you don't like this selection you are allowed to refresh the list 5 times a day for free then spend gems if you want to get additional refreshes. Gladiators come in different levels of quality that go A-E with A being the best. The players that can accumulate the higher quality fighters will have a big advantage in this one.

Finding the purples and blues in the tavern is the goal

Gladiators will also come in different types such as sword/shield and spear wielding fighters just to name a couple. The better mix you have the easier some battles will be as certain types work better together than others.

Combat in the game is different between fighting the computer and fighting other players. When fighting the computer you have a set of goals to accomplish during the battle and the more of them you meet the bigger your rewards will be. Fighting in PVP is more of an auto battle system where the name of the game is just to win and plunder your opponents resources.

PVP combat is more of an auto battler where quality wins

The base building part of the game is more than just an afterthought. There are quite a variety of buildings and things to do in your base. Each gladiator you purchase needs to have his own home to live in. He can also be sent to the training arena to level up or places like the bath house to help recover energy so they can fight more often or the dining room to raise the fighter's satisfaction. If you don't feel like fighting the gladiators can also be sent to the theatre to earn rewards by putting on shows.

Build up your base to improve your gladiators

The game is pretty complete with a guild system, boss battles, quest system and login rewards. For everything the game does right I still felt the combat system was lacking a little in the fun department. Your gladiators do have skills they can use but battles are normally going to be determined by which group is of higher quality making the outcome pretty predictable.

Pros:
No crashes or bug to really speak of
Lots of things to do in your base while not fighting
The big headed fighters do add a little personality to the game.
Free players can get decent fighters by playing regularly

Cons:
Collecting can be limited since each gladiator needs a home in your base
Combat is a bit predictable

Overall Score:
3.5 out of 5