Review

posted 2/23/2004 by Tyler Sager
other articles by Tyler Sager

Battles themselves are pretty much hands-off and rather dry. Once a warrior is chosen, the fight begins. Before battle, players can command their fighter to take a defensive or offensive stance, and then the swords start swinging. Battle consists of a series of messages flashed on the screen, accompanied by the occasional clang of a sword or grunt of the fighters. Players are sometimes given the option mid-battle to tell their fighter to change tactics, but that’s it for control. Battles tend to be a bit on the random side, at least as far as I could tell. I’ve several times seen fighters with great ability scores lose handily to completely inept opponents. And I really didn’t see a lot of difference between defensive/aggressive, either. Perhaps there are just factors I’m unaware of at play here, but I found this randomness to be a touch aggravating.

There is also a bit to do between seasons, with the usual trading of players and signing of contracts. Each fighter ages from season to season, so a champion who cheats death every year will eventually find their abilities fading as they get older. Once the new team is decided, the next season begins and it all starts over again.

Since Coliseum is a glorified text-based management sim, there’s really nothing at all exciting about the graphics. The menu pages are clean and functional, and that’s about it. As for sound, it’s nothing more than a few grunts and growls during battle, and I could have been just as happy without any sound at all. The interface is clean and easy to navigate, since the game is just a series of menus. Coliseum is very resource-friendly, and should be able to run on most of the machines able to access this review on the internet.

All in all, Coliseum isn’t a great game, but it manages to pass the time. Those wanting a decent, budget-priced-text-based-sports-management-with-a-twist game will find it, while everyone else will most likely be better off steering clear of this one.