"A complete disgrace to the TV show"

Last weekend I was cruising the flea markets to see if there were any decent games on sale. I saw this one for 8 bucks so I decided to grab it since I used to always watch the TV show when I was little. Oh boy, little did I know that was a mistake, I could've spent that 8 bucks on a box of pizza.

Graphics - 7.5

Pretty high for the game I suppose. It was created back in 1993 so I'd consider it good for the time. Each event in the game seems to try and follow the stage/plotting of the ones that occurred on television to the best of it's ability. So the game is some decent eye candy, that's about it unfortunately.

Music - 0.5

Crowd cheering and a quickly monotonous tune that will not stick in your head as you turn the mute button on your TV. Sound effects in the game are nonexistent, it's quite baffling actually. In the jousting event it seems pretty emotionless that two contenders are taking and delivering hits without a grunt, cry, etc. I think if the show played out the same way it would never have made it in the first place.

Control - 2

Had no clue what the controls were and had to figure them out on my own. It's basically split between sensitive controls in the first few events and a mix with button mashing near the final ones. Sounds fun? I did not think so either.

Gameplay - 0

Easily worse than the music itself. Looks like the only kind of weight this game even managed to carry was in the graphics department. Each event is close to being the exact same copy of itself every time you play through. What do I mean? In the shooter event, you won't have a clue where to shoot for the first time. Once you find that you'll have no problem with this event as you just simply aim to where the target is and shoot since there is no variety in replaying. In the knock-off event, once you figure out how much power it takes to knock the gladiator off you just simply hit that marker every time and you will win the event with no problem. The wall is also a joke, most likely you'll lose on your first try but that's ok, once you get the hang of climbing the wall the gladiator will never stand a chance. The jousting event is the same way, just get the first hit in and keep swinging and you will not lose. Finally, to bring the eliminator event to its knees you just keep mashing L and R simultaneously. Hmm, sounds fun I guess.

The only two events that are not completely predictable are the atlasphere and power ball. Sorry controls and a bully-type AI make both of these games annoying to play.

Replay - 0

I think the game play pretty much covers why it's only possible to go through it maybe 2-3 times in order to maybe beat all the events in order for some kind of satisfaction.

Anyway, if you see this game at a flea market, Gamestop, or some other sort of used video game store just completely avoid it at all costs. If it's 99 cents, stay away from it, same thing if it was 50 cents. You can get burgers at McDonald's for that price, and as unhealthy as they are they are much more satisfying. I wish I had known this before I purchased the game myself, at least I was able to get rid of it for a dollar.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/05