Not unlike Russell Crowe’s film, the story in Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance involves a corrupt emperor who doesn’t tolerate those who could challenge his might. In this case, the emperor is Arruntius, who conspires to kill our gladiatorial hero, Invictus Thrax (who may or may not moonlight as a rock star). Arruntius stages a final tribute battle in Invictus’ "honor," but ends up (un)expectedly executing Invictus. Once in the afterworld, Invictus is granted the power of Hercules from the gods, who give him the duty of reclaiming Rome from the hands of its oppressors.

With this power in tow, it’s no surprise that Gladiator is a pure hack-and-slash game that truly puts the B into "Button Mashing." In many ways, Gladiator reminds me of Nightmare Creatures on the Nintendo 64, with a hack-and-slash system driving your character as he gores his way through linear levels filled with skeletons, monsters and simple puzzles.

A slight break from this hack-and-slash model is the "action" button, which allows for a variety of context-sensitive uses. For example, if you press the button at the right time in combat, you can pull off one of 50 bloody finishing moves, ala a simplified Mortal Kombat. Or, depending on the situation, you can use it to jump across an obstacle or dodge attacks. Other buttons perform multiple slashing attacks, magic options and a targeting feature. Granted, the options aren’t the most advanced, but they keep the game from becoming the one-dimensional slasher that was Hunter: The Reckoning - Redeemer.

Unfortunately, one aspect that is similar to Hunter: The Reckoning - Redeemer is the imperfect enemy AI. Generally speaking, skeletons and other foes interact as expected, but every now and then you’ll encounter the occasional lost sheep walking the wrong direction. In these cases, you can simply walk up behind the enemy and do away with it. Thankfully, this doesn’t happen all that often, but it’s a bit of a disappointment that the enemies aren’t all as brutal as you are. For a game of this nature, though, I suppose the AI is as good as it needs to be.

Of course, the occasionally suspect AI may help contribute to the game’s relatively short length. If you cruise through the enemies and game, it’s quite possible to beat it in as little as 10-12 hours, and even poking around wouldn’t lead to much more than 15 hours of total play. I found myself reliving the glory days of Golden Axe as I mauled my way through the linear level designs, but aside from the nostalgia, there isn’t much to keep you going. The lack of multiplayer support doesn’t help matters, either. A two-player (or more) versus mode in gladiator arenas would have added hours of gameplay.

More exposure to the arenas would’ve also been nice from a graphical standpoint, because Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance is a nice-looking title from start to finish. Some of the character models seem to have been given more attention than others, but the game is still quite attractive. The surreal mythical environments in this game are simply gorgeous. A lot of work was put into making some breathtaking landscapes and environments, and it helps things flow together with the world the developers were trying to create.

On the downside, there are occasional framerate issues when large numbers of enemies fill the screen, and at times the camera itself can be your worst enemy. The camera generally remains stagnant, and some of its angles actually prevent you from seeing your character, which sometimes leads to death. Yet at other times the camera is perfect and does what it’s supposed to. A little more consistency, both in the framerate and camera, would’ve been welcomed.

Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance takes full advantage of Dolby Digital technology in-game, with arenas and levels coming to life as metal bangs against metal, enemies breathe their last breaths and the world drips with the blood of everyone foolish enough to stand in Invictus’ way. The audio really helps these effects come to life as you battle through this hack-and-slash epic, and in a world of melee combat, sound is as important as ever.

In the end, what we have with Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance is a hack-and-slash game with sharp graphics and enjoyable audio whose camera issues and lack of multiplayer simply rule out a purchase. Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance is a great rental choice for those nights where you just want to mash buttons and get a feeling of accomplishment (and guilty pleasure) without much effort.