Other than the spin-off “Colosseum: Hammerball”, I’ve said almost nothing about “Colosseum”, one of the earliest games released on the XBLIG channel waaaaaaaay back in late 2008. Finally explored it today, and it surprised me.
Word on the street at the time was that it was a gorgeous game but that it was missing that certain something. I’m here to politely disagree.
I think expectations for this game weren’t realistic. It was early in the history of Xbox Live Indie Games so there was not much to measure it against. Also, the game looking as good as XBLA games of the day further muddled the issue. Looking at the game on its own merits, and with the benefit of a price drop somewhere along the way down to 240 Microsoft Points, and the game looks a lot better.
The game is a 3D brawler (think what “Power Stone 3” might have looked like) with some cell-shaded graphics that are still pretty gorgeous 3.5 years later, and some interesting features (such as character creation and editing features that lots of fighting games in this genre don’t have) and is worth a download for those who like casual multiplayer (up to 4) fighting games.
Here’s what the developer (Shortfuse Games) has to say about the game:
“Fight your way to the glorious Grand Master title! Colosseum features a 6-level singleplayer-campaign and five different 1-4 player local multiplayer game modes, four of which can be enjoyed in teams. Take your time to master each of the four different fighting styles and their combos, picking up some new threads for your characters along the way. This is Colosseum. Enjoy!”
Writings of Mass Deduction 