Someone had bookmarked Swords and Sandals 2 in Del.icio.us and I just had to check it out based solely on the title. After an hour or so, I had to force myself to stop playing because I had a deadline to meet. Oy.
This game is a lot like the recent update of Sid Meier’s Pirates. On the face of it, the game is rather silly and simplistic, but taken as a whole the result is an extremely compelling experience.
In Swords and Sandals you play a gladiator fighting one-off duels as well as tournaments. Its got a standard RPG setup with a bunch of stats that get increased when you level up, and the constant treadmill of earning gold from combats to buy gear to earn more gold to buy more gear, etc., etc.
The graphics are cartoony, the game is very one dimensional and struck me as a Flash version of something like Steve Jackson’s Advanced Melee. Nonetheless, I couldn’t stop playing. And playing. And playing.
A downloadable full version with loads of fighters to duel, tournaments to compete in, and more is only $19.99 or it can be played online at Playaholics with a Gold membership (which costs about $2.75 a month).