Swords and Sandals 2: Emperor's Reign

Swords and Sandals 2: Emperor's Reign is a turn-based fighting game that throws you in the arena with some of the toughest warriors that ever lived: the gladiators of ancient Rome. Thus, by defeating each one of your opponents, you can advance to become the ultimate arena champion and achieve some well-deserved glory.

To start off with, the game allows you to create your own warrior from scratch, by modifying his appearance and choosing the skills you want to use in the fights against the other champions. As such, the list of ability points includes strength, vitality, charisma and agility, all of which affect your effectiveness with certain kind of weapons, as well as your overall physical prowess.

Beside the skill points you start with at the character creation wizard, you also receive a few of them each time you level up, by winning duels with other warriors. The experience you win after each battle also amounts to a certain number of gold coins, which can be used to purchase new items and spells from the available merchants. These items improve your abilities, such as attack damage, defense and magical prowess. Weapons can also be enchanted for additional magic damage, including fire, poison and ice.

Before entering tournaments, you can perfect your fighting technique by dueling with other gladiators, although they are much weaker than the opponents you have to face in the real arena. Tournaments, on the other hand, are comprised of multiple rounds against stronger and stronger foes, culminating in a face off with the current arena champion.

As far as the gameplay mechanics are concerned, the combat is turn-based, which means that you can only perform one move or attack per round. They are, however, pretty short rounds, since there aren't too many tactical options at your disposal. Beside four different attack modes, you can also taunt your enemy, or move around on the battlefield to gain the upper hand.

In the end, the sheer number of weapons, spells and tournaments that are available in the game make it hard to stop playing Swords and Sandals 2: Emperor's Reign, especially since, although turn-based, the battles can get very exciting and entertaining.