This feels like a game out of time, and that time was "anytime during the 2nd George W Bush administration".

I'm actually surprised this released so late into the PSP's lifespan, because it feels like it should have been released smack dab in the middle of the same cultural current that gave us Spartan: Total Warrior or Shadow of Rome. Visually, it looks fantastic with the caveat that the scope of most arenas is so limited that you'd hope they'd be able to render armor falling off of models if that's one of the four things the console would need to display. The soundtrack has like, 7 tracks at most, but the gameplay loop doesn't require you use sound at all, very much a game to play with podcasts going in the background.

The gameplay is a winner format for the PSP. The fights don't last long for the 1:40 main battle theme to loop, the story doesn't matter to such an extent that I forgot it had one at points, and the combat has more depth than games with similar structures like Monster Hunter. You don't have dustloops or anything like that, but combos do exist and how you fight is dictated through your increasing supply of gear and your developing skill. For a game that you mostly play on the toilet and has multiplayer, it's outright good. There are difficulty spikes/gimmick fights that tend to drag down the experience though. Awful final fight.

If you really dig this game and want more content, there's a Gladiator Begins discord adding new content that seems to be somewhat active. There's enough going on with this game that people care enough to mod it.