Most people write this game off for either being an older kind of genre/style, or because they'd rather see impressive game play than impressive story.

If you're the gamer who just wants to kick back, relax and play something to relax this is not a game for you.
If you care about story though and are willing to both put gameplay second (Mass Effect/Walking Dead) but also let go of most of the decision making and simply be told a story then it is heart wrenching. I don't want to say much more than that in case of spoilers. But to describe it in a nutshell in what's exposed in the first hour...

You play as two doctors who uncovered the technology to enter peoples dreams, influence them and change them. You were hired by an old couple where the husband is dying who had the dream of going to the moon. Your job is to go and find out why he didn't go, and fix it so he does go (at least in his mind). But obviously to be a game itself it's not that simple and there's more to it than that, what exactly? Well you'll have to play it in order to find out! :P

Do you like strategy games like Total War?
Do you also like games where you fight in the thick of combat like Dynasty Warrior?

This is an amazing blend/combination of the two. The world/environment is pretty typical (and is pretty obvious to fan service at times, like Dark Elves and the huge lack of armor. Even if they're front line soldiers).

You've got your humans who are fighting for survival against an invasion of allied Orcs, Ogres and Dark Elves. But depending on the campaign you play you find their to also be some discrimination/conspiracy inside said armies. May it be power influenced or religiously influenced (With humans it's more often about religion). Also Elves are in the game, but you don't play as them directly, at most they're NPC allies when you play as humans.

To describe the game play, you usually get control of 2-5 units per battle. Some get locked in dependent on the mission, others are free choice (though you're 1 main/mandatory group with your leader is always some kind of infantry), I wish there was an option to change it... but that's just how it works.

All units share one unchangeable skill called 'melee' which you can obviously level up with exp to make them better at melee.
But there are also other skills, ranged, riding, teamwork, fire, holy etc.

These skills when leveled up so many times either unlock abilities for the unit they can cast from a pool of universal Skill Points your army builds up each mission as they fight, or fufill's pre-requisites to get into more advanced roles. Such as archers -> Longbowmen, Infantry -> Hvy Infantry -> Knights, Mortars, Paladins, Catapults, Calvary, sometimes even unlocking giant hawks, wyverns or some kind of toxic mammoth that's probably bigger than the dinosaurs were etc. :P

One my favorite tactics is teaching my archers holy magic so they can heal the infantry while engaged in melee.
But with these unit's you take them into battle and then basically order them to go to certain places, get in certain formations, fight in certain ways etc.
Being a console game it can be a bit hard to control, especially since you can never pause to give orders and the only bird's eye view you get is from the mini-map, most orders are given in real time with the perspective of the current unit you have selected. But after an hour of using the controls you get use to it pretty quickly.

This game is underrated, but the people who made it seemed to of done that purposely. So it's not really an issue for me.

They purposely set it up to look like another cheap Call of Duty rip off. Mainly so they pull the rug right off from under you with a shocking story, narrative and message about our culture and mindset today in how we idolize games like Call of Duty and what it basically implies doing in real life. For those who get more into gaming, story, narrative etc it is an amazing game and a must buy. But sadly the way they marketed it would of driven many of those kinds of gamer's away. Bringing in mostly COD gamers who either:

a) Appreciate it for what it is and leave away thinking something

or

b) Get offended/angry/butt hurt/annoyed that it was either:
b1) Not what they ordered
b2) Too complex for them
b3) Attacked and/or questioned them and what the like/idolize

But that seemed to be what the company purposely did. Business wise? Not a good move, but a game like this is definitely something we needed to see to help move our industry forward and is something I urge everyone to buy and play. Both from a "This is a good game with a great message and insight" perspective and a "Let's support this so more like it come to a field that really needs it" perspective.

A turned based strategy game where you play as a Gladiator team and your end goal is to win the World Championships. But to do that you need to of won the Championship tournament of four different regions/lands, each land requiring you fight in and win several tournaments first, each of those tournaments needing you to compete in several leagues, and each of those leagues needing you win several fights/battles. So it's a game with a pretty good length to it, one that took me a bit over 30 hours to beat. But note, Mass Effect had the same length to me and others have beat that game a lot faster so it may just have to do with now much you speed through it, how much you skip etc.

You level up your Gladiators as they gain experience individually in battles, but each level up does two things. It raises their stats and gives them a certain number of skill points that basically function as job points. You can spend them on abilities, some being relatively cheap and others costing a lot of points to save up for such as say Combo Attack 4. Despite being turned based though there is also some skill to it outside of builds and tactics. Such as when you attack a bar comes up and a cursor will slide across at a reasonably fast speed that you need to press a button for at certain times. If you get it in the yellow (The Majority), if you get it on the red right near the end it becomes a critical, if you wait too long and hit the blue you miss and it throws off the rest of your combo. So those high end combo attacks will take some skill and attention to do right.

They have different classes, roles, a size system to say what kind is good against who (Small < Medium < Large < Small. Though honestly. Large is probably still the best bet for the general higher HP and damage they have). Stuff such as flanking and height plays a big role in combat,

You got your typical gladitor's such as Legionary's and Centurions (Sadly none that are 2,000 years old :(), Archers, some animals such as bears, wolves, scarab's, some unique ones like channelers, summoners and barbarians (who can transform into animals) and some really cool ones such as 2 Minotaur's, Satyr's, Cyclops, Yeti's, Undead Summoner, Undead Legioniare etc. Pro-Tip: Minotaur's are OP. Make sure to look into the quest(s) you get them in and bother resetting if you don't get them the first time, they are worth it!

Fun Note: This is the game I got the name "Gwazi" from. You'll find a character late game who has this name and I took it cause the name sounded cool, even if they guy himself is an asshole.

This was an awesome game... I really need to buy this again and not just get it as a rental like when I was little. :(

Any who, most good that can be said for this game was already covered by UnendingEmpire. I would throw my money out in an instant if a sequel was ever to be announced. And would definitely be enhanced with the upgrades made from the gamecube until the Wii U.

Also this is one of few games where I prefer to play a fast/mobile character rather than a slow, tough and hard hitting character. Which to me speaks volumes to how they made their engine and let you enjoy mobility and play with it.