Star Gladiator: Episode:I - Final Crusade

Set in the 24th Century, this 3D fighter pits humans against humanoids. Combo systems and counter attacks are all there, as well as some strange characters, especially Saturn who uses two yo-yos as his main weapon.

The back story to the game has humanity exploring the stars, populating planets and meeting alien races. Not all races are friendly so in 2348 the Federation starts researching a new plasma power weapon. The chap leading the research is Dr. Edward Bilstein and he discovers human's sixth sense that taps the power of the human mind. The weapon works and is a success but it is discovered that Bilstein has used real people in his experiments so he is exiled and all further work stops.
Move on four years and, thanks to rumours about the Federations super weapon hostile confrontations have largely ceased and everyone is getting along, then a small band of rebels calling themselves 'The Fourth Empire' attacks and wipes out an army base. It looks like Bilstein is heading towards Earth for revenge so the army puts together a team of people who can use the plasma force weapon to mount a last ditch defense of the planet.

The game has the following modes of play:

• Arcade Mode: In which the player selects a character and fights their way through all the other computer controlled characters. It's a one player game mode but a second player can join in at any time.
• Vs. Mode: This is a two payer contest where players select a character each, fight each other, then return to the character selection screen. Here the players can adjust the skill levels of their characters to even up their handicaps, the default setting is 'Random'.
• Group Battle Mode: This mode allows one or two players to play teams of up to five characters in a series of one round matches. This mode can be played as Player vs Player, Player vs CPU, or watch a demo with CPU vs CPU.
• Training Mode: because practice makes perfect

Game configuration options allow the player to set the CPU opponents difficulty, the Damage that the players attach can be caused, the Time limit for each round, the number of rounds for each match, configure the keypad buttons, and there's a shortcut option to skip some of the setup screens in Vs. Mode.

There are eight characters in the game:

• Hayato - a Japanese bounty hunter
• June Lin Milliam - whose an English gymnast with a hatred for Bilstein because he was responsible for her father's death
• Saturn - an alien street performer from Saturn with a passion for street theatre; Gamof - a lumberjack turned bounty hunter from Andromeda
• Gerelt - a Spanish matador who was recruited the Fourth Empire; Vector a prototype robot assassin member of the Fourth Empire
• Rimgal - part human, part Tyrannosaurus who fights for the Fourth Empire because he has a microchip implanted in his brain
• Zelkin - a Klondike warrior king who owes a debt of honour to Bilstein; Gore Gajah from Indonesia who specialises in black magic; and finally Dr. Edward Bilstein.

Characters special moves in this game are called Plasma Combos and they are triggered by putting together a series of basic attacks. There are three types Plasma Combos, Hayato and Gerelt have Type A combos, Gamof, Saturn, Vector and Gore have Type B, and Zelkin, Rimgal and June have Type K. There's also a Plasma Final attack which becomes available if, after the fifth Plasma Combo, the player executes a special attack followed by pressing a specific direction button (the manual does not say what these are - it's up to the player to work it out)

Classification:

Developers:

Platform: PlayStation

Release Date: 1996-10-25

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