Colosseum
| Colosseum | |
 |
|
| Author(s) | Jake Keating |
|---|---|
| Release date | 2003 |
| Game(s) | Jedi Outcast |
| Mode(s) | Single Player educational shooter |
Colosseum is a Single Player modification for Jedi Outcast, developed by Jake Keating in 2003. Unlike many other SP projects, Colosseum is set in real life universe during the times of Ancient Rome.
Story
The Player is offered the role of Gluteus, a thief condemned for stealing from a noble man, who is a close friend of the Emperor himself. Put into prison cell, he awaits his trial, but is thrown into battle on the arena as a gladiator. He finds, that he is not alone there, as a girl named Athena is also kept prisoner here – she explains the motives and some traditions of the gladiators fights in the arena, when the prison overseer comes to mock Gluteus on his soon demise and to show what fate is awaiting beyond the gates - a fight with best of the best gladiators.
Gluteus sees a large arena, full of crowd, waiting to see a spectacular show with blood and death. The gladiator Thraex comes close by the gates and instantly slaughters two slaves. Soon afterwards Gluteus is sent to the arena to much amusement of the public.
After defeating Thraex, Gluteus walks into the centre of the arena to fight Retiarius. Upon defeating him Gluteus spares the life of the slave and returns to the basement to replenish his strength. However the Emperor and his friends aren't satisfied with the previous fights, and seeing that Gluteus and Athena have become close, it is decided to send them to the arena to "die together". Outside the gates they see rose petals fall slowly, as the battle soon begins - this time with Athena they have to fight three gladiators at once.
The victory of Gluteus infuriates the Emperor even further, as he orders the legionnaires to kill the gladiators. Athena asks her counterpart to call for the help of other slaves in the basement, while she holds off the soldiers. Having fought off all the legionnaires beneath the arena, Gluteus releases other gladiators, who rush outside to aid outnumbered Athena. To much amusement of the spectators, they all engage in an intense and bloody battle, but in the end defeat all the enemies and leave the arena.
As Athena and Gluteus leave the Colosseum, they are no longer slaves and can enjoy their freedom and love.
Gameplay
The Player is offered to play an ordinary man, thus there are no Jedi powers or modern weapons. Gluteus can only use a sword to fight off the enemies and a few medpacks on the arena if injured. All the enemies have been replaced with new NPCs, which represent well-made models of people of Ancient Rome times. A few reskins were made for Mon Mothma, Tavion and Luke Skywalker to look like Prison Overseer, Athena and a slave respectively.
The mod includes one level, which is divided into several battles. The Player has to pass all the trials in order to get freedom. In many cases the story is followed by small messages about the history of Rome.
Development
The author included a detailed diary of his process on the mod's website. It shows various steps in creating the story, the textures and level, as well as new characters. The music is taken from several sources, including the original motion picture soundtracks for Ronin and Gladiator.
Behind the scenes
In 2022 during an interview with the Jedi Outcast developers, released by the JKHUB team, Pat Lipo (Multiplayer lead) mentioned Colosseum as one of the best mods he saw, describing it as a "total conversion" and saying, that "it felt like a totally different game".
Appearances
Characters
- Gluteus
- Athena
- Prison overseer
- Emperor
- Multiple Gladiators
- Roman legionnaires
Locations
- Ancient Rome Arena (probably the famous Colosseum in Rome)
Gallery
-
Gluteus
-
Thraex
-
Retiarius
-
Legionnaire
-
Weapons in the mod
-
Colosseum overview
-
Athena, a slave and Prison overseer
-
Battle
-
Battle
