A few moons ago, in a pre-swine flu world, I punched up a short article on fighting games and what I thought, after playing them pretty much non stop for eighteen years, was wrong with the genre.

Now a game on the horizon looks set to shake up the genre and it’s a Wii game to boot. Gladiator AD from developer High Voltage.

If the name High Voltage doesn’t set of alarm bells how about The Conduit, the Wii shooter set to take up your waggle time. Gladiator AD is, as you can imagine, set in ancient Rome and features you as a slave forced into violent combat against your fellow slaves. You level up and upgrade your character between fights and get access to new weapons and armour. Some battles will be one on one, others may feature wild animals leaping our of trap doors as you battle.

There’s also a karma system in place based on the will of the crowd. At the end of a battle the emperor makes his pronouncement, thumbs up or thumbs down. If its thumbs down you can execute a brutal and bloody finishing move, but say you kinda like the guy you’ve just beaten and you don’t want to tear his head off? Well going against the will of the emperor will enrage the crowd. Whereas playing to the crowd will have them throwing you money and food.

The game is in its early stages but it certainly sounds promising. A fighting game with depth beyond its movelist.

Other than the fact its a Wii exclusive we don't know much else right now. But for Wii owners its definitely one to watch