Pyramid Review
CyborGladiators
Published by Firefly Games
Written by David L. Pulver, Marc A. Vézina, Scott Bennie, Mark Arsenault, & Patrick Sweeney
Art by Bart Willard, Bryce Nakagawa, & Richard Cox
Edited by Patrick Sweeney
64-page b&w softcover; $14.95
Let's not kid ourselves. A game like CyborGladiators, about man-to-man combat among enhanced humanoids, isn't exactly a new concept. But give the fine folks at Firefly Games their props, because they've managed to make it feel fresh and new.
The background is pretty straightforward. Aliens called the Dzerini drop by planets once in a while, collect a few promising specimens (like, say, humans), and use them as pawns in a galactic game of mortal combat. Not all aliens are created equal, of course -- some of them might have a thick carapace on their backs -- so it may be necessary to recreate them equally. If you die in the arena, oh well. You probably weren't going to be worth sponsoring anyway. On the other hand, if you show that you can take on an enemy who's a little bit bigger or a tiny bit faster than you, it's worth their while to fix you up and send you back for round two.
At that point, though, you're an investment, and in all likelihood a cyborg. That arm you lost last time has been replaced with a tough but utilitarian chunk of steel. If your owners are feeling particularly generous, you may have a small-caliber weapon attached to the end of it, or a taser, or a flame thrower. Your . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: February 3, 2006
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