I have to admit, this was the first "Indie Game" I bought from Xbox Live - and for full disclosure: I bought it on accident. I intended to download the trial version and wasn't paying attention to the dashboard when I magically bought the game at it's original 800 Microsoft Points price point.

Still, after playing the game, I was absolutely hooked. The control system is unique, and works very well. You use your left analog stick to move your character around the screen and the right stick to attack. And yes, while this sounds like Robotron: 2084 or Geometry Wars, think of using that control scheme to play a game like Dynasty Warriors.

Graphically, the game is a treat. Using cell shaded effects like those you would see in Crackdown or the more recent Borderlands, the games art is crisp and stands out beautifully above many other Indie Games on Xbox Live. Cell-Shading, contrary to some people's beliefs, is not a way to cover up bad graphics: it is merely an artistic and aesthetic choice which, in this case, pays off in spades.

The sounds in the game are also outstanding. I don't know where the captured the sound effects from or if they bought the rights to a package of sounds, but they got a lot of them dead on. If I had to file one complaint, it's probably just that there is a lot of reading to do, but a story unfolds as you play the game and it doesn't often bore you to death with walls of text - but the game could benefit from some voice acting added in for effect. It seems like such a high quality production anyway, the guys at http://www.shortfuse.se should be very proud.

I was truly wowed by the intro of Colosseum. It reminded me of the Soul Calibur intro, but better from a aesthetic and cinematic standpoint. Shortfuse Games are definitely a developer to watch going forward.

The characters are presented in a gorgeous cell-shaded style, and the backgrounds and arenas and decently detailed.

The combat system takes some getting used to. There is a decent variety of enemy types that keep you changing up your tactics to get a handle on them.

The lack of online MP takes a chunk out of the score here. I don't have buddies with time to come over, so it would have been nice to connect with people virtually.

Great fighting game that isnt like all other fighting games, overall my favorite community game together with Biology Battle and Weapon of Choice, all 3 will deliver a more polished game compared to most other community games.

Graphics: 9/10
Great visuals and art style, easily the #1 compared to the rest, unfortunately the menu art does not provide the same quality as the ingame graphics.

Sound: 10/10
Colosseum also delivers hi quality audio, both fx and music and there's alot of audio content in this game.

Gameplay: 7/10
The gameplay is great if you play versus friends, the combat is differently paced compared to other fighting games but its not a bad thing, instead it offers more tactical combat where the use of not only placement, combos but also special magical powers (rage) combines to a great combat system. Unfortunately the single-player campaign mode can become quite repetive and the enemies can behave somewhat strange from time to time. A great thing however is the two special powers that will allow a player to push and pull opponents, projectiles etc and offers some creative and fun gameplay moments. Local multiplayer mode also offers some strange but fun game-modes.

Replayability: 7/10
The local multiplayer mode will keep gamers playing it but requires friends since there is no LIVE support. The ability to acquire new armor sets and weapons will also keep a player busy for some time.

Overall: 8/10
Colosseum is a very good game overall and the 400ms price tag compared to the production value makes it an instant purchase.

Graphics are very good. I think good xblive arcade level.

Game play but is very boring and repetitive.

With the recent price drop this really is worth checking out. The tutorial is long so you may need to play the trial twice to get a feel for it, but this game is great fun with friends.

With the recent price reduction to 400 MP, this game is well worth that deal, with very nice looking graphics, I would say the best for a XNA game so far.

You can definitely spend a few hours within this game, with challenges to complete, to unlock weapons, characters etc.

The script also seems well polished & funny at times :) The controls are unique/ish but are similar to that of Too Human (poor game), but with the right analog stick being used to control your weapon.

This game has the professional feel, that many XNA games lack, which makes it well worth the price for 400mp, With each level being able to play on Easy, Medium & Hard. You will keep coming back for more, to beat the boss and become the ultimate champion :)

Awesome Game!