The game begins in the arena, but the story is told in cut scenes after boss battles.

Maia died in child birth, but prayed to the gods for her sons to be blessed with great strength and valor.

A week prior to the start of the game Gracius and Luthor were made aware of their father's death.

!, the combo system in God of War, the cutscenes in Final Fantasy, and the tech trees in Diablo or World of Warcraft, as well as the background music in films such as 300.

A star system is used to control when players are allowed to fight the next few opponents, and stars are earned from winning standard matches, as well as two challenge matches for each opponent where the player must fulfill (a) certain condition(s) to win, such as a time limit and/or performing a certain number of counterattacks.

One notable difference in the plot is that Prince Luther manages to escape capture after the final fight and Gracius is haunted by his "betrayal", unlike in the WiiWare version, where he was caught.

[5] Completely filling the skill tree in the WiiWare version will unlock the Brutal Victory move, which can be used to unleash a very long combo with massive damage if the player's mana gauge is full and has an open opportunity to attack.

Offense: Focuses on hitting harder, gaining critical strikes, leeching health from opponents, and conjuring spells.

Magic: Focuses on generating more energy to perform combos, channeling electricity into opponents, and summoning spells like lightning and tornados.

[5] According to Cheat Code Central's Jonathan Marx, "Rage of the Gladiator looks like it's shaping up to be a premium title for WiiWare.

Using the first-person perspective, the player is thrust into the sandals of Gracius, a comically melodramatic aristocrat-turned-brawler who must face a slew of bizarre enemies in the arena."