The combat itself can be influenced by any number of factors, such as the other gladiators on your team, the terrain, the direction in which your enemy is facing, and morale. The only point that may be problematic with some is the presence of a sliding meter to indicate an attack; you want to press X at the right time, to land your cursor in the red part of the meter and thus land a critical hit. If you wait too long to press X, you'll either do almost no damage, or you'll miss entirely.