Shadow of Rome is a unique game in terms of it mixes two completely different genre's together, and somehow it adds a good mixture. Now I am not saying that this games stealth missions are any good, in fact they are horrible, but they do add another element to the game. Without this second element the arena fights would be seem repeative and rehashed. Also the game would probley be much shorter of have way more arena fights which would get old after awhile. The one thing the stealth missions have that is good is that they are the most story driven missions. Most the time with the arena fighting the story and seem very weak. The reason the stealth missions are so bad, because they don't even seem much like stealth missions. They seem more like puzzle missions where you have to use stealth not to be seen. They get pretty frustrating and take up a lot of time. Most of the time they are easy though, but most of the time you will be pulling out your hair trying to figure out what to do next. As the for arena fights, these are very fun. They have a lot of excitement, most of them aren't that frustrating. It seems capcom wanted to make the arena fights as fun as possible and they succeeded in that. As for the story, it is a surpisingly good story. You have to play the role of two friends, (agrippa, and octavious) who's one of their father is blamed for the killing of Ceasar. They basically go their own seperate ways to solve the mystery and try to stop agrippa's father from being killed. The story has many twists, and towards the end of the game had me surpised on what was going to happen next. Agrippa takes the route of a gladiator, he does this because the winner of the gladitoral games gets to kill the killer of ceasar. He wants to stop this from happening. While Octavious goes a stealthy route to try to uncover the mystery of who really killed ceasar. Here's how the Attributes breakdown: Gameplay: 9/10 The gameplay in this game is very good, it is smooth and at times seems real. The only reason I did not give it a 10 because some of the stealth missions gameplay is not that well. The arena fights however are a perfect 10/10 in gameplay the have good controls, they are not frustrating, and just plain fun to play. Graphics: 8/10 This games graphics are pretty good, but nothing special. It has a few really good FMVs but other than that, not that great. Sometimes in the arena battles it can look pretty good with the effects in the back, and the dirt in the air and stuff. For an arena fighting game however, the fans do not look very good at all. And most the NPCs and stuff don't look that well made. Sound: 7/10 I thought this game would have much better sound than it did. I mean come on, with all those fans in the crowd you think it could of been more crazy in the arena. Also whenever a fan gives you a weapon they always make the same voice of "here you go". Which I find funny, out of all those fans you can hear one person who happens to be throwing something. The crowds don't sound that bad though, I was just expecting more I guess. However, the weapons sound very good. And although the voice acting isn't all that great, the people are easy to hear in the FMVs. Value: 9/10 This game is about 25 hours long in the story, max. That is nearly perfect, because anymore the game would of started to become repeative, and any less, it might of seemed too short. But 25 hours of gameplay isn't all that great, they kind of put themselfs in a situation where it had to be at about that time. After you beat the story however, you can go back and do whatever duel arena fights you want. You can get extra bonuses from getting surtain medals in these events. I reccomend that you do, until you start to get bored of them. You can also go back and beat the game on hard mode if you beat it on normal the firs time through. Reviewers Tilit: 8/10 This is a pretty solid game, however it is still slightly missing some stuff that could take this game to a classic. Maybe in the next game they will mix a different genre with the arenas, or the could make the stealth actually good. I had a good time playing this game, it could of been less boring though. Overall: 8.4 Thanks you, goodbye. If you enjoyed this review be sure to add me to your trust list and look for more reviews by me in the future.
Shadow of Rome proves history (though fictionalized a tad) can indeed be fun. Sneaking around, hacking and slashing, and chariot races combine to bring the feel of ancient Rome to your PS2 in a very fun package. The g... Read Full Review
Shadow of Rome is an outstanding action game that almost anyone will love. The game starts you off with Julius Caesar being murdered, you father is blamed, and you must clear his name. The meat of the game is gladitorial... Read Full Review
