Shadow of Rome is split in half between two characters, Agrippa and Octavianus..... This game is so so so violent!
Meanwhile, after a bizarre plot twist, Agrippa becomes a gladiator in order to help stay the execution of his father. This leads to a series of gladiatorial (say that five times fast) events in which fights are set up with some extremely bizarre conditions. At first it's just a matter of fighting other guys, but later on there are women with blade feet, fiery traps, and even vultures attacking while trying to launch rocks from catapults.
Not hindered by real-world muscular limits, Agrippa has some fantastic strength and has the ability to completely slice through enemies and turn them into fountains of blood. This is known as the Red Volcano and along with several other special moves that can be done with the limited controls Agrippa can whip the crowd into a frenzy and earn more Salvo points. By using a wide variety of moves Agrippa can even charge the crowd up who then return the favor by throwing food or weapons from the side. With so much blood and ridiculous action it's pretty damn satisfying.
With these two different modes of play the game quickly drops into a series of alternating events. Octavianus will sneak into one house in one mission and the Agrippa will have to do a few rounds of battles and back and forth. It may sound a little awkward since the different games are polar opposites in style, but it works well here. Together with the storyline that follows a series of murders after Caesar's death the whole game has a feel of a popcorn movie that has a good balance of action and quiet.
The only problem with al of this is that neither side of the game truly catches fire on its own. They're both good enough to fit in as a whole game and prevent monotony, but they can't quite stand alone. Neither of which is complex enough or with enough detail to make them something to want to dig into.
The weaker of the two is Octavianus with his simplified stealth. While Agrippa just has the goal of spilling as much blood as possible it's up to Octavianus to carry along the story and this is done by infiltrating buildings to listen in on the people behind the scenes. This is fun sometimes when there are a few cool tricks to pull off, but gets to be tedious at others when Octavianus is forced to walk very, very slowly or else he attracts the attention of nearby guards.
With Octavianus there are not a lot of options of what to do to finish the goals. This leads to many missions where it's almost painfully obvious what needs to be done and where he needs to go. For example, he can only climb on items when the an icon appears on the screen. This means that finding the right path is often just walking around and hitting the circle button when the game asks you to.
From a gameplay perspective that craves challenge, Shadow of Rome's Octavianus sections disappoint, but where they redeem themselves is that they serve to do a good job of integrating themselves into the storyline to create an "interactive movie" which doesn't quite feel like working toward each cutscene. Not deep, but it serves the overall purpose.
The other half, Agrippa's half, is much more fun to play through since there's that over-the-top blood spewing that goes on. The plot points may be minimal at best, but the action is gratifying. There also aren't a lot of controls to learn with the majority of it being just a couple types of attack along with blocking or eating food. The real trick is learning to survive the brutal rounds of fighting and deal with the onslaught of enemies. With the exception of the bosses the AI is very simple to deal with (i.e. they walk straight at you) and so the work is in mastering the different arenas.
The Romans were known for packing their gladiator fights with some ridiculous set-ups, going as far as flooding the Coliseum for nautical battles, and Shadow of Rome goes the distance as well. Sometimes this can mean creating situations such as there being a wall with a gate that Agrippa needs to break through and kill everyone in the way to win. This can also mean bringing a hostage back through a gauntlet of enemies. It can even go as far as fighting tigers and an elephant. It's all big, loud, and good fun for the length of the game.
Similar to Octavianus the only complaint about Agrippa's section is the relative simplicity of it. The regular enemies have the one strategy of walking directly towards Agrippa and never learn otherwise. One of the battles had fire traps where by pressing a button on the ground next to a grate flames would shoot out of it. It's fun to lure an enemy onto it and sear his skin, but this can be done over and over and over again. Even after being burned a few times a huge thug will still walk right onto the grate and get hit again.
Dealing with the large groups of enemies, the biggest challenge, is also a matter of AI management. By running to one end of the arena all of the enemies will follow and in this way it's possible to kill off the faster guys first and move on to the slow giants. Get this one method down and it's all gravy. The big trick is to stay safe and get a variety of moves done for the crowd.
Still, even these complaints are pretty small since the overall feeling is so bloody and visceral that it can be forgiven. It's not often you can slice a man's arm off and then beat him senseless with it. Or get into a kicking fight with a woman who's had both arms cut off. That's something to play through and just feel warm and fuzzy inside over.
Put both these elements of the game together and the result is the equivalent of a summer action flick with a decent plot. It won't make you think too hard and the slow parts can get a little boring and clumsy, but the action is fun enough to redeem it.