This is a well prepared game, but I found it lacking in areas that made the game loose its value, but maybe not for you!
User Rating: 6.7 | Shadow of Rome PS2
I decided to rent this game (luckly) because of the great reviews it got from Gamespot. From the start of the game I could see that the game seemed well thought out and presented. I liked the concept behind the game as well as the two part action, playing both as a soldier (combat) or as the nephew of the murdered Caesar, determined to find out the truth (stealth). The problems for me came when I finally got into the meat of the game. The game, even though it has it's two parts, seems to be more centered on the combat side. This combat I found very complicated and the difficulty became extreme well before I was ready for it. To it's benefit, the combat looked great with plenty of hacking and slashing with body parts and blood flying in every direction. The combat was satisfying but got very difficult very quickly, this lead to me playing one section of the arena for a day or two before I could finally finish it, only to get to another round of arena combat that would require even more time to finish. This level of frustration quickly turned me off. Fans of fighting games might find this great, but I did not. The stealth side of the game that should have given me a break from the combat turned out to be very much an afterthought. The missions were not very complicated or interesting, and were usually finished very quickly, with nothing of interest to show for it. It was then back to the combat where I again became frustrated. Not enough of the plot of the game was ever revealed to make me want to keep playing either. Although the first couple of chapters of the game kept me very entertained the level of difficulty ( and there was no way to lower it or even use a cheat) kept me from making it much farther than that. I applaud the game then for doing what it was trying to do fairly well, but not giving it a very high rating because of the frustration it also put me through. Take this with a grain of salt, if this seems to be your type of game, you will probably find it excellent, but if your like me, you might want to steer clear, or at least rent the game so you won't feel as bad when you decide to quit. 
