Kick @ss
Before we get into the grisly details of combat, we have to warn you--Shadow of Rome is a very violent game. As in war, there aren’t any rules to hold you back in the arena. Unlike war, you have a crowd of spectators cheering you on and urging you to kill your opponents in the flashiest, goriest way possible.
Not only does the crowd react to particularly gruesome acts, there's a plethora of special terms for various acts of violence called salvos. For example, amputating an arm with a razor sharp scimitar creates a disarmed salvo. Hack off the other arm and you’ve become a meat sculptor. You might pick up your victim’s own arm and beat him with it for a flesh attack, but drawing back your scimitar once more could produce urine trouble when the poor guy wets himself in fear and a meat collector salvo when you take off his head. Now that, my friends, is video game violence.
The actual controls are simple--one button for each arm, basically--but to really mess your opponents up you’ll need to hold down the button for a charge attack. Agrippa tenses his muscles, and if you’re holding a huge weapon like the halberd your effort can rip an opponent in half at the torso (that’s the red volcano salvo, for those keeping score at home). Since powerful strikes are absolutely essential for pleasing the crowd and staying alive, combat has a very deliberate, weighty feel. The fighting may seem overly simple at first, but once you get the hang of it the brutality of the game will come right through the controller.
Covert Intermission
Octavianus isn’t the violent type. Unfortunately, this makes him less interesting. When the gladiatorial mayhem is interrupted so you can sneak around and clock senators in the back of the head with jugs of olive oil and pilfering their toga, you’ll be looking forward to the next bloody spectacle the entire time. We’re not giving the sneaky-sneaky sections the ominous thumbs down, though. His is a very decent stealth-action with moves like the wall-hug, the stealth crawl, and the ledge shimmy. He can even talk his way out of a bad situation, or incite citizens to march on the senate. The guards are everything you’d expect. They're not very observant and have very short memories, but they’re challenging enough.
The stealth sections don’t really compare favorably to the fighting. Agrippa can hurl a freshly decapitated head into the crowd, and that’s a really tough act to follow. Yet there are some amusing moments and variety keeps Octy’s I-die-in-one-hit frailty from making the entire game weak. For instance, the boy is so pretty he can put on a maid’s uniform and walk around arousing very little suspicion from the guards--though he might be arousing something else. It’s also fun to peg a guard with an apple and blame it on the guy standing next to you, who happens to be eating an apple. Again, it's not as fun as tossing a severed head into the pulsing throngs of spectators, and there’s some trial and error involved, but it’s never long until you’re back in the arena.
Finalis
While it has a few moments of weakness, Shadow of Rome is truly a game possessed of great strength. There are numerous weapons to master and countless acts of brutality to perfect. Opponents come in all shapes and sizes. Even animals such as tigers, vultures, and elephants are included. Sorry PETA. The boss fights are supremely challenging and satisfying, and you’ll earn totally **** sets of armor as you accumulate bloody victories. There’s even a very enjoyable chariot race section. And really, the sneaking game is far better than many games who toss some stealth in as an afterthought.