romasuave's Full Review: Shadow Of Rome for PlayStation 2
Shadow of Rome is a very unique and exciting title from Capcom. It surrounds the events that followed the assassination of Julius Caesar and the quest of 2 men to exonerate the wrongfully accused person the murder was pinned on. As Caesar is murdered, the leader of the Senate, Cicero, pins the blame of one of Caesar’s assistants, Vipsanius, who is innocent of the crime. Caesar’s nephew, Octavianus, a young commoner is a friend to Vipsanius’ son, Agrippa, a soldier in the Roman Army. As news hits of the tragedy, Vipsanius and Agrippa get together to try and uncover the truth and set Vipsanius free, Octavianus does so by sneaking into the Senate and big wig residences to overhear some clues, and Agrippa becomes a gladiator because the best fighter is to execute his father, this way he tries to win in order to see his father and rescue him.
This is where the story evolves, you the gamer alternate between being the sneaky and strategic Octavianus and the brutal Agrippa in the gladiator arenas. As Octavianus, you use clever tactics to sneak into buildings and sneak by Roman Guards, sometimes you can only strategically to so without being seen, sometimes you have to use force and items picked up to knock them unconscious and get into their uniform and talk your way out of confrontations. The controls allow you to walk along walls and peep through corner, duck and sneak, walk and run, and hide in jars to avoid being seen or heard, you can also whistle to attract guards away from their post and you could sneak around them to enter desired locations. There are many common items you can use to hurt or distract others, such as banana peels, darts, rocks, ropes and jars, all are helpful in getting past opponents. This is a challenging aspect to the game but it gives you the chance to use your head and devise clever routes to get you where you want to be.
As Agrippa you are faced with the daunting task of getting through gladiator battles, each is different than the others, whether it be a one on one battle or a team affair, you have to hone your fighting skills and get through these challenges on top, the more fun aspect of the game is the fighting section as opposed to the strategic section, this is where the brutal slicing and dicing is neverending and the rush of the crowds gets you going. This part of the game also involves some strategy as the purpose is not only kill your opponents before they kill you, but there are challenges involving team members and the purpose is to destroy enemy statues before the opponent destroys yours, and it introduces the Salvo meter, or the crowd gauge as I call it, some challenges involve amassing a certain number of Salvo points to complete the challenge and the way to get the points is to hurt and kill opponents in the most brutal way while getting the crowd excited, the more excited they are about your skilled performance the more points you get, and as your Salvo meter rises you can prompt the crowd to throw into the arena bigger and better weapons to use and food to restore energy with. The weapons are plentiful, ranging from dagger to gladiuses, the bows to spears and huge swords, all have their pluses and minuses. You can also use your old fashioned fists and feet to kick butt. The opponents come in 3 sizes, small medium and large, the small ones being quick and hard to catch, the bigger ones being slow but hard to finish, and the medium ones are your size and are the perfect candidate for maiming. Challenges get harder and harder but funner to complete.
One of the many good aspects to this game is the 2 character mode, a very unique way to play a game, using brute strength and mental abilities to arrive at a common goal. It might take a little while to master your fighting skills and your sneaking skills but it’s great to take a moment and devise a game plan to get you to the next phase.
The storyline is loosely based on actual events and it served as a historical lesson about the events surrounding the ruler’s death and the lifestyle of the people around the city, it’s nice to see all locations i the city, from the forum to the senate to the arenas and marketplace, all gives the gamer an overall experience of what was Rome.
The graphics during gameplay are detailed, vivid and smooth, the movement are fluid and there is a totally believable landscape and character design and development. The cut scenes are superb, enthralling to watch and listen to and the characters are very lifelike in their mannerisms. Along with the graphics, the soundtrack is epic Roman sound, primarily consisting of classical horn section and woodwinds. The sound of the crowds get your adrenaline pumping as if you are in the arena yourself and the sound of steel clanging and flesh being ripped off is exciting, albeit brutal.
The gameplay itself is good, there are some iffy controls when it comes to fighting as it could prove a challenge to focus on an opponent and hit him at times, but overall it is smooth and very realistic.
When it comes to graphic situations, this game is as bloody as they come, the Mature rating is well deserved as you see blood splattering, limbs and heads being chopped off, it gives the player a taste of what the games were like back in the days of Rome.
Grading:
Gameplay: 4.4 of 5
Graphics: 4.5 of 5
Sound: 4.4 of 5
Storyline: 4.6 of 5
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