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A challenge and so so funny.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I pulled an all nighter playing this game. The graphics were great and I enjoyed the battle scenes. Its the average bad guy wants to conquer Rome, bad guy murders Ceasar, a Innocent man is blamed for it, and a annoying blond guy is searching for the answer. You play two roles, Agrippa and octavious. Agrippa, who becomes a gladiator to find his dad, and Octavious who is searching for the answer to ceasars death. The weapons are temporary and you have to pursuade guards before they kill you. As you progress through the game, at some point things will get annoying but that could be remedied by having octavious slip on a banana peel...or get stung by bees.
In short, it is a fun game and if you have the patience you can beat it.
If you enjoy challenges and pulling an all nighter playing a game, this would be the one.

gotta play this game!-Instant Classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: February 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Truly one of the best games that I have played in a while. I loved the gameplay and the way that you can play two different characters at the same time (the game will automatically switch between the 2 characters). The graphics are awesome and very deep. This game is both hack and slash and stealth. (Think Splinter Cell mixed with Ninja Gaiden). One of the best games of '05.

Best Game of 2005

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

What can I say about this game that other people haven't. The gladiator fights are hack n' slash heaven, the stealth portion of the game is inventive and challenging, even the between the scenes movies are fun to watch and unbelievably realistic. It was like I was watching the movie Gladiator and controlling Russel Crowe's character. The absolute best part is fightin with an opponent's arm or head - how awesome is that! Then, you can show the body part to the audience, watch them cheer, and wait for them to throw you a new weapon. There are so many cool weapons to fight with - you will not get bored playing this game. I would say that since I bought it two weeks ago, I've played an average of 4 hours a day. I cann'ot drag myself from the game, nor would I want to. You won't be sorry you bought this game.

Out From the "Shadow"

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Few games have managed to capture the brutal grandeur that is the Roman coliseum and its most famous athletes, known as gladiators. Some have tried, with varying degrees of success. Lucas Arts' "Gladius" opted for turn-based roleplaying and strategy in a mostly fantasy setting, while the action-packed but flawed "Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance" took things to a level reminiscent of old arcade beatdowns like "Final Fight." Other games featuring this setting are hardly worth mentioning, but at last it took some of the people behind "Onimusha" to get the damn thing right with "Shadow of Rome."

Owing as much to Ridley Scott's year 2000 epic as pretty much every gladiator game released since then, "Shadow of Rome" casts you, primarily, as the hulking centurion Agrippa, who becomes a gladiator in a desperate bid to rescue his father, who is accused of murdering Julius Caesar, and avenging his mother, executed by decree of the new emperor. His young friend Octavianus, also a player character, is there to help when it's needed, but his skills lean considerably more toward stealth and cunning than clobbering any enemy that stands in his way. The look and feel of the game is Ridley's, but filtered through an Asian lens. It's both highly stylized and acutely familiar, and the plotline and characters driving it forward do their job surprisingly well, even if they lack historical accuracy.

"Shadow of Rome" feels suitably epic, and the action, which is the game's focal point, is intense and highly gratifying. Agrippa's journey from elite Roman warrior to mighty gladiator pits him against hundreds upon hundreds of interesting and downright challenging human foes, and a few animals as well - thankfully, there are scant few fantasy trappings here. With a wide assortment of weapons and attacks, the ensuing spectacle is such that it would certainly please a bloodthirsty crowd of Roman spectators. Implements of destruction are many and varied, from bows and arrows to mighty serrated broad swords, and the effect of each put to use is extremely bloody. The level of carnage in "Shadow of Rome" is virtually second to none, and the gouts of spurting gore go a long way toward enveloping you in Agrippa's plight.

Appropriately, the game encourages you to play to the crowd after each kill - the bloodier the end to a fellow gladiator, the more they enjoy it, and the more they enjoy it the louder they cheer. The cheering might be its own reward in this case, thanks to the crowd's bawdy roars, which add further adrenaline to the already intense onscreen action, but gaining their support is in fact sometimes quite essential to your survival, as they often compensate you for your brutality by throwing you helpful items such as fresh weapons or food to help you replenish your health. The need for the latter is obvious, as the game packs plenty of challenge, but due to weapon degradation and eventual destruction, the former is pretty much necessary as well - and that's not to mention the better weapons, which can only be attained through appeasing the masses.

"Shadow of Rome" manages to deftly evade the hack-and-slash formula of gameplay that starts out fun but soon sinks into tedium, thanks not only to the wide variety of weapons, but more importantly to the wide assortment of challenges arrayed before Agrippa. Every pitfight is not merely an excuse to kill everything that moves - sometimes there are more specific objectives, which can involve teams of gladiators or staged rescue missions. What's more, a handful of chariot races pop up to further mix and match, and they offer an enjoyable, challenging diversion midway through the experience. With gameplay this diverse, it's hard to grow bored.

Unfortunately, all this diversity is perhaps the game's biggest flaw, as between Agrippa's scenarios the game switches gears to focus on his friend Octavianus, who employs tactics of stealth to sneak around Rome and find answers to a vast conspiracy tied to the late Caesar's death. While far from bad, these frequent interludes certainly slam on the brakes, and feel like they belong to another game entirely. Action goes right out the window, as Octavianus goes down like a sack of stones if he gets caught and whacked by a centurion's gladius. The pacing of these particular missions is slow and very deliberate, but as far as stealth games go, they have been done infinitely better than this. The guards on patrol are amazingly dimwitted and apt to forget Octavianus five seconds after he's out of sight, and, all in all, it's an unnecessary distraction from the action game that works so bloody well. The Octavianus portions of "Shadow of Rome" ultimately feel like another game entirely - one that is not on par with the rest, which is of a much higher quality.

Although "Shadow of Rome" stumbles beneath the weight of its tacked on stealth mechanic, the gladiatorial action keeps it on its feet even at its lowest ebb. A suitably epic campaign will keep players busy for quite some time, and when that's done a host of unlockable goodies (such as arena battles) await to further ensure the game's shelf life. All in all, "Shadow of Rome" is the first game to truly deliver on the gladiator premise, and should not be missed.

Brutally Awesome!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: July 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

It's about time, the gladiator fighting arena has been demonstrated to be brutally awesome on a video game. Yea, sure the game starts out a little slow, and somewhat irritating, but, it's all worth it once you become a gladiator and get to chop of arms, legs, and heads and not to mention cutting bodies completely in half and smashing heads and pleasing the crowds. The more brutal and agressive, the more the crowd will love you and Chant your name and throw you tons of different amputating and smashing weapons to do even more damage. It's just like the bloody arena we've all heard it was. I can go on and on.
The story line is really good as well and gets you into the game more. I don't really care about it anymore though, I just love playing the arena over and over.........

Yes, another G4ttv review.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Yes, As well as the other reviewer, I am a watcher of Adam Sessler, and Morgan Web. The game Shadow of Rome does look promising, but please dont forget, this is a preview, not a review. You virtually obtain 2 characters, one of which is a stealth blonde boy character who prefers the quieter side of killing. While your counter part is a gladiator like worrior who is you lack and slash, brute force killer. The game includes chariot races while at the same time killing your enemies, as well as puzzles. I say try this one out, it looks to be a very interesting and fun adventure.

In two words, Nice... Smooth...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Agrippa is a centurion in the Roman army. Patroling the outskirts of Germania, his regimant hapens upon a captured roman messenger, who tells him Ceaser has been assasinated. Arriving home his friend, informs him that Agrippa's own father has been arrested for the murder. The Roman empire decides to hold gladitorial games and the winner will execute Agrippa's father... You cannot lose.

Since Amazon doesn't carry this title anymore, I had to buy it from sam's club for like 15$ Sam's is not a bad place to buy old games, I've seen Silent Hill 2 there as well.

From start to finish this game offers one of the best stories I've played in a long time. In fact, this has one of the best stories I've ever heard of. Sure those of you who have just seen Gladiator may find a closeresemblance [even though it's just the gladiator part], this is an exelent plot, which is why i've given it two stars for just the plot alone [for those of you familiar with my reviews, this is the first time I've ever given 2 stars for a plot].

I give it 1 star for graphics. The eviornments are some of the best i've ever seen in a ps2 game. You know the graphics are superb when you hardly notice the intricacy of the walls because you're so into the game, but when you do look at the walls and notice the archittecure is so right, and the small cracks here and there are visible only to those who look, it's really good graphics. One star for the graphics.

As for the fighting, I give it a star for showing the shere brutality of the gladitorial arena in such detail that, the first time you play it, you forget it's a game. one star for the game play.

As for the rest, well I just have one problem. If this game has such good graphics, and a story you could only hope to watch in a high budget movie, add in the great gladitorial battles, why couldn't they do the little things? there are certain details the makes forgot about or just simply didn't do. It would be so cool to be able to buy your own armor and weapons that lasted a few more than just 10 hits or so. Just minor things like that is all. Not exacally all that bad. However the sneaking around seconddary plot line gets a bit annoying at times, seeing as how we're living in a post metal gear solid age where, sneaking just isnt the same...

One of the best qualities to this game is it's dificulty. Enough of a challenge for any gamer who enjoys a good fight where even though you're really good, you can in fact lose.

Another good quality is it's longetivity. This game is comprised of chapters. yes, chapters which can last up to several hours if you have trouble, or just want to gain expierience or "salvo" or cheer points. Very fun.

However, it would have been really fun if instead of reading what people are sayin, why can't we just hear them? this is the 21st century and final fantasy 10 already did that so... someone needs to get the memo. But again, another minor low point that isnt all that low for a 15$ price tag.

all in all, really nice and smooth. Very great story that's realistic enough to keep one inerested for hours on end. This game is addictive, not because of the mindless fighting, but because one secretly wants to find out what happens next. Now if only the sneaking part were alittle more sneaky, this game would be perfect and i wouldnt even have mentioned wanting to buy my armor and weapons. But since the seaking is a bit quant for this era, one just endures it because it is also quite fun on more then one occasion.

WARNING: this game contains scenes of graphic violence and gore, however, for younger adiences, the blood can be turned off.

All in all one of the best games of 04 ive ever played, and one worthy of being on every ps2 owners shelf, unless you're a history or english buff, in which case you really should run to sam's club and buy this game like right now.

It's a star away from perfection. If only they added a little of this a little of that, this game would prolly have survived for more than it's short run, which is sad, cause this is a really fun and good game. Either it came out at the wrong time, or perhaps people just didnt notice it, seeing as how Gladius came out at the same time. However, for those of you who enjoy fighting games and like reading a little bit, this i the perfect game for you.

It's nice, and smooth. Nice for it's story, graphics, and dialague [which is superb for a game, and could rival that of any cartoon], and smooth for it's exelent gameplay and intricat graphics. Oh, did i mention you can buy items [including a tiger] for the room that you rent? Very smooth.

Great game, despite the insipid end

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As a history lover and assiduous reader of the deeds and registries of acient kingdoms and empires, i couldn't feel less than attracted to play a game which sunks you into the experience of surviving the last days of the Republican era in ancient Rome. Undertaking the role of a coarse Roman centurion, Agrippa, and his feeble friend Octavianus, whom is indeed no less than Caesar's nephew, the original story behind Caesar's assasination is cleverly modified, and re-told in the eyes of these two characters. The game delivers hours of thrilling action, backdoor conspiracy and Arena bloodshed, bringing some of the crudest graphics i've ever seen; and capcom makes the whole playing experience so incredibly engaging, despite the violence, that once you grab the control and enter the Circus Arena you just can't stop slicing, riping, etc. etc.....God thanks it's just a game! is hard to imagine that something like that could ever happen in behalf of merely crowd amusement. But it happened, and probably worse than that. The graphics are great, amazing, the custome design, everything...is like if you were indeed living in such a time. Well, the end..what can be said about the end...errrr...after days and days of gore and bloodbaths, following clues and hidding like a rabbit, you came into an end like this......it's the weakest part of the game, they failed to give this story a more out-of-the-common end. But the playing experience worths the hassle, and the dissapointment henceforth.

Why Stealth, WHY?!?!?!?!?!?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: June 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

What is the obsession game developers have with stealth these days. Like some of the other reviewers here, I agree that the gladiator/soldier fighting is great. The control system is very intuitive and easy to pick up. If it wasn't for the stupid stealth parts (Octavianus) this game would get a "five." I can only hope there is a sequel with fighting only and none of these REALLY LAME stealth missions. Because the stealth parts are SO BAD; this game is not worth buying for $50. Rent it first! I might go back and buy this one six to eight months from now when it's down to $20, but not now. GAME DEVELOPERS PLEASE STOP WITH THE STUPID STEALTH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!

Just okay

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: April 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The game is alright. Like with many games these days, way too much effort was put into the theatrical intros. The story plot follows the movie Gladiator almost to the T, with a little inconsequencial julius caesar filler story. The fighting is good, but only requires timing to get down. This is by no means a strategy game. I am almost done with it, and I haven't had to think once yet, so I assume the rest is the same. The character switching is lame. Don't listen to the fake reviewers that make it sound all cool. This is the same old same old, but what did you expect. It had been so long since I have played a good game, I took a gamble thinking that the reviews here on amazon were somewhat acurate, but was wrong.

2 stars for zero bugs and good 3d environments.

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