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 games: shadow of rome
Swords and sandals at the ready. Over in the parallel universe of the movie industry, many commentators saw the success of Ridley Scott's Gladiator as heralding a renaissance of the sword and sandals genre. But the failure of both Wolfgang Petersen's Troy and Oliver Stone's Alexander proved otherwise. The ancient world is a more fertile place for games however with the success of the highly acclaimed Rome: Total War and now Capcom's Shadow Of Rome. (Though there have been duffers too – Gladiator: Sword Of Vengeance is a case in point.)The influence of Gladiator is explicit in the game's intro, which echoes the start of Scott's film. But then that was in many ways just a CG-augmented rehash of what went before in the historical epic genre, reflecting such classics as The Fall Of The Roman Empire, Spartacus and even 1962's epic, Barabbas. Of course, this being a Capcom game, there's a unique take on ancient world proceedings.  The action is split between two protagonists – the chunky no-nonsense centurion-turned-gladiator Agrippa, and the wimpy but stealthy Octavianus, nephew of Julius Caesar, whose murder is the foundation of the game's events. Agrippa's early levels fighting Germanian barbarians involve traversing creepy woods, familiar Capcom territory, but subsequent action takes place in Ancient Rome itself, an interesting setting for the company's style of play. (The combination of combat and exploration/puzzle-solving is familiar from the Onimusha games, despite the very different iconography at play here.) What's most striking about the game is its combination of action and stealth. The latter is fairly typical, but it's well-handled. The Agrippa combat sections aren't quite as finessed but are more fun for the dynamism, blood and humour – with combo names flashing up, including the memorably named Urine Trouble.  It's not a great game (some of the combat is clunky, the voice-acting veers into the usual mild embarrassment and the logic is bizarre), but it is an entertaining one given distinction by Capcom's usual aplomb, the sheer bloodiness and the dual modes of play. And it's nice to see something in the sword and sandals genre that isn't as shocking as Troy or Alexander.
Daniel Etherington
Shadow Of Rome is out now on PS2.
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 project zero iigames #88  world of warcraftgames #87  csigames #86  mech assault 2games #85  games previewgames #84 books  books and comics archive Author interviews and reviews from 2002 to 2008. |
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