Agrippa locked onto his target and darted his gleaming blade, slicing through the armour and flesh of the opposing gladiator’s torso. A geyser of steaming-hot blood erupted from the wound as he howled out his fury and unleashed his rage, but Agrippa answered every assault with a thrust or a slice. He did not hack at his rival, dismembering him by sheer force, but instead he chose to vivisect his living body, as a butcher would divide a carcass: flaying the outer layers, dismembering the offal, carving the flesh and stripping the bone. Then in the final execution our hero raised his blade and brought it down fast, severing soft tissue and sinew, breaking bones and destroying blood vessels…

Welcome to one of many possible battle scenarios within Capcom’s very gruesome action-adventure that retells the Roman history of death, betrayal and conspiracy. Players control two historical characters within interweaving missions: Agrippa, who possesses outstanding military prowess, and his friend Octavianus whose path is less bloody and pursues Hitman-influenced stealth. They each share loyalty and respect towards the mighty Gaius Julius Caesar, and it is up to them to uncover the truth behind his death whilst preventing Agrippa’s father’s execution.

Shadow of Rome’s combat is deep and varied offering an impressive amount of depth due to a whole arsenal of weapons, attacks and combos to achieve and master. Agrippa is the only character who can use murderous weaponry and he can hold different tools of destruction in each hand. His right arm acts as the main attack (assigned to ‘X’) and his left acts as his secondary attack performing jabs or holding shields (‘Square’ button). It’s often possible to imagine Agrippa transforming into Russell Crowe and uttering the words, “I am Maximus Decimus Meridius ” as he single-handedly slaughters a raft of attackers. The player can unleash their wrath in a number of bloody and violent ways and whether Agrippa stuns his adversary by kicking sand into his/her eyes or chooses to beat his foe with a recently severed arm until his life is hanging by a thread, all actions (attacking, targeting, blocking, throwing items) are easily executed with simple button presses.

Capcom have addressed the inevitability of a tiring novelty by weaving various scenarios, challenges and increasingly difficult rivals into the arenas (not to mention a few surprises). Additionally whereas the majority of Agrippa’s gameplay consists of battling, there are various sections where the player must explore open areas (outside the gladiatorial arenas) and is free to wander and talk to others to receive useful tips and information. This significantly helps to evoke a greater sense of adventure and drives the desire to spend time communicating with others (as well as killing them).

Unlike Agrippa, Octavianus lacks the physical strength and hence lusty satisfaction of piercing a spear through a foe’s oesophagus, so his missions focus on secrecy rather then melee. Being seen by the enemy isn’t the wisest choice of action and unsurprisingly there are several tricks to avoid alert (vase pots and the classic banana skin literally come in handy). These actions are assigned to specific buttons but most of Octavianus’ non-physical actions are context-sensitive, such as opening doors, climbing ladders, picking up items or talking to citizens. Sadly though, fairly basic, predictable and uninspired enemy intelligence disrupts the enjoyment somewhat, and the context-sensitive actions mean there is a limited about of freedom as the player can only choose to climb or perform certain actions at specific points. Although Octavianus’ stealth offers some Solid Snake-like craftiness, these levels aren’t nearly as fun as Agrippa’s sections.

Commendably the two characters' unique skills and motives not only adopt contrasting gameplay styles, but also serve as a means to peer into a different chapter of the same story. Citizens will react differently depending on which character is in control and various plot details are exclusively uncovered. Unfortunately the well-written plot presented via impressively choreographed cutscenes can't conceal some serious drawbacks. Although the dual themes (action and stealth) prevent the experience from becoming monotonous, they are also cursed to being too short, too often and thrown back and forth with disrupting loading screens. The characters and their individual styles of play should be seamlessly presented to the player but are instead coerced awkwardly creating a considerably disjointed and unpolished feel.

Capcom’s crew of time-travelling gorehounds have tried to capture the imagery of Spartacus and Ridley Scott’s Gladiator with a glistening red (yet tarnished) sword, and at times it is beautifully brutal - most character models look and act realistically, their bodies even slick with sweat, most weapons and armour notably resembling their real-life counterparts as well as sparkling beautifully in the sunlight, and impressively, everything remains silky smooth even in the most hectic battles. It’s also clear that Capcom studied a lot of reference material to influence their animators and artists to capture the essence, time and movement of real gladiators…

It is a distinct shame, then, that the majority of environments are corroded and unpolished. The woodland areas in particular are tainted with grainy and gritty textures making them uninspiring to explore. Even more disappointing is how the Roman cities fail to exude any sort of atmosphere and are often far too lifeless, dull and uninteresting. The sound is also neither consistently good nor bad – at times it truly captivates the grandness of Rome with an epic composition and haunting cries of battle, but at other times, it’s as heartless as the zombified souls who wander the often empty streets.

Shadow of Rome captures the spirit of reality interpreted through fantasy. It doesn’t attempt to be a classical history book, but instead it shapes and manipulates history into an undoubtedly flawed, but fun experience - Agrippa’s combat is enjoyable, engaging, and exhilarating, whereas Octavianus’ stealth sections offer nothing new and are fairly limited. Ultimately it’s admirable how Capcom attempted to temper consistent bloodshed by offering an additional contrasting gameplay style, but the clumsy implementation harms the experience.