Shadow of Rome

Shadow of Rome (シャドウ オブ ローマ Shadou Obu Rōma) is a hack-and-slash and stealth game made by Capcom for the PlayStation 2, released in 2005.

Plot
The game features a fictionalized version of Julius Caesar’s assassination and is focused on two characters: Agrippa, a Centurion who was disgraced and forced to fight as a gladiator, and Octavianus, who tries to uncover the truth behind the assassination.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The inclusion of three separate gameplay sections, such as Agrippa’s combat-laden sections, Octavianus’ stealth-based sections, and chariot racing/combat sections.
 * 2) Excellent graphics, at least by 2005 standards.
 * 3) Very violent and gory combat.
 * 4) Agrippa’s sections feature an innovative mechanic involving a salvo meter. In order to fill it, you must perform salvos to excite the crowd. If you call the crowd’s attention when the meter is full, they will reward you with powerful weapons. But otherwise, they will simply throw normal weapons, shield, food, or nothing at all.
 * 5) The salvos themselves are VERY variable. There are also a lot of them; they range from finishing moves to using human shields, stealth killing enemies, to performing stunts and humiliating your enemies.
 * 6) The weapons in the game are breakable; use them too many times and you will lose them.
 * 7) Various enemies. Aside from hostile gladiators, you also have barbarians, bandits, Roman soldiers, and even animals such as tigers and elephants.
 * 8) As Octavianus you can use various means to sneak around, ranging from knocking enemies unconscious by striking them with a jar, strangling them, or making them slip on banana peels, to disguising yourself as either a soldier or a senator, among others. You can also distract enemy guards by throwing stones next to them or by whistling.
 * 9) Large replay value. You can even replay any one of the gladiator matches (including boss battles) that you’ve beaten.
 * 10) Great voice acting.
 * 11) Sacrifices historical accuracy for a good and well-written story.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) For some players, Octavianus's sections can come across as being tedious or generic, and relies too much on trial-and-error.

Reception
The game has been received positively by both critics and gamers, receiving a score of 75 from 52 reviews and a user score of 8.4 in Metacritic.

This game would have received a sequel; however, due to poor sales in both North America and Europe, executive producer Keiji Inafune ended up scrapping his plans for said sequel, which became the first Dead Rising game.