Shadow of Rome (PS2)

(Herald rating: * * * *)

Beware the ides of March, whispered Shakespeare's soothsayer in his tragedy about the death of Julius Caesar. If the sight of severed limbs and spurting blood makes you queasy, beware this game also. Shadow of Rome is violent and dark, taking you from the blood-caked floor of the Colosseum to shadowy Barbarian fortresses.

Its also an extremely compelling game, one of the few of late that I've wanted to finish. The people who made it know how to spin a yarn and they do so with impressive cut-away animation sequences.

The game flits between the stories of two friends, Agrippa and Octavianus, who are on a quest to find out who murdered Caesar. Agrippa's father has been fingered as the assassin, but there is enough corruption in the senate to know straight off that he has been set up. Agrippa's story features a lot of gladiator action as he fights to try to save his dad from execution, while Octavianus sneaks around Rome asking questions and gathering evidence.

The storylines balance each other, and while Shadow of Rome features the usual stilted and badly-translated dialogue, you want to hang on to find out who really knifed the emperor.

The game's introduction is copied straight from the opening sequences of the movie Gladiator, with centurions shooting flaming arrows into the Germanic hordes. From there, however, Shadow of Rome gets a lot more original.

As Agrippa, you first learn how to fight, hacking your way across the Colosseum floor as a gladiator. The combat is realistic and graphic, your opponents struggling under the weight of their heavy weapons. Octavianus' journey has less action and more puzzle-solving and you'll enjoy the respite from bloodshed. The Ben Hur-style chariot races are fantastic and though the game plays fast and loose with facts, the Roman setting gives this action whodunnit plenty of atmosphere.

* $120 (R18)