The Savior of Rome

When I first heard about this game, I thought it sounded...well, interesting. I even picked up it up BECAUSE of a special deal that Blockbuster was having with renting 2 games for one price.

I began to play it. First off, the controls are VERY awkward at first. However, they soon become very easy to manipulate. It is like when you first started using a mouse in first person shooters: hard, but once you learn it, you can't imagine playing any other way. If I had to make a complaint on the controls with the regular Xbox controller (I have a Japanese one that will soon be standard fare for all US gamers) is the attack buttons. I still haven't mastered the aspect of blocking effectively. Perhaps the most difficult thing is learning how to lean with your warrior(right analog stick) and steer (left). I usually have a hard time with weird controls on games. I picked this up in 15 minutes.

Gameplay is very good. I simply love it. I am not the biggest 'racing' genre fan either. It is an rush to play this game just because of the 2 aspects of fighting and racing. Fighting is not that deep in regards to the moves themselves. One button is basic attack, one for block, one for a double attack and one for a super powerful(but slow) attack that you can can kill those that you daze with repeative attacks. You can also use your driving to ram people off cliffs and run them into the sides of mountains. The use of various pick up enhancements that give you defense, stronger attack power, ability to kill instantly and super speed also add to the game. I like a game where "it ain't over, till it's over". That is the case on Circus Maximus. You can be in last place on the second to last lap and still race and fight your way to first place. Especially fun is having 2 people teams. One player steers and one fights. My fiance and I love it. There are so many other things in the gameplay that are exciting like shortcuts, running over commoners for more money (that is what advances you, not winning. Winning only gives you more "dinari")and little traps like toppling boulders from the commoners. There are also death matches where you race around an arena and just try to kill X number of people to win. Of all of it, you pick your chariot, horses, driver and gladiator from whoever you want, mix and match. I have yet to see a difference in the drivers, but everything else has a good impact on your racing.

Graphics were very good, but that is to be expected on Xbox. Animation was smooth and there is no slowdown when many things are happening at the same time. Music and sound was very good and the hoofbeats can be heard approaching you from behind.

Many people did NOT like this game, obviously from me being the first review here. I recommend that you rent it first as I did. However, once you learn the controls, you will be drawn in to a wonderful gaming experience in which 2 gaming genres are combined beautiful to give a very satisfying game.