Shadow of Rome is a blood-soaked and violent game, but if you are a student of history or of Russell Crowe you probably guessed that much from the title alone. The game is set in the days immediately before and after March 15, 44 B.C.E., which puts it in exactly the same period as W. Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. You will not be surprised to hear this, but Shakespeare still wins the prize for best adapted screenplay.

As we play, we alternate between controlling Agrippa, a fierce soldier and finely tuned killing machine, and Octavianus, a slight little blond-haired wisp of a man who falls down dead the moment someone gives him a mean look. Shadow of Rome is two games, really: a tense sneaking-through-the-corridors adventure starring Octavianus, and a festival of blades and bludgeons with Agrippa. Both chunks are pretty good, although Agrippa's scenes are bound to draw the most clucks of disapproval from historians and all the various and sundry Councils For Decency In Media For The Family And What About The Children?

Agrippa's scenes are outstandingly violent. When we first meet him, he is suited up as a gladiator in the Coliseum, ready to put on a big show for the fans. He does not disappoint. The great wooden doors open, he runs for a dagger planted in the dust, and then he cuts and stabs and slashes with furious speed and deadly accuracy. Every time his blade finds its mark, a fountain of blood sprays up as a reward. As he kills off the other gladiators, he can take their weapons, some of which are heavier and sharper. With one of these, and just the right timing, he can chop an opponent's arm clean off at the shoulder. Then, because there is no such thing as too much gore, he can pick up the severed arm and use it to beat the poor amputee into unconsciousness.

Sometimes heads come off too. You will be happy to hear that Agrippa can pick them up and throw them, and that they lay a mean hurt on anyone who gets in the way. Apparently skulls are hard.

Agrippa also goes adventuring through the countryside, out to the Empire's outer borders where barbarians lurk. (You can tell they are barbarians because they grunt a lot and have dirt on their clothes. In their approach to non-stop butchery, they are pretty much of a piece with the Romans.) Here, there are no cheering crowds, but the object remains the same: cut as much flesh and spill as much blood as possible.

Octavianus has a considerably easier time of it. His job is to sneak around without getting caught, and get to the bottom of the assassination plot. If anyone attacks him he dies on the spot, so smart players soon learn to walk softly. There is a lot of try-and-die play here, but if you are a fast learner you will find your groove before frustration gets the better of you. It is nice to be Octavianus. Sometimes it is super fun. Sometimes it is merely OK, but not nearly so fun as the stabbing and the throat-cutting.

Further to that: violence like this in a video game can only go so far before it gets cartoonish, before it loses its power to sicken and instead just comes off as silly and adolescent. Shadow of Rome brushes up against that point a lot, especially in the gladiator scenes. Slicing a man in two at the waist brings up a congratulatory screen of text, informing you that you have performed a "Red Volcano." Crushing a man's head with a blunt weapon is a "Juicy Tomato." You will wonder if the boys who thought all this up have ever kissed a girl. Or if they hope to.