Developed and published by Capcom, it was released in Europe, North America, and Australasia in February, and in Japan in March.

The game received mostly positive reviews with critics praising the gladiatorial combat mechanics, the over-the-top violence, and the graphics.

Originally conceived as the first part of a new franchise specifically aimed at a Western audience, the sequel was already in the early stages of development when the first game was released.

However, due to poor sales, executive producer Keiji Inafune decided to scrap the franchise, and Shadow of Rome 2 ultimately became Dead Rising.

[5] During combat, the player character is Agrippa, who can use various gladiatorial weapons such as swords, scimitars, maces, spears, halberds, bows, slingshots and flails.

In these sections, the player controls Octavianus, who cannot kill enemies, he can only knock them out by hitting them from behind with objects such as vases, choking them with ropes, or placing banana peels in their path.

[18] An important part of avoiding detection is stealing the clothes of unconscious enemies and impersonating them; usually in the form of a guard, a senator, or a maid.

[17][19] Even if Octavianus is disguised, however, enemies can become suspicious if he does anything unusual, such as running, standing still for no reason, or trying to open locked doors.

Often, enemies will stop him and question him, with the player presented with a series of dialog choices to try to assuage the guards' suspicions.

However, under the authority of the Senate, governmental corruption and endless wars had become the norm, with the citizens of Rome on the brink of despair.

It was at this point that Julius Caesar openly defied the Senate's authority and marched towards Rome at the head of an army, ultimately acquiring unlimited power and influence.

Although the Senate hated and feared Caesar, the citizens embraced their new leader as he vowed to usher in an era of peace and prosperity.

Meanwhile, Vipsanius's son, a centurion named Agrippa, receives word of Caesar's death and the accusation against his father and orders a return to Rome.

Soon after the cremation, Octavianus sneaks into the Senate, where he finds a letter from Vipsanius warning Caesar there are rumors an attempt may be made on his life.

[22] On the Senate floor, Maecenas, Antonius's scriba, proposes a gladiatorial tournament, the winner of which will perform Vipsanius's execution.

He wins and Maecenas arrives in the arena, explaining that Antonius was the mastermind behind the assassination; borne from his discovery that he was not Caesar's heir.

You'll see everything from striking lighting effects used to highlight dawn or dusk, to clouds of dust kicked up during chariot races or catapult battles.

[6][19] Another planned game mechanic that was dropped from the final build was Octavianus having the ability to combine items into makeshift weapons during the stealth sections.

She praised the depth of the combat mechanics and the implementation of the SALVO system, pointing out "simply beating enemies isn't the hardest part of a bout, appeasing the crowd and fueling their bloodlust is."

Although he found the pace of the stealth sections too slow, he concluded "Shadow of Rome offers some of the best hack and slash combat out there.

He was particularly impressed with the bosses and lauded the combat, but he was critical of the stealth sections, arguing "they just slow the game down to a crawl."

Although he didn't dislike the stealth sections, he felt "neither side of the game [...] is complex enough or [has] enough detail to make them something to want to dig into.

[31] GameSpy's Bryn Williams scored it 3.5 out of 5, writing it "oozes potential but ultimately fails to deliver greatness."

He concluded, "the overall theme and premise of Shadow of Rome ends up coming across as a missed opportunity for gaming greatness.

"[32] Although originally conceived as the first part of a franchise aimed specifically at Western markets, Shadow of Rome did not sell well in either North America or Europe (entering the UK PlayStation 2 charts at #5[37]), and ultimately, Capcom considered it a failure.