Circus Maximus Review

The name may sound catchy and the thought of racing chariots around a Coliseum is something new and original. However Circus Maximus contains too many flaws to be an enjoyable racer. <br /> <br /> Racing games are becoming slightly tiresome at the moment with very few new titles proving to be different from the rest in the class. Circus Maximus: Chariot Wars however puts the gamer in control of a new style of vehicle; no you won’t find any rocket launchers in fact you won’t even see an engine. This time however you are in control of a horse powered Chariot set in the days of Ben Hur. Set during the heights of the Roman Empire, Circus Maximus offers seven different environments with 19 individual tracks. The game kicks off in Britannia, and as you progress through the game you’ll venture through exotic locations such as Germania and Alexandria on your way to compete in the ultimate fight at the Circus Maximus in Rome. <br /> <br /> The tracks are very standard offering the player the standard route with the addiction of shortcuts and power-ups to help improve your change of winning. Whilst some of the levels have a good degree of detail unfortunately for most of them they lack inspiration and are actually quite dull. Some of the tracks offer a certain level of interaction for example peasants will push traps out onto the road, however it requires very little input to avoid them and there simply isn’t enough of them. <br /> <br /> Progressing through the game isn’t as simple as just winning races, before you can move to the next stage you need to have a specific amount of Dinari in your account. There are a number of ways of earning Dinari however simply winning a race will not earn you enough, the real rewards are when you kill opponents and by crushing innocent peasants (nice isn’t it). <br /> <br /> Controlling your chariot at times can be difficult. The default setting puts you in control of the entire chariot, this means you have to control the steering, speed, and use of your warrior to fight off any rival chariots. The left analog stick steers the chariot, the right move your warrior from side to side (this is important when taking corner at high speeds). As an enemy chariot gets close your warrior will automatically face them, then using the attack buttons you can unleash deadly attacks. There really is very little to do which can become tiresome after a few games. <br /> <br /> The AI is sufficed, and from time to time you will find yourself in a fight between two or three opponents which can result in an ugly finish. However no matter how well you race you will always find a computer controlled character not far away. Another real concern is the graphics, maybe we have come to expect more from our games today but Circus Maximus doesn’t demonstrate the power of the Xbox unfortunately.