One of the glaring issues with the early demos of the game was the scripted combat, which has been addressed with the removal of the QTE floating button and replaced with a small skull to indicate that you can trigger an execution. The executions are quite striking, with detail down to the expression on the poor souls face, after you have just plunged your sword into his neck. It is worth bearing in mind that these execution sequences are optional; the player is more than welcome to not press the dedicated execution button (RT) following the prompt, but I found myself wanting to do this to most of the enemies as it was so satisfying. There is nothing better than queuing up more than one enemy for a double execution, it’s the goriest kill you will see on Xbox launch day."
"The lack of depth in combat has also been replaced with a challenging but rewarding system, not dissimilar to those featured in the God of War series or the Batman Arkham trilogy. The familiar press ‘X to swing sword’ was present along with ‘Y for a secondary attack’; in this case a bash with the shield. However, it was the fluidity of the defence system that really won me over. Pressing ‘A’ in the direction of an incoming attack would block that combatant and if timed correctly, leave the enemy open for a counter. The ability to chain together sword and shield attacks whilst blocking blows from a group of enemies really helped me feel like a skilled gladiator. Other noteworthy additions to the combat system include, the ability to slow down play for a short period of time, allowing you to escape some tricky situations. As well as select certain attributes, such as gaining a small amount of health after each execution."
http://www.16bitkings.com/xbox-one-h...son-of-rome-2/