Ryse Son of Rome
Story - 6
Game play - 6
Presentation - 9
Life Span - 7
7
I want Ryse to be much more with the combo system taking on more variety and the campaign to have engaging characters and deep plot, but all are victim to mediocrity in favor for pretty graphics. I didn't regret my time in Rome, but it wasn't special to write about, and recommend the game for a rental.
Ryse Son of Rome Community Page
When the Xbox One released on November 22nd, there was one game that everyone looked at that would represent the power of the new system, and that game is Ryse Son of Rome. A beautiful game created by Crytek Studios with the new CryEngine 4th generation engine powering it. While the game is wonderful to look at, it slowly goes down a tedious path of mediocre.
Where the game begins to show its faults is in the Game play, and its use of quick time events to execute your enemies. In the game the player can press the X button for basic attacks and the Y button to parry oncoming attacks from enemies, but after enough hits an indicator will appear above the enemy to initiate an execution. While each execution is different and wonderful to look at, they soon become repetitive by the second hour of the game. To achieve a succesful execution you must press the correct button corresponding by the color the enemy flashes.
By doing executions correct and faster you will receive points for more execution unlocks and skill upgrades such as health and focus. Focus is a rage mode that allows the player to unleash a number of attacks on the enemies when surrounded and becomes quite handy later on in the game.
One area the game really shines is in Presentation. Upon entering the world of the Romans players will be amazed by the attention to detail to not only the background visuals, but the characters. Marius and his men have all been given motion capture treatment and it shows, especially in cut scenes that showcase battles. In the game Marius will be taken to ancient York and civilized Rome where the locales are presented with amazing flare and dark ominous settings.
In multiplayer, two players are tasked as gladiators and must survive several rounds against enemies while keeping the crowd entertained. Combat is the same and doing successful executions will keep the crowd from getting bored and throwing objects into the arena. Leveling up your character gains more access to upgrades and gold to buy need equipment and chants for you’re character.
Story, is shown with the usual plot devices you can expect in a historical epic, and doesn’t really surprise you even at the end. The story mode will take about five hours to complete and is about Marius, a Roman soldier whose family is murdered and then must take a journey through his career to take vengeance. Marius will follow a ten year campaign against the Britons and the corrupt system of Rome. The character development is nothing special and the side characters are quickly written off. While the Campaign is not awful to play it does nothing to change gaming in a whole.
The Life Span of Ryse: Son of Rome, is a tricky situation, even for a launch title of the new generation of consoles. The multiplayer is sure to entertain gamers for several hours, but once you have leveled up to ten or more it becomes very repetitive. The campaign can be played on the very difficult legendary mode which will challenge people and there are collectibles for players to search for, but its worth completing about two or three times. Like many launch titles Ryse will fall in the category of being a popular game for the first month and then fall out of peoples minds, which is a shame because Ryse: Son of Rome had so much potential.
Ryse: Son of Rome, was the first big next-gen game to release for the Xbox One along side others, and while the games graphics show what the new console has in store for future games, it does nothing else really innovating. Multiplayer with friends is fun when you can find a match, but its all horde modes.
