RYSE Son Of Rome is a launch title for the XBOX ONE Developed the Crytek the guys behind the popular and beautiful looking Crysis series. You play as General Marius Titus who you first meet commanding a Roman army defending the Roman Emperor from a Barbarian invasion set in a Alternate time line in the roman Empires History. You start the game as General Titus who starts to tell the story of his past leading to the point he Is at now in what has been advertised as “an epic tale of revenge spanning an entire lifetime”.
Visual Style
As you would expect from a Crytek game Ryse is a beautifully crafted title, the main characters in the game look really impressive with great attention to detail being taken to make the characters look as human as possible. You can tell that Crytek have put a lot of work into making this game look like it belongs on a “Next Generation” console. Crytek not only spent a great deal of attention and detail on the characters there has also been great care taken in building a colourful and vibrant world. The visual style with brilliant looking vistas, countryside’s, lakes, and caves as well creating some awesome looking roman villages and towns. Every care has been taken to make this game as authentic as possible.
Gameplay
In this area I have to say the Ryse falls a little flat as a hack and slash the game plays well enough. During my initial first look video I mentioned that the combat was simple but didn’t feel too shallow however as time went on and I had time to think about it the combat got quite repetitive and mastering the combat took no time at all enabling me to take on enemy after enemy and even large numbers of enemy’s all at once without the feeling that I might be in trouble or in for a challenge meaning no matter what I was facing there was no excitement or anticipation to the next section during the progress of the game. With a basic hack and slash control the gameplay is a fairly decent paced you have a light and heavy attack, A block and counter system. You have different types of enemy classes which require you to vary and combine the different types of attacks to be effective in different solution. For example standard light enemies take the basic block and attack combos where as heavy enemies with shields will require you to knock the shield to the side before getting an attack in. You will also come across enemies carrying flaming clubs or dual wielding weapons. Even though the guys at Crytek have added variation to the enemies there is not enough variation to carry you through the entirety of the game and bear in mind that this is not a long game. The combat system also has a finishing move system in which you can finish of your enemies off in a rather gruesome and effective variety of ways. The finishing moves are triggered when you see a skull above the head of the characters you are attacking when you see this skull you hit the trigger button and you will get a series of prompts to press certain buttons which if done correctly will show you will see a scene in which Titus will perform his finishing move for each correct move you make you get points depending on how well timed you are. However if you get the sequence wrong the exact same sequence will play out only you do not get the points which makes me think what was the point in having this system in place in the first place if you are not going to commit to it fully?
Ryse also made a point of advertising as a tactical combat game in which you took command of legions and large groups in battle. While there are parts in the game were you command troops it usually just consists of you selecting a direction for your troops to attack by literally just selecting a left or right option. You will also find times in which you will form part of the tortoise shield formation which is quite fun but does not nearly occur as often as I would have liked. As for the rest of the game play the game plays pretty well with only a few minor glitches encountered like the moving of enemy’s to make sure they fit into a finishing move which is a bit jarring.
Ryse also features a upgrade system for your single and multiplayer character which in single player enables you to upgrade your health, focus mode which is a special move you can pull of once a special meter bar is filled during combat and purchase new finishing moves and increase your power. You upgrade these areas with points you earn through combat. Crytek have put in a Micro-transaction system for you to buy points quicker to upgrade your character which although you can play through the game without using this system I feel that putting Micro-transaction in any full retail game to use in a single player or campaign mode is completely out of order.
Overall Ryse Son Of Rome’s gameplay is a bit too simple and repetitive even for a hack n slash but my main gripe was even on hard mode I found this game too easy and to be perfectly honest dull and the introduction of micro-transactions just annoys me.
Multiplayer
Ryse has three multiplayer modes Arena Co-op in which you and a Co-op partner go through a series of different challenges and combat types in a gladiator arena. The second mode Round to Round is very similar to the first mode except rather than facing challenge after challenge like in the first mode it is round based and gives you more control over what rounds you face. The third mode is Solo which isn’t really a multiplayer but gives you a chance to experience the multiplayer on your own.
The multiplayer works really well as it does not revolve around the story mode so it is separate from the main game and you also get the option to upgrade and purchase new items and outfits for your multiplayer character using coins and exp you gain through playing the game or by using the micro-transaction system which although I strongly disagree with in the main campaign I do not mind them as much in a multiplayer.
All in all I think they have done pretty well with the multiplayer in Ryse, Crytek have managed to create a multiplayer that does not involve the single player in anyway and keep it enjoyable and at the same time if do not wish to play the multiplayer you’re not missing anything either.
Immersion
Without going into spoilers the story of Ryse Son of Rome had such great potential but sadly in does seem to reach that potential in this title the supernatural aspect of the game is not explained or explored nearly enough if the devs are waiting for the sequel to explain and delv more into this aspect then they have done so at the cost of the first title.
The simplistic and shallow combat in the game and the ease in which you can travel through the game stops you from getting overly immersed in the game and getting invested in the characters and story despite the beautiful look of this titlle. Your opinion the other areas stop you getting truly immersed in the experience.
Life Span
My single play-through of the campaign on hard took me around ten to twelve hours at most which I do not think is a bad play-through time for a hack n slash to prevent it becoming to tedious that is also taking into account that I was stopping and poking around the environment see the effort that Crytek went to while creating the environment. You all ways have the option of multiple play-through for those cheevos and the multiplayer if you fancy a bit more time slicing and dicing in the great coliseums of Rome.
Conclusion
Ryse Son of Rome is a beautiful looking game which had some great potential however sadly the shallow combat and lack of commitment to the story prevents this game from feeling like a true next gen title and of course the sin of adding Micro-transactions to a full retail game did not help improve my opinion of Ryse so sadly it misses the mark orf being a great launch title for a new console.
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