Ryse: Son of Rome: A Story of Revenge

     It's time for another late review! Like the title of this review states, Ryse: Son of Rome is a story about revenge. You play as Marius and have to protect Rome from an invading barbarian army. Of course corruption and betrayal rears its ugly head and you will be faced with enemies from multiple sides. I found the story of Ryse to be interesting and wanted to continue to learn more about Marius. Throughout the campaign you will visit a range of different locations and each is beautifully crafted and detailed. I found myself just stopping to look around at what was happening of course right around me, but also in the background. You'll see the glorious city of Rome, the Colosseum, dark forests, marshes, and more. The level design offers a slight option for taking different paths, but it's a shame the game is fairly linear.

     When Ryse was first being shown off a lot of people were afraid of the combo system and brushed the game off as being nothing more than a God of War clone riddled with quick time events. Thankfully leading up to the games release, the developers retooled the combo system and made it better. Once you weaken an enemy you will see a skull emblem above their head. This is prompting you to pull off an execution. You then press the right trigger and enter a sort of slow motion segment. The enemy's body will quickly flash either yellow (Y) or blue (X) and you press the corresponding button. Do this correctly and you will pull off extremely brutal and graphic executions.

     Kinect is lightly used throughout the game to give commands to your army such as having archer fire arrows. It actually works really well and isn't disruptive to the gameplay. You also have a focus meter that can be used to slow down time. During this period Marrius will move much faster than his enemies and you can truly slice and dice your way through several enemies in quick succession. Once your focus meter is depleted you can refill it by killing more enemies. Unfortunately your focus attacks do not work on the bigger boss battles in the game. To me this is good because it levels the playing field and makes the boss fights more challenging.

     Ryse has a bit of a leveling up and skill unlocking feature. By pulling of executions and other tasks you will earn valor. Valor can then be used to purchase upgrades to your health, focus ability, faster xp, and learn new single or double execution moves. Even though you can unlock these enhancements in the campaign, I wish Ryse offered a more rpg like customization and leveling up system to your character.

     Crytek has always created great looking games like their Crysis series and they have done no less with Ryse. It's easily one of the best looking games out on the Xbox One right now. The attention and level of detail on the character models and facial animation is fantastic. You can see the stubble, blemishes, dirt, blood, creases in skin, and even deep pores on the faces of characters. The character voice actors do a really good job as well. The movements during gameplay is smooth and fluid. The lighting effects are superb and the detail on the environments, weapons, armor, and outfits are gorgeous. The game seamlessly transitions from cutscenes to gameplay very well too.

     The multiplayer in Ryse is pretty fun too. You and a friend can team up and fight together in the Colosseum. A kind of nice feature is that before you begin a battle you can choose what god you want to fight for. Each god gives you a special boost or bonus to use in the battle. You can also unlock new weapons and gear for your gladiator which of course adds more customization. Something I really liked is that every so often the landscape of the Colosseum will change. The ground will shift to open up pits, deadly blades, and other obstacles while the objectives change. This keeps things fresh and the player on their toes. Seeing how the multiplayer is co-op it is really important for you and your friend to work together to not only defeat the enemies, but to keep each other alive. 

     A lot of the negative reviews for Ryse have come from people complaining about the combat being too repetitive or simplistic, and the length of the campaign being too short. Yes, if you just go straight from point A to B in each level you will finish the game in about 6 hours. For me the campaign lasted 9 hours or so and that was because I searched around each level for the hidden items. I do agree that although the combat can get a little repetitive, I still found myself having fun and honestly didn't get bored. The multiplayer portion was surprisingly more fun than I expected and I think it will have some gamers coming back. For how long I don't know.

     As I mentioned earlier in the review the only real issues I had with Ryse was that the level design is linear and I would have liked to have seen a little more flexibility with the amount of exploration you could take. Also, I would have liked it if there had been more of a rpg leveling system where you really could rank up Marius and truly feel like you are becoming stronger throughout the game. That being said, I still think Ryse is a really good game. Maybe it's because with all of the mediocre reviews I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The gameplay is fast, smooth, and the game looks gorgeous. The campaign offers a solid and entertaining story and the co-op multiplayer is fun. Ryse: Son of Rome is definitely a game worth checking out. When the question "Are you not entertained?" is asked in the arena, I can confidently say, "Yes I am."

Final Verdict: 8/10

Written by: Alter Ego 83