Welcome to the 14th lad. Welcome to Ryse Son Of Rome. There hasnt been to many adaptions of Brutal Rome in the videogame world outside of strategy sims, which is unusual because the time period offers many advantages to game genres outside that. The Story of Ryse kicks off with Rome under siege and the Emperor runnig deeper into his chambers for fear of his life.
Its instantly clear from the minute the game begins its going to be a cinematic friven experience. The Presentaation hits you straight away. The garment moving freely as the Emperor scrambles down his halls. Wrinkles and blemishes cover his skin and building breaking apart around him. Its a feast for the senses from the opening cinematic. This breathes way to a battle ridden bridge outside the palace walls. Where we are introduced to our aspiring General Marius Titus. From here We are introduced to combat and must learn as you fight to cross the bridge to your Emperor. As an Opening its pretty good, makes you ask a few questions and makes good on the vision of Rome.
The game from there moves back in time where you watch your family get butcherd by the Brittons, and from there you join the 14th in seek of revenge. Its a cliche story, but it does contain a good story even so. Really the star of the show is its presentation of this. From the extremely detailed visuals to the animations and voice acting, Ryse is brilliant in every single one. The acting on the characters is beyond anything that we have seen before. Particularly the facial animation. Lip syncing rarely looks out of place its that good. This is largely carried over to the gameplay and its combat. The engines ability to go right in close for executions is rayed with gorgeous detail on every part of the character. You can even see his leg muscles flex during combat. He gets muddier and bloodier as the campaign unfolds. Its this that makes you see next gen has arrived.
The game consists of mainly linear combat. Its actually not to disimilar to the Gears Of War format. Linear path, some combat, linear path etc. Its clearly focused on driving you through the campaign. Its wanting to show you a story unfolding. If your after a wide open game with multiple choices and freedom this isnt the game for you. But those who love a good linear cinematic experience Ryse portrays extremely well. I played through on my first play the Centurion difficulty, and the gameplay was pretty challenging. The combat makes you time yourself, watch instead of button mash and a few hits would take down a considerable amount of my health. I did die a fair bit later into the game, sometimes you could have 7 or 8 at the same time to deal with. There is quite a few different enemies in the later levels that provide a different challenge within the combat of Ryse. With XP giving you upgrades and executions that will increase health bars and focus bars, as well as stronger attack bonuses. Much needed on the harder difficulties.
There are sections in the game where you will control your army beside you as a unit, moving forward and crouching down to block the arrows coming in. Get close enough and you can throw spears back to kill them. Or for example you can take control of a ballista and mow down soldiers. It adds a bit of cinematic to the gameplay along with the combat.And breaks up the normal combat nicely.
There is a Gladiator multiplayer that allows you and a friend to compete in the collosium in a Horde mode kind of fashion. Here you and a friend can pitch together to earn the crowds respect and perform 2 player executions and work together. Its actually a real challenge and you can upgrade your Gladiator in your time spent playing there. Its nothing revolutionary but is enjoyable on the side of the main event. If you didnt play this though you wouldnt be missing the reason your here.
My time with Ryse so far has consisted of one of the best presented cinematic games there is. To a level of fidelity not yet seen before. Its not perfect, I'd like to see more mythical elements incorporated into the story, which granted does touch on it towards the end. The story has an evil side and contains a few twists. With perfromances that are very impressive. This is what Ryse is supposed to be, a combat driven experience of brutal Rome and one that Id reccomend entirely.
Overall Rating : 8.5/10
Review by Selnor 1983
