Ryse Son Of Rome Review. A Selnor Review.

[J_Allard]

So I bought Ryse yesterday and I would guess I am about 40% or so through the game so far. Played it late last night and a bunch today. Here are my thoughts:

Pros:
The cinematic approach. Lots of games did this route last gen, makes sense for this to be one of those considering it began last gen. It adds to the immersion and feeling as if you are playing out a story.

Graphics. Holy shit! This game looks amazing. By far the most gorgeous console game I have ever played. Cut scenes are beautiful, but even the core gameplay looks just amazing. I am used to past gens where the drop off from cut scene to gameplay is dramatic, especially in games with pre-rendered ones like Ryse. But not the case. And the animations are excellent.

Combat. People (myself included) have compared the combat to games like Ass Creed, God of War, Batman, etc. What it really boils down to is a score attack type element to every single big battle. You're trying to string together huge combos and beat your best score. I love the aggressive nature of the combat. Every swing of the sword and bash of the shield looks and feels agitated. The "beat my score" nature to the combat makes its simplistic yet deep design all the more satisfying. And the executions are just brutal. My brother was over watching me play and said "holy crap!" at least 10 times as I lobbed off arms, legs, and slit throats. And there are plenty of environmental executions, so you are only limited by your own creativity.

Cons:
You can really tell this game has Kinect roots. Some of the areas of the game are just so simplistic in design, it's clear they ran out of time for completely removing forced Kinect out in time for launch. A lot of the archer segments seem like this so far, as do the siege elements.

Enemy character models look absolutely incredible, but there needs to be more variety.

Extreme auto aim when targeting some of the launchers or throwing one of your sticks with a pointy end.

This last one is a minor/silly complaint, but I wish there were more weapon variety. But I know it's based on Roman soldiers and is realistic to that.


Overall I was extremely hyped for the game and thus far have been pleased. I still need to finish it and sink some time into the co-op stuff, but right now I would give it a solid 7 out of 10. The game has LOADS of potential in any sequel(s). It's quite clear this is a cross-gen game that was deeply rooted in Kinect, so more time to build a Ryse 2 from the ground up for next gen should make it all the more intense. And maybe open up the possibility for multiple weapons, and enemies that aren't the same 5-6 barbarians over and over.