Summary [6.5 out of 10]

Ryse Son of Rome is a launch exclusive for the Xbox One that makes for an awesome reference disc to show off the system’s visual capabilities but falls short when it comes to compelling game play. Telling the story of a Roman soldier hell bent on revenge for the murder of his parents, Ryse has some very cool story moments and is very well acted but the combat becomes very repetitive very quickly even when troop controls and turret sections are added. It feels a lot like the opening framework for the idea at a pitch meeting that has all the elements suggested but without many of them being fully fleshed out into a complete AAA title. There are cool things to see and do here but not nearly enough to keep you engaged beyond the first few hours.

 

What It’s Like:

Batman Arkham Origins: The combat here is very much like Arkham Origins specifically in that the framework is similar but the timing and collision detection is not always great and has an over reliance on quick time events and ‘special enemies’ that require unique combat tactics but spammed way too often without a good balance between character types making for a frustrating mess. Ryse was the first game I played after Arkham Origins and if the button configuration had been the same I could have lost track of which one I was playing. Well, aside from one has a beefy Roman soldier and the other had a slightly chubby Batman.

The Great:

Graphics: The look of this game is absolutely fantastic. The facial expressions and visual performances are stunning and it is almost like watching real actors act. The detail on screen is phenomenal and cloth textures and skin blemishes are very authentic which takes everything up a notch. The graphics here are a fairly good indication of the differences we are going to see this generation as far as just what processing power brings to the table graphically. The amount of animated characters on the screen at any given time can be staggering, although not as much as in Dead Rising 3, and everything is absolutely gorgeous. If developers can marry the game play with this level of visuals we will really be cooking this generation.

Voice Acting: The vocal performances in the game are just as amazing as the graphics. This could be aided by the realism and quality of the movement and facial expressions but the voice acting here really sells the drama of what is going on. It would be very easy with this story to go super melodramatic and be hokey and over the top but he voice performances maintain the proper tone throughout. Some performances are more bombastic than others but all of them fit properly and appropriately.

The Good:

Story: The story is a fairly standard revenge plot with some well worn historical characters but the game provides enough unique and compelling material to keep the player interested. This is key if only because after a certain point, the story is the only thing keeping the player moving ahead. At a certain point, a bit of a twist happens and things change a bit an make the story a bit more awesome and unique than before so it is worth sticking with the story to see how it all goes because the details and nuances give the story the life and texture it needs to remain engaging and compelling.

Controls: The controls pop up on the good spot because they are better than they are bad but it is a decidedly mixed bag here. The basic operation of the controls is adequate and the button layout works well enough (unless you are fresh off of Batman which will have you all kind of wangnoodled) but the implementation of those controls is a bit spotty and the responsiveness is less than what you would hope. The controls are not broken but there is some frustration from time to time owed partially to the responsiveness and partially to the overall balance of combat.

Combat (for the first two hours): When the game first starts the combat, which make up the vast majority of the experience, is pretty exciting. The basic moves are initially cool and the quick-time executions are fun and awesome visually. There are additional ones you can add as you level up and some that change based on environment. The first two hours of this are pretty awesome. But then there are like five or six more hours left.

The Bad:

Combat (the rest of the game): The problems set in after the first couple of hours when you have used the same combos and QTE executions several dozen times and there is nothing new on the horizon. The combat is broken up eventually with different troop controls but those are few and far between and don’t have enough meat to make it an effective change of pace. When the game shifts to gladiator combat later in the game (and in the multi-player) the broken field makes things a bit more interesting but the actual combat itself just sort of doubles down on its own conventions and you are left with more of the same and that is really boring after awhile especially when you factor in the less than reliable control responsiveness which occasionally leads to cheap deaths and having to it all over again.

Feels Unfinished: Ryse feels a lot like a great idea that the developers had and started jotting it down on notebook paper as an outline but then rather than fleshing the game play and combat out they just produced the outline. There are a lot of good ideas going on here and a lot more potential than that but the actual implementation and execution feels very bare bones and hollow. Finishing the game didn’t feel as much like the culmination of a big story and experience, despite the obvious flourishes and story beats that should have felt that way, but rather an abbreviation of a full experience. There are a lot of things that could make this a kick ass experience but sadly few of them ended up on the screen. I am not sure if there are franchise plans but if so, a sequel could be really awesome if the total package was fleshed out and finished.

Length: Going along with the above, the length just did not cut it when you consider the lack of replay here. It might be weird to complain about length when I have also complained about the combat getting stale and I am about to complain about repetitiveness but the over all experience does not feel like you should pay premium price for a AAA title. There just isn’t enough material here to recommend more than a rental. It might be a lack of ideas that is evidenced in some of the other short comings or maybe both were due to time constraints but there needed to be more story to justify full price.

Repetitiveness: Along with the combat, the game play is consistently the same thing over and over again regardless of the environment the characters are in. It all LOOKS different but the game play is pretty much exactly the same with the same combat, the same movement, the same sort of obstacles. One scenario is only different from another based on the look of the environment and the costumes of the enemy. Enemy behavior and attack patterns are all the same and different enemy types are essentially just palette swaps of previous ones.

Conclusion [6.5 out of 10]

Ryse: Son of Rome is a beautiful and hollow experience. There is value to be found from the story and how that story plays out but any time you are actually playing the game instead of watching a cut scene, you are doing something you have done dozens of times before and it gets pretty boring. I did not hate Ryse but I cannot really recommend it either because the price point is just too high for something that is this shallow. I hope that we do see future titles in the series building off this framework but with fleshed out and expanded content because there is a lot of potential here but unfortunately it is no fun to play wasted potential.