Ryse: Son of Rome

A Launch Title (Remember Those)

Ryse was indeed a launch title back when the Xbox One was first released, but it wasn’t a next generation type of game by any stretch of the imagination. It didn’t have any groundbreaking or innovative game mechanics to propel it above many of the Xbox 360 games that were released before it. Now the game play is nice and it is fun so I don’t want to bash the game that much. It’s just that push of next gen that irked me a bit, in that the Xbox One’s computing power should really be push games beyond the 360 generation. For example, when I am fighting a hoard of barbarians I should not be fighting the same five guys over and over. They all look the same and they are not in any type of uniformed army. This is where the game and the game system fails to impress, I should be fighting twenty different looking enemies at once, all unique with different weapons or armor. They should be different sizes and heights. This would of shown the computing power of the Xbox One to me.

The graphics overall are well done, it feels authentic, and I feel like I am exploring the Roman Empire. This is the game’s biggest plus. A close second was incorporating the slow motion executions into the game play. This makes the campaign a fun play through along with all the other mechanics. The story itself is a mash of the real world with a blend of the gods of the era bleeding into the world. Their influence is material and I don’t think it fits or makes sense in the game. I would of just preferred a straight story about the Roman Empire that was based a little on historical events. Throw in the usual collectibles, combat upgrades for valor gained, and you have your standard game formula. This is not a bad thing if the world is interesting and gameplay is great. Ryse, was somewhat close, but it also missed the mark for the reasons stated above.

The game has a multiplayer aspect that has you leveling all the way to 201. This was a bit excessive for an achievement, even 100 levels is excessive. Multiplayer is basically using the campaign mechanics to fight in many different environments in the Colosseum. The arena inside the Colosseum changes very rapidly to move the game forward right to the action, but it is based on how scholars believed it operated, with many moving parts. Areas that could be flooded. It is a nice visual to see it in operation even though the speed of it, is a bit unrealistic. The key to getting through the levels is having a good partner and playing Survival. This will give you a great bang for your buck in terms of getting experience. That and equipping your gladiator with upgradable armor that will give you experience bonuses.

To sum up the campaign was better then the multiplayer. The game has a basic formula that has been seen in lots of other games and is not without it’s glitches. The setting however has not been explored much and that is probably why I gravitated towards playing the game. I would not be opposed to seeing another game in this world. Lets just have a better one.