When I first saw footage of the Kinect game that Ryse was supposed to be originally, I wasn't impressed at all. Later on when they changed it to its current form I got a little bit interested, but the negative footage showing some roman soldier doing only quick time moves was disappointing to say the least. Now the game has been released and has been given mixed reviews. Anyway I decided to still buy the game and give it a chance. Here is my honest review: Story: not giving any spoilers but in short you play as a roman soldier called Marius Titus whose family gets murdered by barbarians which leads him to become a member of the 14th legion in the roman army to avenge his family. The story is actually pretty good with some twists and turns along the way making you travel to various part of the roman empire. Gameplay: The gameplay is essentially hack and slash gameplay. Marius has a variety of combinations with his sword and shield. You hit your enemies until there appears a skull above their head, this skull is a sign that an enemy can executed. When you press the execution button the enemy has a color around them, blue or yellow. When you hit the right colored button with perfect timing you'll earn more points, xp. The dpad also comes into play when you're killing enemies, all directions have a different bonus like more xp, health regeneration, more damage and so on when you finish off an enemy. Moves, health bars, focus can also be upgraded. Speaking about focus it's like bullettime where enemies move in slowmo which is especially good for crowd control. Every now and then you'll shoot with the scorpio which is a big crossbow and you can also throw spears to kill enemies from a distance. The enemies are not really varied unfortunately, just some palletswaps. Graphics: the graphics are simply amazing, the best I have seen on a console period. The character models of Marius and all the other characters are really amazing. The environments, like the water effects, the grass and trees all look awsome. The rain almost looks real. Kinect: you don't have to use kinect at all, but there are some commands you can give in certain parts of the story mode like "fire volley" that makes roman archers shoot fire arrows at your enemies. Multiplayer: this is the part that really surprised me. It's called gladiator mode and let's you play coop with other people. This mode takes place in the colosseum and each round has a different look and setting. I played online and there were like 12 different settings in the colosseum. You will have to defeat large waves of enemies, disable canons, mount crossbows, kill barbarian bosses etc. There are even coop kill moves. You earn xp and ingame money to buy new equipment and change the look of your gladiator. Sound: the music is like a movie orchestra, all instrumental. The voice acting is top notch and can compete with games like the Last of us and Gta5. Conclusion: if you like hack and slash games mixed with some of the most realistic killmoves to date combined with a really enjoyable revenge story that kept me on the edge of my seat you will love Ryse. Pros: amazing graphics, brutal kill moves, fantastic voice acting, enjoyable coop multiplayer mode. Cons: lack of variety in enemies and weapons.
Ryse son of Rome is an Action-Adventure game, developed by Crytek (Crysis), set in the Roman Empire era, you play as Marius a sometimes rookie soldier others a veteran centurion, through many various points of his life.T... Read Full Review
From the beginning, I must sate this is an underrated game. The game is fun, I don't know why people did not like it. OK, it's short, there are only 8 chapters, but the XONE graphics looks amazing. The main character, M... Read Full Review
