I feel obliged to defend this game and this is why I am writing this review. It doesn't deserve the Metacritic score and I can't believe that GS gave it 4. 4?Really? First off, the game will blow your mind the moment they let you control the main character (Marius). You will fall in love with its brutal combat. You actually can feel real when pulling off combos. It wasn't like other hack and slash games like Darksiders or DMC r even GoW. They feel childish in terms of combat compared to Ryse excellent combat. Story is really exciting and so engaging. Better than watching a movie for me. The game uses Kinect voice command very well and I get excited to turn on my Kinect and use it every time I play it. It seems that Kinect feature won't be used only on exclusives which is a bummer. Voice acting is really really really good. That's why I said it felt better than watching a movie for me. Marius is a great guy and it's rarely for me to like the character you play as, but he is a new comer and it's amazing from the developer to create such a great character. Play the game on a headset and you will appreciate the sound effects of the game. I loved when you control Marius and his unit behinds him. You hear them marching and the sound of their big feet stomping was spectacular
I haven't read other reviews, but I kind of know why other reviewers gave it such a low score. If a game has amazing graphics, fun, combat, and an engaging story it would at least score an 8 right? This game is short compared to other games and that's why is scoring bad everywhere. I am the type of a guy who likes to buy a game, enjoy it, and move on to another game. Why the hell would I spend more than 12 hours on a game if there are new games coming out every day? EVERY FREAKING DAY! I have piled games since 2011. Games over games, yet I haven't completed any and ended up selling them in 2013. That's because they are so long and repetitive and no other good games deserve my time to beat them. That's why I like Ryse the most. It gives you a room to breath and try other games once you finish it. The campaign mode can be completed I'd say in 7 hours. Give it another run for completing the game on hard mode that's a total of 14 of game play. Online mode is really good and fun playing Co-op defeating multiple hordes of enemies.
My 2 cents, buy the game, enjoy it and don't complain about how short it is because almost all games are long and repetitive now a days. It's an 8.5/10 for me but I gave it a 10 to make its rating look better