At first glance, Ryse: Son of Rome looks wonderful. The environments are rich in color and design, both barbarian and Roman soldiers alike look completely real, and the smallest things, such as swords and shields, glow with attention to even the most minute detail.
Ryse follows the journey of Marius Titus as he first returns home to reunite with his family, and after witnessing all of them being slaughtered begins a quest for revenge. He joins forces with a legionnaire commander and goes out into the savage lands of 14th century Britain to quench his thirst for blood. Along his path you see Marius develop into a hero and a leader, and the adventure with him is quite entertaining. You'll storm beaches, defend massive castle fortresses, and rescue your own troops if they happen to find themselves in peril. The interesting story and the way its narrated in a way of sheer beauty really delivers something compelling to anyone playing it.
What really holds this game back however, is the repetitive hack n' slash action and the fact that the story mode will last for about 7-9 hours. When you first begin combat charging across a bridge, hacking foes apart, severing limbs, and smashing skulls; its fairly unique and fun. No came had let you mindless swing a sword and crack skulls with a shield like this before. The combat is modeled very well and looks incredibly good, but after enough of executing enemies in the same fashion it simply becomes boring and not even entertaining anymore. Their are only about five different types of enemies and each type looks exactly like another of the same type, leaving fighting to feel very bland, as if you've killed the same enemy over and over again. Combat just becomes an alternating order of smashing X, Y, and right trigger, and the only thing driving the game forward is the theatrical cut scenes. I found myself interested in the story and that was the only real thing keeping me playing it.
All in all, Ryse: Son of Rome will immerse in a world of wonderful detail and immense beauty. It offers a compelling story and a short bit of entertaining hack n' slash action before eventually feeling very repetitive and then finishing the story almost as soon as you started it.