A decently fun action game with ambitious visuals, but less ambitious gameplay.
Whenever a new console is released, you always have to have that one game that turns heads with it’s visuals. So when it was announced Crytek would make an action game for the launch of the new Xbox, it was pretty obvious Ryse would be the showcase of the console’s processing power. It’s a simple fact that Crytek makes beautiful games, but they’ve struggled to prove that they can make a good action game. But it’s finally here, and I’m going to give you my verdict.
Let’s not beat around the bush and start with the obvious, Ryse: Son of Rome is absolutely gorgeous. For too long it was the PC crowd who got the best of what the Cryengine had to offer, and the console players who got the good, but not great ports of Crysis. All that changes here, and Ryse is easily the best looking game at the Xbox One’s launch. The game may not quite be 1080p, but dammit, if you play it, you’ll be impressed. The textures and environments are bursting with detail, character models are the best I’ve ever seen, the framerate is stable 100% of the time, and the game doesn’t feature the aliasing issues present in other launch titles, though the load times are a bit lengthy.
Crytek brings the pretty as expected, but while the detail is incredible, assets are used over and over, like constantly repeating barbarian models and execution events.
Otherwise, this kind of technical feats generally appears a year after a console’s launch, but while the game may not have next-gen gameplay, next-gen looks are certainly present, and can best be demonstrated in the game’s insane set-pieces, like a Roman take on Saving Private Ryan’s opening sequence. The game is definitely not trying to be historically accurate.
The visuals are easily the best thing Ryse has going for it, whereas other aspects are merely average. Ryse tries to place an emphasis on story, but while I did enjoy seeing it to it’s conclusion, it’s rather cliche. During a barbarian invasion of Rome, Centurion Marius Titus recounts his military career to Emperor Nero. The following events recall a basic revenge tale, where Marius witnesses the murder of his parents and subsequently climbs the ranks of the Roman army. There’s a lot of talk about honor and glory, but there’s really no substance, and the dialogue is a bit silly at times. It’s nothing offensive, but it just made me want to see Gladiator for the umpteenth time.
The combat of Ryse is similarly functional, but not outstanding, lying somewhere in between Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed. It’s all about breaking the enemy’s guard, wearing down their health, then finish them off with an execution, and repeat until everyone is dead. Despite it’s relative simplicity it’s still pretty fun, hits have a strong sense of impact, building up a combo is satisfying, and it’s brutal to boot.
Unfortunately, there’s just not a lot of depth or challenge to the combat. You can’t mindlessly button mash, but there’s not a lot of enemy variety, the slow mo inducing focus mode is too easy to lean on, and upgrades come so frequently that the normal difficulty is generally a cakewalk. The only time the combat poses a real threat is in it’s bosses that quickly become tired and slow paced.
But it’s the game’s executions that have caused the most fuss, to a point that the gameplay reveal looked like one big quick time event. While the game rewards accurate timing, executions aren’t much more in depth than that, in fact, not pressing the correct button doesn’t trigger a fail state any kind. They flow well with the rest of the combat, but they are very automated which is crazy for being such a large portion of combat, and the animations repeat over and over. There’s only so many times you’ll be impressed by dismemberment. It’s brutal, but loses it’s luster.
The game tries to break things up with turret sequences and shield formation. They help, but these sequences are too simple, and the game overall could use a bit more variety. It’s also annoying that the odd moment where you order covering fire arbitrarily make voice commands faster by forcing you to hold the right left bumper for a few seconds.
Ryse also has a 2 player cooperative mode with an exaggerated take on the Roman colosseum. In it, you complete various objectives while killing wave after wave of enemies. It also has tons of upgrades and loot that comes in the form of booster packs, right out of Mass Effect 3’s coop. It’s a decently fun mode that’s surprisingly addictive if you like the game’s combat. If only there was local coop.
The Verdict
Ryse is the very definition of a launch game. It boasts the hardware’s capabilities without being especially remarkable in terms of gameplay. The combat is fun, it just lacks any ambition. While Ryse is rather enjoyable, a sequel that improves the narrative and combat could be something truly special.
