Ryse: Son Of Rome Review
Ryse: Son of
Rome
A
Journalistic Review by DefiantParrot
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
Originally Written 11/12/2016
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| (1) My first 8th generation game |
Developer: Crytek Frankfurt
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Platform: Xbox One
Genre: Action-Adventure, Hack and Slash
Release: November 22, 2013
Shadow of Rome on the Playstation 2, was one of the most
underrated games of that console generation. From the story, to the characters,
the gory and brutal combat, interesting (though admittedly sometimes
frustrating) stealth sections. Being able to replay any of your gladiatorial
fights from the title screen and chariot races, both added a new flavor to
break up the monotony of combat and stealth, and added real replayability to
the game. It did everything that I feel a game set in ancient Rome should do.
And it did it very well.
I tell you this so you can understand my mindset going
into Ryse. Could this finally be the
spiritual successor to one of my favorite games of all time? I’d read the
reviews, I’d seen the scores, but I was hopeful still, that I could find
something worthwhile in Ryse. So did I? Well let’s get to that…
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| (2) Our Hero |
Ryse: Son of Rome is the story of Marius Titus, son of
Leontius a former warrior of Rome and currently a powerful and respected Roman
senator. Marius has followed in his fathers footsteps and has become a soldier
of Rome as well. During an opening sequence of barbarians attacking the city of
Rome. Marius leaves to escort Emperor Nero to a secret place for safety, where
he then begins to tell his tale to the terrified emperor. The story is told
through flashbacks as Marius recounts his story, involving the murder of his
family, traveling to war with his new commander, Vitallion, facing down the
barbarians and their king Oswald and his daughter Boudica, rescuing Nero’s son
from strange swamp warriors, and learning the truth of what happened to his
family and seeking his vengeance. And if you think you know what happens in the
story… You do.
Ryse is an extremely predictable journey, however
predictable doesn’t necessarily mean bad. While not introducing anything new,
and admittedly telling one of the oldest stories in the book, there is a reason
that story is in said book. The
narrative is admittedly decent with one moment that did actually take me by
surprise. Although it did take about half of the campaign, to truly get me
invested to see it through to the end.
*Minor Spoilers Ahead*
The game does a poor job I feel of getting the player to
care about Marius’ strife. At the start of the campaign (after the intro)
Marius goes to see his family after becoming a Roman soldier. Marius’ mother
comes out to greet him for all of three minutes, goes to find his sister and
then not 10 minutes later they’re both killed.
Ok… why should I care? And I’m not making light of death
or losing family, Mars no, but I barely know Marius here, I got to know his
dolt of a dad a little bit. But three minutes with his mom and none at all with
his sister does nothing to get me invested.
If you’re going to do a story of revenge, that’s fine
some of the best stories are tales of revenge but make me care! It wasn’t until
halfway through where one of the emperor’s sons does something that piqued my
attention and made me want to see where all this was going.
*Spoilers End*
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| (3) Is he smiling?! |
Ryse is mainly a hack-and-slash action game, with heavy
emphasis on combat. I say heavy because very rarely are you doing anything
else. As a hack-and-slash, the game is not bad. Ryse has various buttons each
with a designated feature, controlling sword strikes, shield blows, dodging and
deflecting attacks. Heavy attacks are performed by holding the X or Y button
and when sufficiently weakened, enemies can be executed. And this is where my
biggest problem with Ryse lies… unintentional rhyme.
The executions are brutally gorgeous, and there are many
of them, with many that can be unlocked later too. There’s a variety as well,
with dual executions, environment
executions, the variety isn’t the problem.
When initiating an execution your adversary will glow
either blue or yellow prompting the player to press the corresponding buttons
until the enemy is dead. Yes, these are quick-time events ladies and gentleman.
“Well that’s obvious” you might say “Parrot you delectable degenerate.” And to
that I say, 1: Thank you, and 2: That’s still not the problem. The problem is
from the moment you initiate the executions, the moment you press the right
trigger, you’ve already won.
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| (4) I saw a fly |
If you hit the wrong button, don’t respond in time, or
just not hit anything you will still kill your opponent with no punishment
except you didn’t get as many experience points.
Yes, for those of you who have played the game I hear you
saying “But Parrot you maliciously melancholic moron, those aren’t required, you
don’t have to use executions.” And to that I say 1: Rude, and 2: Yes you are
right, but executions are the best way to rank up and get more health, do more
damage et cetera, and not using the executions effectively doubles how long
it’ll take to progress your character.
For half the game I felt like I was on autopilot,
fighting these foes can be a challenge, especially at higher difficulties,
until that little QTE prompt appears then there’s no skill involved he’s dead,
and then wait until another one appears, rinse and repeat until you win.
God of War is the game I can think of where QTE’s
first reared their ugly, multi-colored head (other than RE4). In that game if you fail the QTE
prompt, especially against boss encounters, the game would punish you. Your
attack would fail, the enemy would break out of it, and would resume attempting
to make your head one with your lower intestine.
God of War gave a sense of challenge and fear of messing
up and there’s none of that in Ryse. QTE’s can be used well, but used like this
is when they frustrate to the point that I want to slap a puppy.
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| (5) God of War has always used QTEs well |
In the few moments when you’re not in physical combat,
you are either working with your fellow Romans to form shield walls to approach
enemy archers, ordering your soldiers to fire upon the enemy, or positioning
where they will be stationed during a coming battle. They were a fun change of
pace, when they happened.
However these moments were so infrequent, I often forgot
about them until they showed up again, and it would have been nice to have had
more of that sprinkled throughout the campaign to break up the monotonous
campaign and combat that can get repetitive after a while.
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| (6) I believe we call this 'cliched game mechanic #7' |
The last thing are “turret sections” which involved
firing ballista bolts at enemies while defending a location. The final one in
the game involved defending Rome and your shield wall of soldiers from wave
after wave of barbarians, with the occasional war elephant thrown in the mix.
This was fun and exhilarating at first because it was the
first time seeing these war elephants, not just in battle but at all. Nothing
in the game had eluded to Dumbo’s alcoholic father coming to wreck my day. But
this sequence dragged on for way too long and wouldn’t end, leading to some
horrific hand cramps.
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| (7) He looks like a swell bloke |
Enemy bosses are nothing special, they are just stronger
and more annoying than any other enemy. Pretty much the exact same strategy can
be used against them as you would use against their peons. Aside from the
“final” boss of course which is just a series of QTE’s and then a cutscene.
Because of course it is.
There aren’t really any upgrades to your combat system in
any way, whereas in similar combat styled games like Shadow of Mordor and of
course the Arkham series (which both of these games based their combat around
let’s be honest) both allowed for customization. Ryse really doesn’t have that,
Ryse is a simple game. And again simple doesn’t really mean bad, but if you go
into this game expecting a deep combat system. You will no doubt leave
disappointed.
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| (8) I'm a sucker for good water physics |
Of course as a launch title for Microsoft’s new hunk of
cheese, Ryse’s job above all, is to look good. And by all the Roman gods we
named our planets after does it deliver on that front.
From the character models to the environments, the water,
gods even the menus and loading screens. Not one part of Rome looks ugly. It is
all a pleasure to behold with no visible slow down on my part, and no bugs or
glitches appearing at all during my playtime.
The audio is on the same level as the visuals. The sounds
of war along with much of the voice acting was superb. The grunts, screams,
slashes, and explosions of war sounded painfully real and a joy to hear from
such a visually pleasing game.
Characters like Commander Vitallion and the emperor’s
sons Basillius and Commodus deliver wonderful performances. However there are
others like Leontius who are unconvincing or Marius who when not screaming like
a badass warrior, sounds bored and uninterested.
The last thing to touch on is multiplayer, which I had
completely forgotten that this game had. It allows for you and a friend to step
into an arena of various maps with your own customizable gladiator to fight
waves of enemies, while completing certain objectives. Objectives such as
capturing enemy forts, or using oil to burn the enemy spawn point. It features
the exact same combat as single player. Complete with the same flaws. although
fighting and executing waves of enemies in beautiful gory fashion is a lot of
fun with a friend. Although like single player it can get very monotonous and
repetitive quickly.
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| (9) Look at that sweaty man ass!! |
There are a decent amount of maps to choose with
different variations out of the gate and they all look beautiful of course.
Other arenas can be purchased separately in packs through DLC or through the
games $20 season pass. Which also includes another multiplayer mode. Survival
mode is a mode where you and another player, battle constant waves of never
ending enemies, becoming more and more powerful each wave, with constant XP
rewards until you finally succumb to your foes.
However, Survival mode feels ripped straight from the
game in my opinion, and therefore I feel you shouldn’t have to pay for it. The
multiplayer is light on modes anyway, with only three of them, and one of them
is solo! I don’t mind supporting games post release with maps, and costumes and
such. But I shouldn’t have to pay extra for a mode that should’ve been in there
from day one. And neither should you.
In conclusion, Ryse: Son of Rome is not what I was hoping
for, yet wasn’t a complete disappointment. I did have fun playing the game. I
finished it in about 5 hours, which you could probably bring that up to 7 or 8
on higher difficulties. The multiplayer is something I see myself revisiting
from time to time for a few mindless hours of fun. In short Ryse isn’t terrible
but nothing spectacular either.
I give Ryse: Son of Rome my…
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| (10) For when you're almost important |
Bronze Seal of Acceptance.
It could’ve been better, but also could’ve been a lot
worse… Like Gladiator! Are you not entertained!?!
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