Platform: PC
Genre: Action
Developer: Crytek
Publisher: Crytek


Summary
Ryse: Son of Rome is a hack and slash, third person action game that tells a story about a Roman soldier, Marius Titus, whose family was killed by the Britons. This makes Marius seek out revenge, as he goes through a campaign with the Roman army to kill the barbarian’s leader. Only if Marius knew that there were other forces at stake…

Graphics – 5/5
This is really the main strength of the game. The cutscenes are extremely well done, the facial animations are spot on, which gives a real life-like feel to the game, and the world and its surroundings are stunning to look at. Definitely one of the best looking games I have seen so far.

Sound – 5/5
The sound quality is actually very good. The voice acting is not superb, but it gets close to it and generally gives you the feeling that the voice actors were not just reading a line. They were instead giving life to the character and adapting their voice to the situation they were in. Although not revolutionary, the soundtrack is very well placed within the game and well-adjusted to the situation you are in. The overall ambient sounds are crystal clear and of high quality, which helps you to feel like you are in the world you’re playing. All things considered, the sound is top notch.

Gameplay – 3/5
The gameplay is centered around combat and this is probably the game’s biggest flaw. Although fun, the combat can become repetitive pretty quickly because you can only do 4 main actions: attack, defend, push your enemy with your shield to break his defense or dodge. Besides, your combat will be filled with counter attacks and same old moves. Furthermore, although the executions are pretty awesome to look at, they will become repetitive and predictable, since the QTE (Quick-Time Events) are pretty much reduced to 2 button combinations. There are some boss and mini boss battles which keep things somewhat fresh but ultimately the majority of time you will be fighting with a handful of types of enemies. This really shows the lack of variety in combat. I would like to see more types of attacks and more options to fight your enemies, like for example fighting with maces, in addition to seeing more diverse enemies. Also it would be nice to play more “special sections” (like shooting with the ballista or making the square formation with shields), as well as these being more varied, such as, for instance, being able to shoot from a catapult. Talking about the content, the single-player only takes you 5 to 7 hours, depending on the difficulty setting. This makes it a bit short for my taste and the game didn’t give itself a chance to be better in terms of character development and overall storytelling. However, you can extend your playtime if you hop on to multiplayer which is good, for the most part. It has got some levels and various cooperative missions.

Story – 3.5/5
This felt like a wasted opportunity. Ryse: Son of Rome was able to create a pretty interesting set of characters but failed to create gripping stories for these. Basically it only touched the surface of many characters but didn’t really go deep to try and tell their backgrounds and the reasoning for why they do what they do. I would like to see more of Boudica, Oswald , Nero and his sons, for example. There were some scenes in the game that carried emotional connection with it, like the death of Oswald, so that’s a plus. But, generally speaking, this game lacked character development. Overall, it was a decent story but I get the sense that it could have been much better.

Notes

• Collectibles (vistas, scrolls and chronicles) don’t really add much to the game.
  
• The few choices you make in combat when leading your troops could have been exploited in a different way.

Overall score – 7.5/10
Stunning graphics, great sound quality but a repetitive combat and untapped potential in terms of storytelling, along with a decent to good multiplayer make Ryse: Son of Rome an enjoyable but flawed experience, which is shown in the latter parts of the game.

Belongs in my personal best:

[h1]Ryse: Son of Rome Review by Afor[/h1] [b]Platform: PC[/b] [b]Genre: Action[/b] [b]Developer: Crytek[/b] [b]Publisher: Crytek[/b] [h1]Don’t play with the god’s affairs[/h1] [b]Summary[/b] Ryse: Son of Rome is a hack and slash, third person action game that tells a story about a Roman soldier, Marius Titus, whose family was killed by the Britons. This makes Marius seek out revenge, as he goes through a campaign with the Roman army to kill the barbarian’s leader. Only if Marius knew that there were other forces at stake… [b]Graphics – 5/5[/b] This is really the main strength of the game. The cutscenes are extremely well done, the facial animations are spot on, which gives a real life-like feel to the game, and the world and its surroundings are stunning to look at. Definitely one of the best looking games I have seen so far. [b]Sound – 5/5[/b] The sound quality is actually very good. The voice acting is not superb, but it gets close to it and generally gives you the feeling that the voice actors were not just reading a line. They were instead giving life to the character and adapting their voice to the situation they were in. Although not revolutionary, the soundtrack is very well placed within the game and well-adjusted to the situation you are in. The overall ambient sounds are crystal clear and of high quality, which helps you to feel like you are in the world you’re playing. All things considered, the sound is top notch. [b]Gameplay – 3/5[/b] The gameplay is centered around combat and this is probably the game’s biggest flaw. Although fun, the combat can become repetitive pretty quickly because you can only do 4 main actions: attack, defend, push your enemy with your shield to break his defense or dodge. Besides, your combat will be filled with counter attacks and same old moves. Furthermore, although the executions are pretty awesome to look at, they will become repetitive and predictable, since the QTE (Quick-Time Events) are pretty much reduced to 2 button combinations. There are some boss and mini boss battles which keep things somewhat fresh but ultimately the majority of time you will be fighting with a handful of types of enemies. This really shows the lack of variety in combat. I would like to see more types of attacks and more options to fight your enemies, like for example fighting with maces, in addition to seeing more diverse enemies. Also it would be nice to play more “special sections” (like shooting with the ballista or making the square formation with shields), as well as these being more varied, such as, for instance, being able to shoot from a catapult. Talking about the content, the single-player only takes you 5 to 7 hours, depending on the difficulty setting. This makes it a bit short for my taste and the game didn’t give itself a chance to be better in terms of character development and overall storytelling. However, you can extend your playtime if you hop on to multiplayer which is good, for the most part. It has got some levels and various cooperative missions. [b]Story – 3.5/5[/b] This felt like a wasted opportunity. Ryse: Son of Rome was able to create a pretty interesting set of characters but failed to create gripping stories for these. Basically it only touched the surface of many characters but didn’t really go deep to try and tell their backgrounds and the reasoning for why they do what they do. I would like to see more of Boudica, Oswald , Nero and his sons, for example. There were some scenes in the game that carried emotional connection with it, like the [spoiler]death of Oswald[/spoiler], so that’s a plus. But, generally speaking, this game lacked character development. Overall, it was a decent story but I get the sense that it could have been much better. [b]Notes[/b] [list] [*]Collectibles (vistas, scrolls and chronicles) don’t really add much to the game. [*]The few choices you make in combat when leading your troops could have been exploited in a different way. [/list] [b]Overall score – 7.5/10[/b] Stunning graphics, great sound quality but a repetitive combat and untapped potential in terms of storytelling, along with a decent to good multiplayer make Ryse: Son of Rome an enjoyable but flawed experience, which is shown in the latter parts of the game. Belongs in my personal best: [h1]No[/h1]