Launch lineups generally have their checklists to live by. First-Person Shooter? Check. Car racing simulator? Check. Family friendly game? Check. The reason why these games are so popular at launch is they show off the hardware in a way that is easy to compare with previous generations. Do the cars look more like cars? Do the guns look more like guns? If the answer to the aforementioned questions is “Yes”, then we are in the next generation. It would appear the third-person, quicktime-event driven action game has grown in popularity that it can be effectively compared to the generation before it, and Ryse: Son of Rome is more than up to the challenge of showing off next-generation hardware.
Ryse looks positively stunning. Crytek has always been at a disadvantage with their beautiful games, because their camera was always stuck in first-person. Choosing a more cinematic approach, has really let Crytek show off their animation department. Watching characters exhibit subtle, and–for the most part–restrained performances is fantastic. While the voice acting and story of Ryse may not be amazing, it effectively proves how humanity can be captured in a way never possible before. At times the game feels slightly rigid, taking you out of its incredible atmospheres. When you get stuck on a fruit cart or a stair case, it is a hard reminder that as beautiful as Ryse may look, it is still restrained by technology, but the flaws are significantly outweighed by the beauty of the game. Not only are the characters well crafted, but so are the environments., from crumbling cities to dark forests. Ryse shows off its exterior settings in a way that only Crytek can, with amazing foliage and painstaking attention to detail. Some may point to Battlefield 4 as the prettiest game of the next generation, or argue Killzone: Shadow Fall; for my money, Ryse shows off next-gen hardware better than any other game I have played in either launch lineup.
When you’re not drooling over the environments and characters, you’ll be slicing and dicing through battlefields. Ryse’s gameplay revolves around the military campaign of Marius Titus as he seeks revenge for his slain family, killing hundreds to do it. Unfortunately, you kill most of these baddies in the same repetitive fashion, using a combination of shield bashing, countering, and swordplay, then doing one of five quicktime events that will gruesomely execute your opponent. Occasionally, changing up your surroundings will cause Marius to do a finishing sequence you haven’t seen before–like when he tosses someone over a ledge–but for the most part these finishers are all the same. By the end of the game, I knew these combos so well that I could press the combination of buttons without prompt. After performing these executions, players can select four different rewards for their kills, like experience points or health. One of these rewards is a meter that triggers an super-powered mode, allowing you to slice through a couple enemies before they can even swing their weapon. These controls handle well, they feel pretty responsive and often I was attacking the correct enemy, but they do get old after a few hours.
There’s a bit more Crytek does to spice up the gameplay. Sections of the level design require you to grab javelins and hurl them at distant opponent’s, breaking up the monotony of hand-to-hand combat. Some sections thrust the player to the head of a Roman column, commanding the column to shield from attacks and hurdle javelins back in response. Other times, you will take control of a scorpio–a weapon much like a ballista turret–and hold off an incoming attack. While it is nice to have these sections of a level to break up the tedious combat, none of these mechanics feel ground-breaking or even all that fun. Luckily, Ryse is a fairly forgiving game, meaning you probably won’t find yourself bored to tears anywhere. This also contributes to the game’s short playtime, clocking in at approximately 6-8 hours.
Crytek has long been known for making beautiful games, unfortunately it does not have a history of writing good narrative. Ryse falls into this same trap, leaning heavily on its impressive technical aspects to engage the player rather than any sort of interesting story. There is some impressive character work, but it feels like a tribute to strong voice acting and animation, than anything written. The game flirts with supernatural elements, which is a creative look at Roman history, but disregards any political intrigue or fascinating accounts that surrounds the greatest empire ever built. At times, there seems to be no reason for the game to be set in Rome, the characters could easily be translated into any time or any place. The setting and design of the game feel like missed opportunities, due to a writing team that lacks any real chops. Again, Crytek’s technical accomplishments far outweigh any sort of narrative ones.
After, tearing through the story, Ryse offers a horde mode-esque multiplayer to show off your learned skills. This multiplayer has you play as a Roman gladiator, fighting through waves of enemies to win the favor of the crowd. Players can join up and work cooperatively with each other, comparing scores at the end of their round, or face the challenges of the arena on their own. The higher your score, the more equipment you can buy for your gladiator, showing off your victories via your impressive wardrobe and weapons. Unfortunately, all this offers is more hours with the same lackluster mechanics you have already spent more than enough time with. The multiplayer still fails to add that jolt of dynamic gameplay Ryse is so desperately missing.
While Ryse: Son of Rome may lack variety in its gameplay and fails to capitalize on an idea that breaks the launch-title mold, it still offers one of the better experiences you can find on the Xbox One at this time. It is a dazzling technical experience that will, more often than not, leave you slack-jawed. There are shortcomings, to be sure, but for all of its monotony Ryse still provides solid gameplay to accompany its impressive look. It seems appropriate that Crytek would be escorting players into the next generation of graphics, they have been leading that charge for a long time. Hopefully, as we continue into the future, they will find other ways to stand out.
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