The most talked about Xbox One title has had the wraps taken off of it. Ryse: Son of Rome has been talked about -mostly negatively- since its announcement at E3 this year. Can the reviews make believers out of the naysayers? Let’s just say there is rough sailing ahead.
IGN– 6.8/10
“What’s there isn’t at all bad, it just feels like a foundation for something far greater and more nuanced that never comes. Enemy variety does a bit of work to liven things up. Some foes are unblockable, some charge you, and some assault you with a flurry of dual-sword attacks. Dealing with them requires you to care about your blocks, attacks, and movements, which is fun until you figure out their repetitive patterns.”
Videogamer– 7/10
“From start to finish, Ryse is a constant joy to look at and ticks all the boxes in order to sell its tech: lush forests, awesome vistas, ancient Roman architecture. There’s not a single moment its engine and direction doesn’t impress in some fashion.”
Gamespot– 4/10
“What initially seems like an impressive system based on precision and timing, largely thanks to some nice visual cues and elegant slow-motion animations, quickly becomes an exercise in mind-numbing tedium–and with just a sword and a shield attack on offer, it’s hardly surprising. Sure, there are blocks, dodges, and counters to help things along, but when you’re faced with opponents whose repetitive moves you’ll have seen in their entirety after the first hour of the game, it’s not long before you’ve experienced everything the combat system has to offer and figured out a sequence to repeat ad nauseam.”
Kotaku– YES
“Some games show off graphics just to, well, show off. Rarely can you point to great graphics and say that they improve the gameplay, but in Ryse, they do. They help distinguish Ryse from being just another brawler. They excuse, to some extent, the game’s constricting linearity and invisible walls. They aid Ryse’s gameplay by supporting a melee combat system that works best if you, the player, visually “reads” your character’s movements.”
Destructoid– 5/10
“But other than the lackluster campaign, there is one shining light of gameplay in Ryse — the two player co-op arena mode — which took me completely by surprise. This portion of the game is much more interesting due to the fact that it takes a page from many online shooters, adding in different objectives like “hold the point” or “assassinate specific targets” in addition to your typical “kill all these dudes” missions.”
Game Informer– 6/10
“When I show my friends what Xbox One is capable of graphically, I’m going to pop in Ryse. The visuals are breathtaking, but the gameplay flips on a dime between being legitimately fun and downright bad. There is no middle ground. It’s very much the extreme of both.”
It seems like ever review is reading the exact same and since the scores go between 4 and 7 it looks like as long as you know what you are getting into you could have some fun. It all depends on if you like what Ryse is offering.
