Veni, vidi vici. After a somewhat troubled development cycle that saw the game go from being a Kinect powered (yet never seen in action) Xbox 360 game to a button mashing, action packed Xbox One launch title, Ryse is a game that it's fair to say has gone through plenty of changes. Yet as one of two games Microsoft are pushing to sell the Xbox One (the other being Forza Motorsport 5), they'll certainly be hoping it can conquer all in sight.
With shields, armour, and sword fighting galore, Ryse is a game that's about as close to films like Gladiator, or perhaps 300, as you'll ever get in game form. Putting you in the shoesius of Marius Titus, a Roman centurion on a questus to avenge the murderius of his family, Ryse is a game with a surprising emphasis on telling a story. While it may be a linear experience, being told entirely through (admittedly, very fancy) cutscenes with no chance for you to talk to people or influence it directly, there's some fantastic characters here. From the paranoid tyrannical Emperor, to his power hungry, yet oddly eccentric sons, Ryse tells a story in a world full of Roman intrigue, backstabbing and heroic drama, where power struggles have human consequences, loyalties are tried and tested, friendships are forged and lost, and real men wear skirts.
Here's Marius whackingus an enemius with his swordius
Set amongst the bustling tiled streets and towering coliseums of a Roman Empire at its peak, Ryse is a game with combat at its centre. As a fully armoured centurion, you'll be hacking and slashing your way through marauding barbarians, legionnaires, and practically anyone else who stands in your way, as you basically move from one group of enemies to another. Your attacks are concentrated on two main buttons, with X being a normal attack, Y being a guard break move that can be used to stagger your enemy, and A being used to block. Parrying your opponent's moves, and timing your counter attacks to perfection is the important bit here, as with certain enemies more than skilled enough to bat you off if you go at them unprepared, you'll need to get a rhythm going, and pick and choose your moments carefully.
Unfortunately, even when playing on easy, there's no icon to tell you when the right time to attempt to counter is, and with the window in which you can actually parry a move being as small as a barbarian's pants, it can be rather hard to actually throw an enemy off balance. Things can get more frustrating when you end up going up against the game's bosses, who've all somehow been blessed with the skills to magically counter your every move, even when facing away from you, forcing you to look for the single weakness in their moves. Every boss has a weak link in their chain of attacks, and it can be repeatedly exploited - but finding it isn't all that easy.
Wear your enemy down, on the other hand, and a handy icon will pop up above their head to let you know you've got an opportunity to finish them. Pushing the right trigger when this pops up will take you into a push-the-right-button-at-the-right-time quick time event, where you have to push either X or Y depending on whether your foe decides to glow yellow of blue. Whether you get it right or wrong, the end result will be the same, as the game zooms in and slows down as much as it can to show you the brutal combat up close, as swords slice through flesh, enemies drown in their own blood, and entire limbs get cut off, with what used to be your enemy's arm ending up looking more like a cartoon joint of ham. Seemingly enjoying slowing things down to the point you can almost see when your enemy's heart breaks (!), it's gruesome, grizzly, and perhaps more frustratingly, entirely unnecessary. No-one will buy the game for its gore - but many may be put off by it.
Lovely?
Still, outside the combat, there's a lot of appeal in Ryse. Set in an era less covered by games, the Roman surrounds and setting makes the game feel a lot more original than it really is - and it's certainly a game full of spectacle. From a giant, burning ship crashing on the shores of Dover to a giant coliseum arena that transforms as you survive wave after wave of opponents, and perhaps the most impressive forest we've ever explored in a game, everything takes place on a scale that makes it feel suitably epic, with the game's supercharged cutscenes only helping to keep the adrenaline pumping.
Despite being set in a time before air travel, there's a fair amount of globe trotting here too, giving the game's scant few levels plenty of variety. While the story may begin in Rome itself, your journey will take you from the grey beaches of Dover to the pleasant greenery of York, and even further north to a land that the game describes as "[A place of] darkness beyond the wall. Where the lowering barren mountains tower over the black, bottomless locks. Horned men from ancient times roam this land, and of those who venture there, few return". Or to give it its modern name, Scotland. Little's changed.
However, while it may give it an interesting atmosphere, the game does play fast and loose with its historical inspirations. King Oswald of Northumberland is painted in the game as being the King of England, while Boadicea, who certainly wasn't related to him in any way, for the sake of the game becomes his rebellious daughter, leading the uprising against the Romans from the back of a war elephant with only a belt tied around her chest to protect her modesty. The marauding barbarians from Britain make it all the way to Rome at the very start of the game, while in this green and pleasant land itself, it seems there's been a pretty substantial amount of inbreeding, as every "heavy" enemy in the game (ones that come with shields) look exactly the same. When four of them come at you at once, you know there's something fishy going on.
Just your average Friday night in Glasgow
Still, there's a lot to like here. While the stunning vistas give you plenty to look at in the down time in-between duelling with the bag guys, there's also a number of well hidden collectibles to hunt down, which unlock concept art, character profiles, and other such goodies in the extras menu. Despite the levels being almost entirely linear affairs, where you almost literally move from one group of baddies to the next, the collectibles somehow manage to actually be pretty well hidden, and tricky to find on your first pass. The combat system also has an extra layer of depth, with your execution moves offering a range of benefits, from giving you health back, to filling a focus bar that lets you stun all nearby enemies simultaneously, or simply giving you an XP boost every time you slay an enemy with an execution - although you can only choose one benefit at a time. Oh, and forward-rolling around the game's areas by hammering B, treating yourself to accidental upskirt shots of Marius' tighty whiteys while smashing into priceless Roman pots is a lot of fun, too.
While it may be a fairly average action game under the surface, Ryse: Son of Rome is made all the more memorable thanks to its unique setting, and great story (bar the terrible ending). With some impressive visuals providing a nice demonstration of what the shiny new box under your TV can do, Ryse certainly isn't the all conquering hero Microsoft had hoped it would be - the combat's too limited, it's far too short at only five hours long (and when it takes nigh on three hours to install, that's a bit rich), and the lack of split-screen co-op is a shame - but it's entertaining enough while it lasts. With the Xbox One having a fairly limited line-up of games so far, Ryse is a game that fills a gap well enough - it just won't be looked on as fondly as something like Halo.
Format Reviewed: Xbox One
