When in Rome, Do Not Play Boring Games: Ryse: Son of Rome Review

Microsoft's Xbox One was inaugurated by the slashing, sword swinging fury of Ryse: Son of Rome. Promised as the Xbox's glorious introduction to the next-generation video gaming world, the third-person Roman-era game popped out of the oven a bit stale. However breathtaking the game is at times, it stays in players minds as being plain wearisome. It shines dimly, albeit loudly in plenty of areas, but not enough to make it an enjoyable game.

Ryse: Son of Rome follows the woefully stereotypical Roman Legionnaire Marius Titus. Players have an orchestra seat-view into the woefully stereotypical tragedy that sparks Marius' woefully stereotypical adventure for, you guessed it, the ever-present revenge. Let's not get it twisted - this game is not that bad, but damn't it could've been something much more. Players were aching for video game's answer to films like Ridley Scott's 2000 masterpiece, Gladiator, but we're not so lucky. It seems that 2013 was inundated with underwhelming titles that were supposed to charm us with the whimsy of next-gen. But we'll focus on Ryse during this review, and Ryse alone. Let's begin.

Our story begins during the mid 50s or 60s B.C.E. with General Marius defending the city of Rome from a massive Barbarian invasion. Combat, gameplay quirks and a stylized level progression are all acquainted with the player. Fireballs and arrows are raining down and the fighting is amazing and almost frivolous. It's a wonderful start, even though its uncomfortably abrupt. We make our way into the Emperor's palace, and proceed to rescue him and escort him into a safe area. From here Marius recounts the events that led to his being there all to Emperor Nero, initiating the flashback that the main game is comprised of. This is where the game can begin to lose some people.

Ten years prior to the immense battle from the game's opening, Marius is just a recently trained Legionnaire visiting his family. Never mind, his family's dead. They're killed by a smaller Barbarian incursion into Rome. The positive, and dare we say innocent Marius that we saw for literally five minutes is gone. Tragically interrupted by the vicious, grunting murderer Marius. Nice meeting you, I guess.

Now the game drags us across the expanse of the Roman Empire, hacking and slashing as we go. One positive we must talk about is the visual thrill of Ryse's combat system. Hacking, slashing or bashing an enemy with your shield opens the opportunity to perform an execution. These executions are immensely entertaining, slowed down quick-time events. During these events, players must press certain buttons at certain times to land a perfect executions. This can have some pretty gruesome results, but they're wickedly fun to watch and perform. Of course, this comes with a catch. Hack this, slash that, hack this, slash that gets super repetitive after only an hour or so. It's simple, easy to use and doesn't pose much of a true gaming challenge.

Not to mention the fact that pretty much every combat interaction concludes with an execution - there are only so many ways to brutally murder a Barbarian. Some of the choreographed animations can be seen more than once during a single fight. It certainly burns bright and very fast. It does however, feature a well thought out system for gaining health, focus or XP upon successful executions.

Segway: would it have killed them to animate more character designs? We were fighting Celtic Barbarians on the beaches of Dover and saw the same giant shirtless dude with a shield three times during one fight. Same face, same voice same combat style. This was supposed to be next-gen, synonymous with "the best." This short handed attention to detail, or lack of effort is far from the best. The overall graphic engine that runs the game is actually quite impressive, and facial construction throughout the game is one of a kind. Surroundings are particularly awe inspiring. Whether it be a quiet forest at the edge of the Roman Empire, or a chaotic beach overrun by warring soldiers. It's simply not enough to make it groundbreaking.

To be fair, the story and overall gameplay may not be the best, but it does have some high points. Boss battles are introduced as fun and challenging ways to combine the aforementioned combat system to even the odds. It can be very fun and daunting, but of course there are only a handful of them. That same combat system can be used to create some memorable moments - performing a perfect block can open the enemy up for a bashing move, which can procedurally allow Marius to perform a heavy attack and get that dastardly Barbarian lined up for his execution.

Circling back to the game's story, most of this plot is a bit mute. Plot developments are dramatic and larger than life, but usually leave out details and leave players indifferent to particulars. The enemies in the game are singular, but do come in different forms. Reveals and twists are mishandled, and distance themselves from any direction of logical story steps. The game is fun, but wow the story leaves a lot to be desired. It's rather simple and ordinary and feels like it was rushed or just ignored during development. When it comes to characters, we've already mentioned that Marius is easy to understand. Every character is either a stereotype, or an underdeveloped splinter of a person. The characters that are interesting have limited exposure and are put on the back burner.

Enough bashing. Ryse: Son of Rome is a dud on many fronts. It's repetitive, lackadaisically detailed and boring at times. With that being said, it does pass the final most important criteria - it's fun. The game is playable enough to enjoy at time, and the visuals are truly a sight to behold. Through all its problems, a gamer with an Xbox One would be pleased with a purchase. That is not to let it off the hook for falling short on its understandably high expectations.