14 DAY TRIAL // Ryse: Son of Rome is a shallow video game that uses a combat system that becomes repetitive after two hours at the most and has no respect for the history of the period during which it takes place, never giving players a clear reason to care about the action or the story.
At the same time, it is created by a team at Cryrtek and it uses their proprietary technology to deliver the best graphical experience on the Xbox One and one of the most beautiful video games of this year, regardless of platform.
The first battle of the game takes place in front of the Emperor’s Palace in Rome and everything, from the geography of the area, the armor of the legionnaires running around to the spread of fire coming out of barrels, is mesmerizing.
This is the kind of game where players would stop to simply look around if the gameplay was not so focused on fast movement and violent combat.
The animations are smooth and clean, there are no screen artifacts and no decrease in framerates at any point.
Ryse: Son of Rome is a game drenched in the blood of slain barbarians and each execution, each movement of the blades and the axes are carefully calculated and beautifully recreated on screen.
Unfortunately, the actual game pretty quickly runs out of interesting things to show the player and tends to repeat models and moves for barbarians and the main character.
This means that there’s no incentive for gamers to continue playing in order to enjoy the environments and the details delivered by Crytek.
On the PlayStation 4, Killzone: Shadow Fall delivers an experience that can feel similarly impressive, although with less details included, and Forza Motorsport 5 also offers an impressive spectacle for those who love racing-focused titles.