Some games surprise you when you go from watching to playing. Ryse: Son ofRomeis not one of them. It delivered exactly what I expected from watching the presentation at the Microsoft conference: an impressively detailed gauntlet of action that funneled me through a series of fights with multiple foes that all needed a good stabbing.
What I played was the exact same area shown. It began with a barely interactive scene of an amphibious Roman attack on the beaches of a “barbarian” castle. Running through the water, having camera control wrested from me to view fellow Romans catching arrows to the face, then getting knocked off my feet by a flaming rock launched from a scripted trebuchet, was effectively a shot-for-shot remake of the D-Day landing at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, minus about 2,000 years. Though there was little deviating from the course I was set on, it had the desired effect: I felt immersed in the chaos and bloody brutality of warfare – and yes, the extremely detailed graphics helped. The intricate Roman armor the main character wears is so detailed it becomes distracting to look at – in a good way, of course.
The melee fighting that began shortly thereafter felt very similar to Batman:ArkhamCity, with the basic principle being to strike with the X button and counter with the shield using the A button. I usually found myself facing at least two enemies at a time, which meant shifting directions with the left stick to block an attack and continue my attack flow. The main difference is that after landing a couple of basic strikes on an enemy a button prompt appears above his head - usually it’d be the B button icon - and when pushed something bloody happens.
Instead of incapacitating thugs with gadgets in the Batman style, you stab them through the neck with a Roman gladius sword. Or throw them on the ground and curb-stomp them. Or just bash their faces in with a shield. I did notice the execution animations repeating a little in the short time I played – more than one barbarian met his end via spontaneous tonsillectomy or by being contextually bashed against a wall when conveniently positioned - so I asked how many we’d see in the final product. “Over 100,” promised the Crytek rep – an answer which left me feeling pretty good about the odds of being continually shocked by new and creative murders. Is it a little macabre to find that entertaining? Sure... and perhaps it's apt that this is a game about a society that treated gladiatorial combat as a sporting event to appease the masses.
These executions aren’t quite quick time events, in that most of them are simply one-button prompts rather than a sequence, and failing them by pushing the wrong button usually still results in a dead barbarian, just with a smaller batch of experience points as a reward. That’s a good touch, since it does away with the frustration repetition of a mandatory sequence and lets the action continue.
An abundance of XP leads to better upgrades, I’m told. None of this happened in the demo, but Crytek says there will be plenty of upgrading to be done, focused on adding new bonuses to your attacks like gaining more XP per kill or simply doing more damage. The action won’t slow down for those upgrades, of course – there’s no central town or shop to visit. This is a non-stop war game.
Continuing in the scripted action-fest, I approached the castle walls and was prompted to hit the left bumper to summon my troops to my side. This was probably the coolest part – even though the mechanics of pushing one button to raise the Roman shields into a tortoise formation as enemy arrows rained down, then another to throw spears at them between their volleys is a simple one, having a formation of troops move as one around us as we move is a great idea.
The fight continued into the castle as I was prompted to order my men to capture a catapult and use it to take out the trebuchet that was still spectacularly raining fire down on the Roman forces. These fights were largely more of the same, though with the added variety of throwing enemies off the high castle walls. It was a good show in the same way that Call of Duty games have become known for: tightly linear, but with spectacular graphics and sound that put on a good enough show to make playing along worthwhile. The different setting and focus on melee combat gives Ryse a distinct feel, but the concept is quite similar. What’ll be interesting is to see how Crytek sustains that pace without the luxury of handing us a bigger, more explosive gun every few levels.
Dan Stapleton is IGN's Reviews Editor. You can follow him on Twitter to hear all about how awesome PC gaming is, plus a healthy dose of random Simpsons references.
Source : ign[dot]com
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