Ryse: Son of Rome

Ryse definitely looks the part, but the gameplay simply isn't up to scratch. It feels unfinished, or like a hardcore title whose mechanics have been dramatically simplified for the Xbox One TV crowd. Thumb down.

Beautiful but stale, boring, shallow and lacking in variation.

Ryse is like someone you notice at a party but after you spend some time together, you realize that person lacks charm and can’t tell the difference between a duel and a duet. [Issue#238]

With its pretty pictures, Ryse: Son of Rome doesn't manage to hide that it has the depth of a glass of water. The far from perfect combat system turns the game into a bore in no-time.

Ryse represents all that is wrong with the current AAA videogame model: it's epic, but superfluous; its main game mechanics are shallow and boring; its plot is full of Hollywood clichés and, in the end, it feels more like a marketing tool than a real effort to provide gamers with something meaningful and with value.

Ryse is all sizzle and no steak, a stunning visage paired with a vapid personality. Everything from the leveling system that's so painfully easy to complete (and so devoid of any impact on the game that it might as well not be there), to the story that does little to flesh out its lead characters beyond puerile notions of revenge is a testament to how little Ryse can back up its gorgeous visuals with anything more than a shallow set of fisticuffs.

You'd think a game that started its life on the far inferior Kinect 1.0 would have competent Kinect controls. You'd think wrong. [Feb 2014, p.78]