Ryse: Sons of Rome Announced

One of the first exclusives shown at tonights Microsoft E3 Conference was Ryse: Sons of Rome, and although it was very pretty (and although it features some rather nifty SmartGlass support), it was a little underwhelming in the gameplay department. The idea behind it – that you get to feel like a real Roman warriors, a real Roman commander – was sound, and a lot of what was shown supported that, but the combat left a lot to be desired.

First, the good: Ryse looked fantastic, and who would expect otherwise from Crytek and Cryengine 3? Characters were realistic and moved very well, plenty happened on screen and effects were interesting and varied. That’s not to mention the lighting and textures, which, of course, were flawless. Capturing that feel of being in the heart of battle with your allies was best demonstrated by being part of a shield wall. This was shown early in the demo and had the player surrounded by a team of other NPCs. You could command them to throw spears or to duck below their cover. Most interesting was how dynamic the group was. Someone would die, fall to the ground from an arrow to the knee, and another soldier would step forward to take their place. It was an interesting, if subtle mechanic, and one that hasn’t really been done before on that scale.

Unfortunately, the game looked like it wouldn’t be especially fun to play. Ryse: Sons of Rome seems to rely on a QTE-based battle system, that plays pre-planned animations as you press the right button. How long until you’ve seen every one of those animations? How long until hitting a few buttons to weaken an opponent, and then another button to finish them off gets dull? In fact, much of what I saw there I’d seen before in Lord of the Rings: War in the North, which was a decent enough game but which I wouldn’t exactly call “front-of-the-conference” material.

That comparison aside, Ryse is interesting enough, if only for its take on Roman history. Here’s hoping there’s a lot more to it than was shown tonight.