Ryse

[Charlie_]

My son and I finished playing Ryse last week. Had lots of fun. Excellent game with some fantastic graphics, very smooth running.

There is a scene where you battle a masked tribal leader during the night with torches and bon fires lighting the area.

If one was to walk in the room and glance at the game screen you would swear it was a movie.

I've heard complaint that the game can be repetitive. That is true somewhat, but I think as the 8 - 10 hours of game play progresses the difficulty ramps up enough to force the player to start learning what works and what doesn't. Also it forces the fine tuning of the special moves and blocking system.

So because of that the game stayed interesting and fun all the way through.

 

So I'd recommend Ryse. Now that we are finished with it all my son plays is Plants and Zombies or something like this..

[moycon]

I have the game and haven't played it but about 20 minutes. That's about 10 minutes more than I played Forza and 20 minutes more than I played Need For Speed.

I really haven't gotten into the One yet at all. I think I realized there were too many awesome games in my "To Play" pile already. I did play through Dead Rising 3, Lego Marvel and Skylanders though.

I keep meaning to put some more time in on the One. Ryse and Need For Speed are at the top of my One list right now. Glad to hear you liked it. The 20 minutes I spent with it were very impressive for sure.

[AtariBrian]

My friend had Ryse and I couldnt believe the look and graphics of the game ... amazing . I was playing Rayman the other day and its pretty darn good also .

[Charlie_]

Very fun and inexpensive game is Max: The curse of brotherhood.

Old school type platformer.

[AtariBrian]

I will have to see if my friend has that one and check it out .

[Hyper_Eye]

I played through it. The graphics are pretty amazing and the game does run nice and smooth. It makes a great tech demo in my opinion. I found the gameplay to be incredibly bland. God of War does what this game attempts to do 100x better. I wish Dark Souls 2 came out on the Xbox One instead of the 360! The One would be the only thing I would use for the next few months.

[moycon]

The first 20 minutes reminded me of the movie 300...which wasn't a bad thing.

[Metal Ghost]

I finished this a couple of weeks ago. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed it. It did get repetitive, but like O.N. said, the difficulty ramps up at the right times to really make you improve your skills and tactics or else not progress.

 

I'm on to Child of Light now on Xbox One, which I'm REALLY enjoying. I've been keeping an eye on Max as well. Perhaps after Child of LIght.

[DaytonaUSA]

I really, really want to try this. But I don't want to plunk down full price for it right now. I know it's about 45 in stores right now, but just a hair too much for such a short experience. I've heard nothing but great things from my friends. Frankly I seem to always like the games that reviewers always seem to feel lukewarm to. Maybe it'll be the same with Ryse.

[Charlie_]

I really, really want to try this. But I don't want to plunk down full price for it right now. I know it's about 45 in stores right now, but just a hair too much for such a short experience. I've heard nothing but great things from my friends. Frankly I seem to always like the games that reviewers always seem to feel lukewarm to. Maybe it'll be the same with Ryse.

There is an online element that I hear is very fun.

I haven't had much time to give it a try though.

[Bilnick]

I thought I read somewhere (can't find it now though) that Ryse will be one of the first discounted "Deals with Gold" games in June.

[Major Havoc 2049]

I thought I read somewhere (can't find it now though) that Ryse will be one of the first discounted "Deals with Gold" games in June.

"Exclusive Discounts. Deals with Gold will also launch for Xbox One in June, delivering discounts for great games each month, with significant savings for Xbox Live Gold members. The first titles offered in June will include “Forza Motorsport 5,” “Ryse: Son of Rome,” and a few other surprises. In the coming months, we will offer significant savings of up to 50 – 75 percent off certain titles."

 

Source:

http://news.xbox.com/2014/05/xbox-delivering-more-choices

[ianoid]

For a game with middling reviews at launch, it sure has shown some legs and a good deal of positivity from gamers at large. I have been waiting for it to plummet in price used, but it seems to be hanging on for the time being.

 

Yeah, not much exclusive action worth chasing down for XB1.

[Charlie_]

For a game with middling reviews at launch, it sure has shown some legs and a good deal of positivity from gamers at large. I have been waiting for it to plummet in price used, but it seems to be hanging on for the time being.

 

Yeah, not much exclusive action worth chasing down for XB1.

 

My son in law played with the XB One over the weekend. When he played COD he said, Wow, yeah, you can see all the effects you don't see on the 360 version.

When he played Ryse he said "WOW. Now this title shows off what the system can do graphically, and it is only a launch title."

He played for a while, got the hang of it and seemed to be really enjoying it.

 

I still haven't tried the multiplayer mode yet...

 

Personally, I don't see much action on either PS4 or XB1. Biggest problem XB1 seems to be fighting right now, from all the people I talk to, is that they are still perfectly happy with their 360's. Don't see a need yet to spend the money. Maybe when there is a new Halo or Gears....

[Mendon]

You might want to watch Amazon for deals on XB1 games. They pop up without warning and some are great, such as the currently priced CoD: Ghosts for $20, or the recent Plants vs. Zombies for $18 or Skylanders Swap Force Starter Set for $20, or Thief for $22.

 

I believe I saw Ryse on there recently for $20 or $25 but I didn't grab it because its a game I'm really not interested in. Looking at Amazon this morning, its $39.

[Major Havoc 2049]

I bought all three of the XB1, Day One editions of Ryse, Forza 5 and Dead Rising 3 on Amazon on launch day for $50 each, so saved $30.

 

I really enjoyed Dead Rising 3 on XB1. Best exclusive on the system. While not an exclusive, Wolfenstein is a great game.

[bloodreptile]

I must be the only person who found God of War an incredibly dumb generic slash em up.

 

Ryse is superb. I just heard bad things about it from everyone who had an opinion. I thought I would buy it and make up my own mind. This first chapter is not very good but by the time you get to the third chapter it is a classic slash em up. It reminds me a lot of Dragon's blood on the Dreamcast which was a fantastic game. Also it was out before snore of war.

 

The main thing to understand about this game is the fighting aspect is not a button masher like Conan or snore of war. You have to think about the moves of your enemy and plan effectively to counter their agression. I am about half way through it at the present time.

[Austin]

Since I got a XBOX One again I went ahead and decided to pick up this game since it's cheaper now. I've been seeing more footage of it in various videos on YouTube and based on some opinions in this thread I thought I'd probably end up enjoying it. Overall I am, but it's probably going to be traded back in once I complete it. I just don't see it having much replay value.

 

The visuals are pretty nice (not super next-gen, but you can definitely tell it's a step up from what's on the 360), the character movement is solid, and the framerate is fairly consistent. I also really appreciate how the game attempts to be more realistic than most modern efforts. It still has its unbelievable moments, but for the most part it tries to remain rooted in the realm of reality. For instance, in the first chapter there's a brief scene where your character gets blown off a platform to the ground in about what I'd guess is a five foot fall. He lands on his side and you can see the pain in his face when he lands (unlike characters in other games that seemingly fall three stories yet barely flinch and get up like nothing happened).

 

As far as the combat goes, I do find the action pretty monotonous. It was fine and fresh in the first or second chapter, but by the third it was already starting to wear thin on me. Yes, you have to stay on your game as you progress (enemies force you block appropriately and you are required to break through their block stances), but even then you are still doing the same thing again and again, maybe adding in a new ability here and there as the levels progress. Block, slash, slash, shield break, slash, shield break, right-trigger for fatality, then a quick QTE mode to get the perks from finishing your opponent properly. Maybe you will have to toss in some occasional roll maneuvers like any other third-person action game, rinse and repeat again and again. It doesn't help that most of the time you are fighting the same enemies over and over again (not unlike classic beat 'em ups). This and the super linear level design itself is probably the biggest annoyance for me.

 

I'm still enjoying it though. The action is competent and the scenery is nice. The story as well as the execution of it is engaging and like many modern games with simply average gameplay, it is the part that is keeping me glued to the screen the most. I'm curious to know how things will unravel by the end, I'm currently on Chapter 5 of 8. It'll probably go back to the store when I'm done with it though.

[Austin]

Update:

 

I've got to partially take back what I said in regards to the realism thing. I ran into a few unreal moments in the second half of the game haha. Still though, for the most part the game is pretty realistic.

 

Has anyone completed this on Legendary? Trying to figure out if there is more of an ending when you finish it on the hardest mode. I finished it this morning on the hardest default/unlocked mode, but now that I've done that the final difficulty has opened up to me. I'm debating whether the game is deserving of a second go or not. The gameplay was definitely tired by the end of the trip, but the story and action was fine and again that's what kept me glued to it. Maybe if there's more story divulged through playing on Legendary then I might play it through once more before getting rid of it.

 

Overall I don't regret the experience. Good visuals, great voice acting, solid cinematic sequences, and competent (albeit repetitive and not all that addictive) gameplay. I paid about $30 for it and can get a chunk of that back in trade. $20 would have been an even sweeter spot, but for $30-ish it wasn't bad. I won't recommend it at $40+ though, unless maybe the Final/Director's Cut/Game of the Year Edition that's out now has significantly more content. I'm playing the standard launch version of Ryse from last year.