We are in Rome in... Ah well, that's true, we don't really know when Ryse is taking place. We are indeed in Roman antiquity, under the reign of Nero as we learn by advancing in the game, but Crytek has carefully distanced itself from reality by relieving itself of any form of information that is too precise. Or too consistent with history. We are therefore offered to embody the young soldier Titus Marius (the equivalent of a Pierre Dubois with us, more basic, you die), a legionnaire who will witness the eradication of his family and his clan by a horde of barbarians, in broad daylight and in the heart of the Roman capital. Inevitably, it smacks of conspiracy, or the improbable screenplay choice. Yes, because they are Bretons, the famous barbarians who have therefore come all the way to Rome to stuff Marius' family… Yeah… Finally, let's move on from these implausibilities. As you will have understood, Ryse: Son of Rome is a story of revenge. Peplum, revenge, yes, it obviously brings to mind something: Ridley Scott's Gladiator in which General Maximus is betrayed and left for dead before returning to the Roman capital in the shoes of a gladiator. Without spoiling too much, this feature film and cinema in general have been particularly marked sources of inspiration for Ryse; the scene of the landing in Brittany is just a carbon copy of that of Spielberg in "Saving Private Ryan". And who says Hollywood necessarily says a few rather big scenes, in which Marius swims with his armor, jumps on a trireme from a rock on the shore or even falls several tens of meters without having a single scratch. As much as some titles completely play the card of a revisited historical context (we are also waiting for The Order 1866 in this register), as much here, Crytek seems to act out of comfort and we frown more than once in front of events a little unlikely. Nevertheless, the narration works quite well and the quality of the cut-scenes keeps us hooked on the story all the same.
Handsome as a Roman
But come on, let's not be too bad language, like a good big film by Michael Bay, the scenario of Ryse: Son of Rome is not really its first quality. Next gen' obliges, Crytek has put the package on the realization of the game which is generally magnificent, but which can prove to be quite uneven depending on the elements concerned and the levels of the game. Everything remains detailed and fluid. The play of light is often to die for, and we admire for long seconds the sun reflecting on the armor of Titus Marius. Most of the faces have benefited from special care; you can see the pores of the skin, the sweat, the slightest movement of the pupils and it's quite striking. The models of Commander Vitallion and Basilius are successful examples, unlike Marius who, until the end of the game, retains his somewhat too empty appearance and his waxy complexion. The textures are also affected by this uneven side: if the vast majority of them are fine and detailed, oddly, some are fairly banal. The explosions throw some, but as soon as one approaches a little too flames, those have a side JPG not frankly appetizing. In short, it's very pretty and the Xbox One exposes its potential, but we are far from the artistic inspiration which is that of The Last of Us or Batman: Arkham Asylum on the previous generation. We would even have been entitled to expect more given the very linear and narrow nature of the levels. If this certainly corresponds to the mechanics of the game (which we will dwell on next), Crytek should certainly have lingered a little more on the level of detail offered in the decor, which is not really folichon…
NASTY LIKE A BARBARIAN
But there is a more important point on which Ryse really leaves the player hungry, and that is obviously the gameplay, which corresponds to that of a beat 'em all from the early 2000s. And again, that would be saying evil of some of the best representatives of the genre. Really much too repetitive, this is what characterizes the gameplay of Ryse. No combo to achieve, almost no form of customization of the character or his weapons: the only form of sequence available is to alternate between an attack with the sword and the shield, period. So we hammer like a nag, parrying from time to time, dodging more rarely, it's not much use except in specific cases, and the roll of our legionnaire sends him much too far to counter-attack . Once the enemy is well messed up, an icon above his head tells you that it is possible to execute him by pressing RT. Then begins a bullet-time during which you must pass a QTE to finish the opponent. The latter takes, for a few seconds, the color of the button on which you must press to hit it with your shield, cut its throat or even cut off its arm. It's quite enjoyable and visually well done. Only here, whether you press or not does not really affect the killing of the poor devil that you are going to bone, only on the experience points that you accumulate. In addition, there are only two buttons you will need, X and Y, which greatly reduces the QTE challenge and also the interest of this phase. Moreover, once the past twenty executions, we get tired of the system quite quickly and the slow motion that inevitably starts. Especially since the fights themselves are really not great: as in Assassin's Creed, your opponents do not really coordinate their attacks and watch you kindly execute their buddies with a very long chain. The types of enemies can be counted on the fingers of one hand, we face the same clones throughout the game, and those who have attacks slightly different from the others and which would force the player to think are grilled by indications on the screen…
The fights themselves really aren't great: like in Assassin's Creed, your opponents don't really coordinate their attacks and kindly watch you execute their buddies with a long chain
Ryse does try a few things to get out of this shackles. Thanks to the directional pad, the player can choose what he gains by executing an enemy soldier: health, experience, Rage (which is a kind of super slow-motion mode whose Gauge empties when you trigger it ), or a damage bonus. In the latter case, you'll need fewer hits to trigger the kill (yes, you'll have to go through that relatively often). The system is a good idea, but it's poorly balanced, which makes it almost impossible to die if you choose health regeneration. The character development mechanism (if you can call it that) is old as the world and quite limited: beyond extending the life or Rage gauge, it is impossible to buy sequences, only executions. They are certainly different depending on the number of enemies to complete (single or double) and the mode engaged (Rage, XP, Health or Damage). But it is almost impossible to choose which one to perform since it triggers partly randomly and partly according to the conditions of the execution. The body of the enemy is also sometimes the object of a slight teleportation at the time of the kill, to stick to the start of the animation... If we add the coloring of the enemy during the QTEs, that hurts a little when submerged. Some game phases are also made to vary the experience. This is the case of turtle formations to protect yourself from the volleys of arrows of barbarian archers, which are far too easy to manage, or even the planning of certain assaults, the choices of which are reduced to: 1) facing more warriors melee but don't be bothered by missile weapons 2) have a bit of each to deal with. And once we understand that there is no cover system (!) and that the friend Titus takes twelve years to send a poor javelin in the face of an archer, we often choose the first solution.
