At that place'due south a sure indicate where each execution in Ryse: Son of Rome stops feeling similar a fell byproduct of war and starts feeling like just another Tuesday in the legion.

Violence is treated with such a coincidental tone, I plant during my 2 hours sampling a virtually-final version of the game at Microsoft's Xbox One showcase in San Francisco last week, that information technology seeps into every corner of Ryse, dulling the impact of all conflict and narrative. Why should I mourn the death of a story character after I simply killed 412 barbarians in the final 20 minutes?

Ryse: Son of Rome feels like all sizzle and no steak. It's a procession of CPU-controlled warriors lining up to fall on protagonist Marius' sword in a stylish irksome-mo ballet of blood and dismemberment. Killing enemies feels less and less triumphant with each strike, which is kind of a problem when the main focus of the game is seeing just how high you can stack the corpses.

Ryse: Son of Rome revolves around Marius Titus, a gifted soldier in Nero's ranks during the early first century. Marius fights equally his begetter did before him - and that'due south about all I can actually share well-nigh the narrative. Microsoft isn't keen on whatever of the story details from my two-60 minutes gameplay session getting out there, but residue bodacious you aren't missing much.

Marius, while existence a dutiful soldier of Rome, has a unique eye for combat. During battle, Marius can ho-hum time down to a crawl and, while in this state, unleash a flurry of blows on whatsoever singular opponent or chop-chop strike out at multiple enemies. It'due south a handy skill no matter the state of affairs, but particularly invaluable when existence surrounded by savages.

Simply it just takes a few minutes to realize Marius must have taken a few classes at The Batman School of Beatdowns. Ryse's fighting has a lot in common with the gratuitous flow gainsay of the Batman games: Marius tin can deflect attacks from whatever incoming direction, much as Batman can counter and contrivance incoming blows from any direction, and both games use simple striking mechanics and wearisome-move finishing moves - though Marius' are a bit more final. Chaining together takedowns and kills is encouraged and even the camera perspective during combat is similar between both games.

Unlike Batman, however, Ryse doesn't give Marius that many moves or gadgets to apply. He has his sword for light and heavy attacks, his shield for blocking and deflecting incoming blows, his pilums (Roman javelins) that he can toss at will and that's information technology. Eventually Marius tin unlock double executions to take out multiple enemies at in one case, but the entirety of what I sampled offered no hope for whatever kind of diverseness later in the game. It's sword, shield and centurion against the world.

I will admit executions are flashy and you certainly take to do a lot of them before you outset seeing repeats, simply it's ultimately a hollow thrill. Once an enemy has been damaged enough, Marius can trigger a quick-time execution. Printing the corresponding attack when the enemy flashes that color: blueish is for a light attack, yellowish is for a heavy attack. Oddly enough, if y'all printing the wrong push when prompted, you'll only exist penalized some points and Marius volition still requite the death stroke, which I plant detracted a bit from the weight of well-timed and authentic push button presses. If I'm existence rewarded for performing the incorrect action, what's driving me to be improve and main the game'southward systems?

Executions, while quite violent and stylized at the outset, do wear thin pretty apace. It'due south the crux of Ryse's problem: It comes on stiff and quickly fizzles out. Afterward an hour of fighting savages, I wasn't as well eager to subject myself to more than of the same.

Ryse's combat manages to differentiate itself in 1 very interesting way, thankfully. While performing executions, Marius tin cull an execution reward mid-fight. These include instant health or focus energy for slowing downward time, an immediate boost to feel points earned or a timed increase in damage output. It'southward a smartly-implemented organisation (you switch rewards on the fly using the d-pad) that adds a layer of strategy to the procession of murder, only these rewards form the entirety of Ryse's intricacy. It's just not plenty to keep the combat from feeling similar a job afterwards an hour.

Later on jumping through a few levels in the campaign, I grew tired of the gameplay loop of moving from area to area in order to kill the next group of barbarians. Ryse never hit a good step and, in my brief corporeality of fourth dimension with it, was all too content to trounce me into submission through gainsay sequences repeated ad nauseam. The game offered little hope its campaign is intent on presenting anything to the reverse.

Ryse: Son of Rome launches on November 22 for Xbox One. A $twenty Season Laissez passer, which guarantees access to four DLC packs, will be bachelor alongside the game at launch.