Ryse: Son of Rome
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Crytek
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Genre: Action Adventure
Release Date: Xbox One: November 22nd 2013, PC: October 10th 2014
Ryse: Son of Rome is an action-adventure video game that heavily implements QTE’s. The game was developed by Germany based Crytek studio and it was published by Microsoft Studios.
The game was initially released exclusively for the Xbox One in November of 2013. Despite the initial exclusivity and the fact that Ryse: Son of Rome was a launch title for Microsoft’s Xbox One, the game was later re-released with extra goodies on PC.
Development
The game was first show at E3 2011 and was confirmed to be a Xbox 360 Kinect exclusive. The has some minor gameplay footage which included a pre-rendered trailer. In the summer of 2012, Phil Spencer, corporate VP of Microsoft Studios, said that the game was still in development.
After the announcement of the Xbox One in May 2013, Ryse; Son of Rome was confirmed to be an exclusive for the new console. At the Microsoft Conference at E3, Crytek showcased an in-depth gameplay video, which showed the Roman Empire in war with its enemies. The demo also served as technical showcase for the Xbox One, showcasing high quality visuals, audio effects and textures.
Story
Ryse: Son of Rome puts the player in the shoes of a valiant Roman soldier named Marius Titus, a man with a craving for revenge. Barbarian hordes brutally murdered his family and he seeks vengeance upon the savages and through the game rises through the ranks of the Roman army wreak havoc on those people who massacred his family. So, basically it is a story of rise of Marius and his thirst for revenge against the Barbarians.
Gameplay
The gameplay puts the player in the shoes of Roman general named Marius Titus. The gameplay will involve the player to work with Roman infantry by giving kinect commands to them. The gameplay will also involve quick time controlled finishing moves during combat. Crytek have confirmed that even though if the player misses the quick time events, Marius will still complete the event on his own resulting into a lower score for the player.
Since Kinect is a massive part of Microsoft’s next generation console, the Xbox One, Ryse: Son of Rome will be taking full advantage of the Kinect’s body tracking system in the next-generation Kinect 2.0. The player will have the ability to use basic attacks such as sword slash, smashes and kicks.
Like in other Quick Time Event based games, if an enemy is weakened by Marius’s attacks, the player will be given an opportunity to immediately kill the enemy. This will give bonus to the player such as an increase in health.
The game also awards the players with scores. Crytek have this feature where the game takes into consideration the kind of actions the player performs in the game especially when Marius is in combar. Crytek have also promised a co-op multiplayer where multiple players can go online and battle their out in a Roman era arena.
As mentioned above, Kinect is an essential part of the game and Marius issue and shout orders during freeform fights, which can be implemented with the Xbox One ‘s controller or by using the Xbox One’s Kinect. This will result into soldiers charging their enemies, attack them with arrows along with a host of other offensive action.
Furthermore, the demo showed at E3 was a very tiny piece of the bigger thing as Crytek producer Michael Read states:
“There are a couple of guys you strike them two times – especially the first guy you strike in there he immediately goes into an execution state. This is the same demo that we used in actual E3 piece that we’ve shown online as well.
“What you’re going to see in the final game, you’re going to see various levels of difficulty from easy mode I think up to nightmare. I don’t know if they have decided on that. But, what’s going to change in there is the amount of the damage that enemies is going to do to you and how accurate that you are going to do on blocking. And then of course what ties into that is execution state when you put them into that.” [ reference ]
Additionally, Microsoft Game Studios VP Phil Spencer has stated that Ryse: Son of Rome is best thing he has seen running visually on the Xbox One. Praising the game’s graphics he said: “I played a build of Ryse last week, some new levels on kit, and it’s the best thing I’ve seen on Xbox One. Just incredible. Not only the combat…a lot of people are asking about combat, and combat is coming along…It’s strong. Crytek always did a great job with graphics, and you can see these scenes that truly…I mean I just sat there and stared for a little while. It’s amazing work.” [ reference ]
Characters
As Ryse: Son of Rome is a story driven game, it will feature a number of characters. They are:
Nero: Nero is the Emperor of Rome. He finds himself struggling to maintain his grip the people, as the Barbarian’s pressure rise. Nero is shown to be a ruthless ruler and kills anyone who crosses him.
Glott: He is the fearless leader of Barbarians. People of Rome term him more of a beast than a man. A stern opponent of Romans and Oswald’s tribe, he is eager to wage a war on them.
Vitallion: Serving Marius’s mentor, Vitallion is a loyal and intelligent and general who has served Rome for years. He brings a lot of experience along with him due to the fact that he has fought in many wars before.
Boudica: Boudica is the strong hearted daughter of King Oswald, who is the ruler of the Britons. Strong and resilient, Boudica is one of the leaders that have a kind heart towards the people of Rome and she understands the trauma and suffering that her native citizens are suffering.
Oswald– As mentioned above, he is the ruler of Briton and staunch opponent of the cruelty and oppression of the Roman people.
This wiki was last updated on 5th, January 2015.
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