For a very long time, the common refrain about Microsoft’s exclusive offerings for the Xbox used to be that they were all centered around a few central brands- Halo, Forza, Gears of War, and Fable. But credit to Microsoft, they’ve made an honest, concerted effort to diversify their offering of games this generation, with multiple new IPs- they’ve already delivered games like Ryse, Sunset Overdrive, and Quantum Break, and they’ve got ReCore, Sea of Thieves, and Scalebound all coming within the next one year.

Speaking to WindowsCentral, Xbox marketing head Aaron Greenberg discussed Microsoft’s reason for pushing out new IP. “You’re right, though, creating new is harder, but there’s also something really fun about that. We did that with Quantum Break, with ReCore, with Platinum Games on Scalebound, we’re creating all new franchises. All of today’s big game franchises started at that point. It’s fun, and it’s fun to be able to get to do both, and that’s what our fans want. It’s good to have a diverse library,”

It’s good to see Microsoft try new IP- it also makes business sense for them, because their older franchises like Gears of War and Halo are going to wear thin eventually if Microsoft can’t space them out with other games. Let’s hope that they stick with the effort to push out more brands, too- a Microsoft with a healthy and diverse first party will be good for their business, and it will be good for us as gamers, too.

It’s refreshing to see a next-generation title that focuses on visceral and violent combat that Roman soldiers were known for back in the day. If you’re a fan of Spartans, the movie 300 or just enjoy watching brutal combat, then Ryse: Son of Rome will be right up your alley on the day that Xbox One arrives.

I have managed to get hands-on on Ryse: Son of Rome at this year’s E3 last week and my playtime with the game has left me with satisfied impressions and more thirst for spilling barbarian blood.

The Gameplay Design and Combat and Feel

Ryse: Son of Rome main goal is to make the player feel they’re playing as a powerful roman commander who’s at war against the barbarians. Whether the game is based on true battles or not I am not sure, but I am sure that Crytek has done a fabulous job at demonstrating how Roman soldiers were fighting back in the day and how violent and merciless the combat was. The game aims to be a cinematic Roman/Spartan experience that puts the player in the middle of the battlefield. Thanks to the beautiful visuals and an interesting combat system Crytek has delivered thus far a good Roman/Spartan experience.

When I attended Microsoft’s press conference this year at E3 and saw Ryse: Son of Rome for the first time, the game impressed me with its visual quality and interesting combat mechanics. Meanwhile, I was not happy with the repeated ‘Quick Time Events’ and ended up predicting that the combat eventually would become repetitious and boring. However, my opinion of the ‘Quick Time Events’ changed after finally managing to get my hands-on Ryse: Son of Rome.

Ryse’s combat system is well-designed from what I have played and is a ton of fun once you truly master it. However, I found out that you don’t actually have to hit the proper buttons for the ‘Quick Time Events’ and you can still get past enemies and not get a penalty for it. This ended up disappointing me at first, but I found out later that the harder difficulty setting allows actually removes the button icons from the enemies when it’s time for a ‘Quick Time Event’. Instead, the player must rely on combat animations to know which buttons to press at what time.

In Ryse: Son of Rome each button is mapped to a different combat move-set. One of the buttons controls the sword, another button lets you do a shield bash, and the third button lets you block with a shield that can also act as a counter with a kick. Combat in Ryse feels polished and easy to pull but most importantly it’s a lot of fun.

The game becomes more challenging when you’re faced with two or more enemies at once, this is where the player must have good muscle memory and quick reaction time to know which button to press when going against multiple barbarians. It’s 100% possible for a skilled player to never get hit once and perform beautiful chain of attacks across multiple enemies and end up pulling off violent executions with the ‘Quick Time Events’. If you have ever seen the movie 300, then Ryse would be a precise example of how the combat is if you’ve ever watched any of the fighting scenes from that movie.

As I spent more time with Ryse I ended up appreciating the game a lot more and the constant ‘Quick Time Events’ became a thing of the past, especially after finding out that they disappear when your’e on a higher difficulty setting and force to use your combat skills to know when to press what button.

Conclusion

Overall, Ryse: Son of Rome seemed like a solid action launch title that I am looking forward to reviewing when the Xbox One launches later this year sometime in November. As of now, I was left happy, and I believe that if you’re looking for an enjoyable next-generation action title then Ryse: Son of Rome would be a great choice as of now, but that opinion may or may not change after the game releases.

QTEs are becoming a plague of the industry, having descended from the tension building one off mechanisms that they were in games like Resident Evil 4 to a crutch used by game designers to mask poor gameplay design. As a result, when the long delayed Ryse finally debuted at Microsoft’s presser this E3, a lot of people found themselves balking at what looked like an otherwise rather impressive game, simply because of what seemed to be its complete reliance on QTEs.

As it turns out, Ryse is perhaps guilty of abusing QTEs in the worst possible way- the one good thing that can be said about a QTE is that it raises player tension and forces more immediate player involvement, simply by demanding that the player press the correct button in an incredibly short timeframe, or risk instant failure. As it turns out, that is not the case with Ryse. As reports from the E3 showfloor, including this one by All Games Beta, inform us, Ryse QTEs complete themselves even if the player presses the prompted button too late, presses the wrong button, or simply fails to press any button at all- the ‘cinematic kill’ will still go ahead.

This, as it turns out, is a deliberate design choice by developers Crytek, who claim this decision was made because they did not want to ‘frustrate the player.’

Well then. Why even make a game? Just make an animated movie, put it exclusively on the Xbox Live Arcade, and call it a day. There has been a jest in recent times, that modern games play themselves, but this is literally taking that adage to the absolute extreme.

Ryse will launch exclusively on the Xbox One.

“We just ran through our [release slate] and counted the number of exclusives, and looked at the amount of money that we’re spending and the deals that we have, exclusive windows and [things to create differentiation]. I think, candidly, people are way, way under-indexing how hard we’re punching.

“There are great hits, there’s innovation, and there are world class creators plugged in. You know, I keep track of it all, and I hope everyone here does – we kind of look back at all the different years and at what we shipped, how many units have sold. There’s a lot of hyperbole about things, but I think we’re going to deliver.”

At the Xbox Reveal, Microsoft revealed that 15 exclusive titles will be coming to the console in the first year, with 8 of those being new IPs. Titles we’re already aware of include Remedy’s Quantum Break, Turn 10 Studios’ Forza Motorsport 5 and Crytek’s Ryse.

Ryse was initially revealed at E3 2011 as Codename Kingdoms. The game is a first person hack and slash title where players take on the role of a Roman warrior. The teaser site seems to indicate a bit more being possible however.

It was assumed that Ryse would be releasing on the Xbox 360, using Kinect. Given the substantial upgrade Kinect has received with the Xbox One, we feel a little more comfortable in seeing how the gameplay will turn out. Given how you can’t use the console without Kinect, we might as well get a decent experience out of it.

Stay tuned for more details as Microsoft reveals its line-up for E3 in the coming weeks.

Ryse was originally unveiled at E3 2010 for Xbox 360 as ‘Codename: Kingdoms’. Then, a year later at E3 2011 the project was unveiled as a Kinect project under the name ‘Ryse”. Ryse was advertised as a game that was set in ancient Rome, the title strongly suggested strong violence and gore and was to be controlled by using Kinect tracking systems.

But then Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli said last year that it’s one of his “personal darlings so it’s going to be rock-solid and strong”.

Meanwhile, The Verge has been getting information from their sources, “Ryse is designed to be Microsoft’s new Gears of War / Halo mega launch title.”

Ryse will take full advantage of the Kinect’s body tracking system in the next-generation Kinect 2.0.

A zombie title title along with a family-friendly game that is set on an island with Pixar movie-like style graphics will also be a part of Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox 720 launch line up.

Also, The Verge was told that a brand new Forza game will feature “super life-like” graphics, and that the family pixar-like title will use Kinect to scan bodies and generate virtual characters in-game.

It has also been reported that third-party software will support the FPS genre strongly and that Microsoft will be getting away from Xbox Live’s Microsoft Points system to real money transactions instead.

We have previously reported that Microsoft might be unveiled the Next-Generation Xbox on May 21st 2013

Keep your eyes peeled on GamingBolt for more news regarding the Next-Generation Xbox. Stay tuned and post any comments you have done below.

After a pretty impressive debut during last year’s E3, Crytek and Microsoft both pretty much went tightlipped about anything related to the Kinect-only Ryse, the only good game that seems to be coming out for the motion sensing periphery.

However, Microsoft’s Phil Spencer wants to assure everyone that the game is still in development, Crytek is still developing it, and that it will come out soon. They haven’t shown anything more of the game simply because it’s not ready enough to show yet.

“We’re still working with Crytek, we’re still extremely committed to the relationship, but we want to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward every time we show the game,” he said while speaking to Joystiq. “You’ll see more about that game, no doubt.”

When he was asked if the game will still be focussed on Kinect, Spencer said: “Kinect will be part of the game, absolutely.”

Stay tuned, we will keep you updated.

One eagle eyed member from GAF has found the Linkedlin profile of a Crytek employee who revealed that, RYSE has been moved to the next-gen Xbox. Yes, you heard that right. We have the screenshots as well, in case the information is removed form the profile.

This is what it says:

RYSE (X-Box Next Gen) Pushing boundaries of next generation gaming, RYSE is an original AAA IP from Crytek slated to deliver an Epic first-person melee experience in the Roman Empire.

• Designed, created, implemented and scripted numerous game levels using all facets of Sandbox Editor and CryEngine.
• Lead and mentored Jr. Level Designers and Level Designers as well as collaborated with colleagues across multiple disciplines to ensure winning efforts.
• Championed original Game Design for Tablet title exclusive to Crytek and expanding the franchise to include new genre of video game.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

via GAF

“The first time we met with [Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli] and the team was around seven or eight years ago, and we started talking about what it’d mean for them to become first party and it was a process of what do you guys want to do, what’s unique for us, and they were just going to do Crysis, and they’d just come out of Far Cry, and we said we’ve probably got enough military future shooters, so go do that.

“Then they came up with this idea around Ryse, and now they’ve really fallen in love with Kinect, and it’s a perfect marriage for us.”

Ryse will be a first person, Roman themed, brawler and will be the first action title to utilise the Kinect as a full body controller.

Last year’s Codename Kingdoms was an enigmatic tease at Microsoft’s E3 presser. Well, we finally got to know what it’s about- it’s an actyion title set in Rome, that is controlled via the Kinect.

The game of course looks incredible as far as graphical prowess goes, which is to be expected from a Crytek game, but we don’t have much more to go on with, except that it will be entirely in first person. We’ll have more for you as it happens.