Ryse: Son Of Rome Video Game Review

Final Verdict - Worth Checking Out

This! Is! Sparta!....wait wrong reference. Welcome to another Friday game review with your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo_Cometh. I been excited about this game from day one it was showcased back at E3 2013 but was immediately bummed out to hear it was a Xbox One exclusive. Fast forward to October 10th 2014 and the PC master race is blessed with a version of Ryse: Son of Rome to the elation of PC gamers everywhere. This was no mere carbon copy port however as it effectively made the most of the PC's well know graphical prowess. Anyways enough of my elitism, it has a tendency to show up now and again; were off to Rome...

Ryse: Son of Rome is a third-person action-adventure video game developed by Crytek and published by Microsoft Studios. Ryse follows the life of the Roman centurion Marius Titus as he becomes one of the leaders in the Roman Legion. Released as a launch title for the Xbox One, Ryse received mixed critical reaction from reviewers, being praised for its high production values but criticized for its repetitive and simple gameplay. The player controls Marius Titus, a Roman general.  In combat, Marius can block attacks to break enemy combos to counterattack. There is also a co-operative multiplayer mode, where players team up to accomplish various challenges in a gladiator arena setting. The story follows Marius' life from early childhood to becoming a leader in the Roman Legion. The story is described as "an epic tale of revenge spanning an entire lifetime".

What’s Good:

Graphics: Without a doubt the area this game shines the most in. The PC copy is simply stunning when turned to max graphics. The textures, the shadowing and lighting , it all blends so perfectly together to deliver a top notch cinematic experience. You get to see a wide variety of environments as you progress through the game all with their own unique look and feel.

Story-line: A well portrayed story of revenge, personal growth and honor. It will have you eager to discover the progression and eventual end of it all. Tying in the presentation and delivery of the subject matter is also a testament to the well written story-line of the game.

Soundtrack: Well representative of the era the game depicts. The voice acting is top notch and all auditory cues are executed well.

What’s Bad:

Game Mechanics: They get repetitive. Fast. Thankfully there is a great story-line and a fair portion of epic cinematic scenes to help distract you from noticing too soon. Added to that they include a system of buying and unlocking new moves for kill moves that improve as you progress through the game.

What Should Have Been Added:

Honestly I would have liked to see more of a fleshed out story cause such a rewarding single player experience felt too short as I managed to beat the game in roughly 6 hours. Maybe if they let us play Marius from his Teenage years upwards as he learns to become the epic soldier he is. That would have helped add some more content into the game so it doesn't feel as short.

Final Thoughts:

Not the greatest of games but still a good game. Combat gets repetitive but i enjoyed chopping off many an arm and leg. Wasnt much a fan of the multi-player aspect as it too like the combat system suffers from repetitiveness but more so due to the lack of a story and cut-scenes to distract you from it. In any case I have been mostly just streaming my gameplay having fun with the whole cinematic experience, so feel free to check out my stream archives below.

Watch live video from The_Ghost_Who_Walks on Twitch

Watch live video from The_Ghost_Who_Walks on Twitch more.

Death Before Dishonor

Gameplay - 10/10

Storyline - 8/10

Graphics - 10/10

Game Score : 28/30

So we had this for a little while now on the lineup to play but Episode 4 of The Walking Dead came out in the same week so we chose to play that instead. Yaay us! Fast forward to this week we dive headfirst into this exciting new IP (Intellectual Property) called Dishonored. It has been heralded as a win for the ideal of new and original ideas still having a place in our world along with the idea that you don't need a multi-player aspect to a game to make it a success. With that said lets showcase the awesomeness that is Dishonored...

Dishonored is a 2012 first-person stealth action adventure video game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. It was released worldwide in October 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The game is played from a first-person perspective and allows the player to tackle a series of assassination missions in a variety of ways, with an emphasis on player choice. Missions can be tackled by stealth, combat or a combination of both. Exploring levels opens new paths and alternatives for accomplishing mission goals, and it is possible to complete all missions and eliminate all of Attano's targets in a non-lethal manner. The story and missions are modified based on violent actions, or lack thereof, committed by the player.

Dishonored is played with an emphasis placed on stealth action and the use of gadgets and the environment to eliminate opposing forces. The game world is a series of self-contained, mission-focused sandboxes designed to allow for multiple avenues of exploration in terms of in-game movement and powers. Dishonored also features role-playing game elements such as the ability to upgrade powers and moral choices with focus on non-linear consequences. The game is designed to allow the player to complete it without killing any NPC, including boss characters and mission targets. Actions committed by the player are not judged to be of a good or evil morality, but instead are tracked by a "chaos" system that records how much collateral damage, violent actions and deaths are caused by the player. The game world is modified by how little or much damage is caused, affecting story decisions with an emphasis on not punishing the player or forcing them to choose one style of play over another.

Whats Good:

Creativity is off the chain in this game. There is so much freedom to shape and mold your game-play experience as you see fit that it boggles the mind. You can play the game as a perfectionist completing and collecting all quests and item upgrades or you can play as a ruthless assassin hell bent on killing everything in his path. Then couple that with the fact that the game changes accordingly with the choices you make in regards to being stealthy or not and you have yourself a game with immense replay value.

Whats Bad:

Honestly not much was really missing from this game my only issues were with finding certain mission objectives via the onscreen location markers and fall damage. Aside from that the story was a bit cliche but it fits with the overall theme of the game so I can't really hate on it. Also didn't care much for the game sort of forcing you to collect the Runes and Bone ruins to level up your abilities since that kind of forces you along on the path of exploration if you want to maximize your powers.

What Should Have Been Added:

Honestly I can't think of anything that would have made this that much of a greater game.

more.

Heroes Aren't Born; They Are Made...

Gameplay - 9/10

Storyline - 10/10

Graphics - 10/10

Game Score : 29/30

Welcome to another Friday video game review. Let me start of by saying apologies for not having a video play-through with commentary to entertain you this week. Sadly I have not the equipment to record console game-play so I have graciously found an equally just as entertaining play-through for you to enjoy if needs be. On a side note my editor is on a bit of a vacation so just pardon any grammar related errors I will undoubtedly make. Today we will be looking at inFamous 2; a PlayStation 3 exclusive game. If you own a PS3 then you should definitely try this game out if you are looking for a solid single player gaming experience. I played part 1 (inFamous) and was instantly sold on playing the sequel when the chance arose. Funny story I actually bought this game on sale on the PSN store literally 2 days before they announced at E3 that they were giving it away for free to PlayStation plus members. Talk about your bad timing but its cool, i'm supporting the industry I love how I can, and I got tonnes of sweet DLC (Downloadable Content) for a great price as a bonus. Anywhore lets get to the matter at hand.

Infamous 2, stylized as inFAMOUS 2, is a 2011 action-adventure open world video game for the PlayStation 3 video game console developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is a third person view game which helps give an easier control perspective as well  as enabling you to see more of your environment to make use of it. As with all sequels there is some back story involved so lets get that out the way for those who want to understand what exactly is taking place. 

Cole MacGrath

Infamous 2 takes place in a modern-day world where people with super human abilities, called Conduits, exist—created by a device called the Ray Sphere. The Ray Sphere unlocks these abilities in rare humans who possess the Conduit gene by siphoning away the energy of regular humans, killing them. The first such event granted electric-based abilities to Cole MacGrath, but devastated his home of Empire City. The event is part of a scheme instigated by Kessler, revealed to be Cole from an alternate future where a creature known only as the Beast has ravaged the world. Kessler fled the Beast with his family and they died as a result, forcing Kessler to use his newest power to go back in time and better prepare the Cole of the present. So now we start our new game in inFamous 2 as a new story unfolds; first thing that instantly makes me like this game is a practice that more sequels should employ. The game recognizes that you played through its predecessor and grants you bonus's to start your new game with essentially rewarding you for the hard work you put into its prequel.

Heres one of the kickass DLC I was talking about.

Improving upon a game for a sequel is never really an easy task as you try to find what made the game great and hold onto that while finding ways to improve on it and also change all the things that were bad. The development team the game almost made a huge error in wanting to revamp the character design of Cole MacGrath but thankfully fans spoke out and they listened and decided to just change his outfit and not his defining features. Another area that got a much needed boost in improvement was the cut-scenes and transitional phases of the game. In the original everything was mostly told through a type of comic strip transition; but in inFamous 2 there was more focus on motion captured cut-scenes to help immerse the player into a world they could relate to more. In addition to the cut scenes, the popular moral element that was introduced in the original also transferred over to the sequel, but with a higher emphasis on overall route of the game. As seen, the moral element will influence Cole's shirt, pants, and power color, with the classic hero blue and villain red returning. It will also influence Cole's skin condition, with heroic choices clearing his complexion and removing the scar on his face almost completely, whereas villainous choices will exaggerate his facial scars and cover his skin with tattoos. The karma choices also appear to influence what extra power Cole will begin to develop.

Yup; Beat The Game Like A Boss...

With all that being said I honestly enjoyed playing both the original and the sequel. I am very happy I chose this as my main Sony franchise exclusive to support. The sheer amount of content for this game is insane; from the side missions to the dynamic good or bad missions you get throughout the game, to the DLC, to the User Generated side missions that are in the game, it just almost seems overwhelming having that much to do. I swear sometimes I had to force myself to focus on the story based missions of the game because I would just get lost in my quest to complete everything. Everyone who is into video games knows that each console has a set of games typically referred to as console sellers. These are the game franchises that pull you into either buying a console or being the main game that you got to play on the console. For XBOX you have Halo and for Nintendo Wii you have Wii Fitness Plus I guess (obviously not much of a Wii fan, feel free to correct me in the comments). As far as PlayStation 3 goes I had 3 main game franchises of interest to choose from Uncharted, inFamous, and Resistance; after playing this game I know I made the right choice. Barring a few minor game-play issues I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game and will now go back to play the original inFamous to play through as an evil character as my first play-through was all good based. So without further ado and me praising the likes of Cole MacGrath enjoy the always entertaining stylistic game-play with commentary of DSP...

more.