Although they certainly made it seem otherwise, Ryse: Son Of Rome is not a QTE-obsessed mess.
If you were to base your opinions on what Microsoft showed at its E3 press conference, no one in their right mind would hold such a thought against you, but actually playing it is a very different story indeed.
Rather than act as your standard quick-time events, the buttons that flashes up above Marius Titas' head are in fact trigger points to execute a combo that you have already created.
Rather than offer pre-determined move sets, Crytek has opted to give you the choice of how and what strikes you string together. Successfully execute whatever form this may take and the last attack is highlighted on screen. Pulling it off will see you rewarded a high hit point score and, for example, a health boost.
Should you decide to ignore it, though, there are no punishments in place. The game doesn't stop or kick you back to an earlier checkpoint where you have to start again. You merely finish the melee manoeuvre in a different fashion for fewer personal gains.
It's a system that will increase over the course of Ryse, and one that will, as ever, earn you more trinkets the longer you play and the better you do. This really does feel like an aside, though. It's the combat where Son of Rome may prove to shine.
Seemingly taking a nod from the Arkham titles, Ryse's combat has a very set rhythm to it. You can button mash your way to success, but taking the time to actually find the right pacing turns Ryse into an almost different game entirely. Based around three major points - striking, executing and blocking - there's a real flow to how it all comes together, not least because, ala Batman, Crytek never traps you into the animation.
If you've opted to focus on one enemy only to find another one approaching from behind, it's perfectly possible to switch up your footing and stance to block the incoming shot with your shield. There's a great satisfaction to pulling it off too, and while that doesn't necessarily mean it'll survive on high throughout Ryse's entirety, actually playing it does mean there's some serious potential here.
As ever (Cyrtek are incapable of anything else it would seem) Son of Rome also looks ridiculous, etching emotion onto every character's face so that when they get killed, it'll certainly leave an impression. The opening of the demo may've reminded me far too much of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (it's almost identical to the beach breach opening) but it's a very intense and chaotic section to play, surely a concept Microsoft had planned from the start.
It's only fair to say that Ryse is a very linear, action driven experience but its choice of themes and imaginative mechanics (at one point you have to organise your troops and their shields in order to protect yourself from an artillery attack) work so well, Microsoft may have something very worthwhile here indeed.
