The fluid animations, floating globs of blood, and over-the-top sound effects make every strike brutal. Ryse is Crytek's latest and best looking game, as if all the energy that would go into building huge open areas in Crysis were condensed into Ryse's smaller world and fewer assets. The barbarian's jaw goes lax, his eyes wide in shock and maybe a hint of curiosity at the sword that just emerged from his chest. Marius frowns, winces, and grunts generically at the right times. I noticed that it's not just the body animations that were realistic, but the facial expressions too.

Watching the same executions over and over again really gave me the opportunity to appreciate them. I also tested Ryse with keyboard and mouse controls, and it worked just fine, but it was clearly designed for the color-coded Xbox controller If I missed a button press I'd still kill the enemy, only without the desired bonus, but it isn't a big deal because Ryse was never hard enough to make me feel like I need it. I could, at any time, press one of the directions on the D-pad to choose whether a successful execution restored health, increased damage, increased XP that I could spend to boost my stats, or focus, which I could use to slow time and kill enemies more easily.

It's all about timing and matching the right attack to the right enemy, who's always conveniently glowing in the color of the corresponding button. With a combination of slashes, bashes, and dodges, I weaken them until execution markers appear above their heads, at which point I kill them one at a time or in pairs, relieving them of a limb or two in the process. A group of them cornered me in a courtyard, but they're no match for my ability with a Gladius and Scutum, the Roman short sword and rectangular shield.

Ryse son of rome pc