Game Informer editor Dan Ryckert has shared his thoughts after spending a couple hours playing Xbox1 Launch Title Ryse: Son of Rome

- I spent two hours with the Xbox One title, but it felt like I was entering random numbers into a computer rather than actually playing a video game.

- After a painfully generic story intro, the game began teaching me similarly uninspired combat mechanics. While it tries to sound like an in-depth action game with familiar elements like perfectly-timed blocks and focus meters, the actual experience is anything but deep.

- With my left hand completely off the controller, I was able to slice and dice through tons of enemies simply by inputting the same sequence ad nauseum. On a couple of occasions, the game would shift to sequences that involved me defending an area with crossbow stations or ordering my men to block arrows with their shields. These were somehow even less exciting than the tedious swordplay.


Joystiq

- Ryse: Son of Rome feels like all sizzle and no steak. It's a procession of CPU-controlled warriors lining up to fall on protagonist Marius' sword in a stylish slow-mo ballet of blood and dismemberment. Killing enemies feels less and less triumphant with each strike, which is kind of a problem when the main focus of the game is seeing just how high you can stack the corpses.