izigame.me

Ab ovo, ab initio: Senatus Populusque Romanus

This game reminds me a lot of the film Gladiator, by director Ridley Scott. Although the film and this game, Ryse: Son of Rome, are inspired by Spartacus, where they give a vision of the Roman world from a fictional narrative through a conflict between the senate and the emperor. Where priority is given to the people and their senate as the symbol of what Rome means. In this game, the world set tells the end of Nero (Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus), narrated as a fictional story but without leaving separately his historical side.
Given that the story is short, I’ll relate you something, the prologue, about how it begins. The chronicle begins with the siege of the Bretons. Marius Titus, a Roman centurion general, leads the offensive to protect Emperor Nero. Once in a safe place, Marius tells of his past: he returned to Rome to meet his family before being sent to foreign lands. Suddenly —as many epic stories happen— a raid of thugs infiltrates the city, murdering his parents and sister. As soon as the battle ends, Commander Vitallion arrives, who will offer to quench Marius' thirst for revenge. The protagonist is delegated to the XIV legion to be sent in a fleet to Britannia. The hero's journey begins here (Hic iter herois incipit).

Nixor obviam adversum

The first impression is the world set, where the Roman architecture and its gardens brimming with life is in contrast to the epic battles along with moments of tranquil. From the Colosseum to its buildings, they’re the landmark of Rome. The story begins and ends with Rome. The cyclical journey performs through diverse settings, each one being noticeable in a unique environment or locations. From the city to the woodland, it’s also unsophisticated to notice how illumination plays an essential role in giving a flattering perspective for Rome and a gloomy or hostile one for Britannia. The setting is worthy and persuasive, where it immerses the player in a detailed world in the form of an interactive film.
Evidently, the adventure is brief. As I said before, the story is analogous to Scott's movie, although the game has its own adaptation. The development of the argument is concise. It’s a humble story with a cinematic script. The story is pretty clear, so it's easy to assimilate throughout. I’d have loved it if the story goes into depth and not get directly to the point. Because its plot develops with the hero's journey in an epic and tragic circle. Certainly, the player lives the memory of Marius. Although everything is told through fairly edible dialogue. What I liked was the involvement of the gods of fortune and discord. It was passable re-adaptation of Nero, Basilius and Commodus; the bad, the absence of depth whose storyline is expanded in its comic books.
There’s not much to underline about the soundtrack, it uses cinematic music that emphasizes the epic moments of the battles or scenes. The game thus focuses on the action as the dramatic core. The narrative road is linear, so its actions are fluctuating at all times. That is, there’re not too many interruptions, except for the cutscenes. It offer a panorama of what will happen in the plot so that the player then participates in the narrative-gameplay immersion. The film quality is excellent, especially the shots according to the plot, characters, context and locations (inspired by ancient Rome).

Gladiator per gladium

Although it’s not my type of game, but the journey is quite enjoyable. As a player, I greatly welcomed the landscapes and city, the harmonious combination between nature and architecture. So sometimes it's worth exploring a bit even though the game is quite linear.
Nevertheless, the gameplay focuses on direct combat (sword and shield). There’s very little interaction with the environment, so there’re open spaces to perform combat. The idea is to have the reasonable area to be able to trigger a scenario for a soldier-gladiator, someone versed in combat using sword and shield. So the game develops some attack combinations, which aren’t difficult to do. When the sequences are performed successfully, killings can be executed through quick time events. Such actions allow to earn experience points or bonuses. With the experience points we can improve the character; with the bonuses it will allow to recover health, do more damage or use focus as a boost to strike quickly.
The player can also use javelins or spears, everything will depend on the scenario. Sometimes soldiers can be commanded to take a position. While other times, the player must create a defensive shell (testudo); although it’s part of the plot that changes the rhythm as the story requires it. In this way the game can be enjoyed with the diversity of rhythms —though I liked only admiring the architecture and views. On the other hand, it cannot be customized in story mode, but it can be customized in gladiator mode, which are cooperative fights in the Colosseum. In addition to including its game modalities. Likewise to enhance requires experience point or coins, which are earned in combat, executions and during certain rounds. Consequently the gameplay is quite simple and easy to learn.

Vivamus, moriendum est

The story is quite short but with a plot that is affordable to understand. I repeat, it’s quite gratifying on a narrative level as well as its visual side, in my case it invites me to play it several times. It has its levels of difficulty, however each scene is worth remembering. I’d have liked it to have a photo mode for screenshot lovers. The player can capture epic or beautiful moments that exist within the game. But if you like the gameplay more, there’s the coliseum arena option, where it can be played with a friend in different scenarios with playful plots (ludi scaenici) whose spectators can get bored or enthralled. Unleash combos to open the way as well as agitate the audience. It’s a recommended game. It can be gotten at a good deal during the sales that happen almost all year round.

Recommendation: 8/10