4 easy ways to improve Ryse: Son of Rome

Ryse: Son of Rome was a fun game, but it wasn't without its faults. Crytek built something that was beautiful to look at but sometimes a bit too repetitive to play. Here are four easy ways Ryse could be improved. Perhaps they could even be implemented in a sequel...

Make it harder

Ryse was really fun while it lasted, but there was hardly any challenge. Once you trigger an execution you can put the controller down and watch Marius cut down a barbarian piece by piece. There should be an option to turn off the hand-holding executions so that you can fail them halfway through.

Different enemy character models

Ryse might be one of the best looking games ever seen on a console, but there are only five or six different enemy character models. You'll be fighting a big guy with a black beard and a shield, a bald guy with an axe and a guy with hair and an axe more times than you can count. There needs to be a lot more variety to make things more authentic.

More teamwork

Some of the best parts of Ryse were when Marius commanded his fellow Roman soldiers when going up against the Barbarians. Forming a turtle formation, they could approach enemy archers, or you could shout commands to the Kinect like, "Fire!" and have them shoot arrows. Ryse could have done with adding a lot more of these scenarios to make you feel like you're part of a bigger fight.

Add more to the boss battles

The bosses in Ryse were predictable and the battles were boring. You just had to avoid getting hit by rolling out of the way of blocking enough times, then strike when your enemy was tired or made a wrong move. It's a real shame because with a bit more variety and mixing things up a bit, boss battles can add so much more to the ending of a level.