http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/review/2305144/ryse-son-of-rome-on-xbox-one-hands-on-review

Ryse: Son of Rome on Xbox One hands-on review

Here are thoughts on the combat...

"We found Ryse: Son of Rome combat uses a brawling mechanic that we could best describe as a mix between Koei's Dynasty Warriors and Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed series. Ryse: Son of Rome offers you four basic options. You can swing your sword using the X button, bash an enemy with your shield using the Y button, block an incoming strike with the A button or roll away using the B button. At a glance, this makes Ryse: Son of Rome seem dangerously close to a basic button basher.

However, after a few rounds of fighting the barbarian hordes, we found that there is a lot more to Ryse: Son of Rome's combat. For a start there's a big emphasis on making a kill as bloody as possible using the game's execution mechanic. The option to execute an enemy fighter appears after you've inflicted a set amount of damage to the enemy and can be activated using the RT key. When activated your character enters into a pre-scripted animation that requires you to press the X and Y in a specific order and timing. How brutal the kill is depends on how big the combo of attacks leading up to it was and how accurately you follow the animation's commands. Brutality ranged from the basic slitting of our enemy's throat to full on dismemberment.

Playing the game we found that the more brutal animations looked really cool, if a little like segments from the movie 300 or TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Past their visual allure Ryse: Son of Rome entices you to work to get better executions using experience. Ryse: Son of Rome has an RPG character development mechanic that lets you upgrade your character's abilities using experience and gold. Experience is earned by killing enemies or completing mission objectives. More brutal kills earn more experience, meaning that if you avoid button bashing and play skillfully you can level up more quickly. The upgrades we saw were fairly far ranging, including everything from unlocking new combo attacks to increasing weapon damage."

"Ryse: Son of Rome also features a squad command feature that adds a more strategic element to the basic fighting mode. During our time with Ryse: Son of Rome we saw only the most rudimentary elements of this when tasked to defend a gate against an incoming horde of enemies. The section saw Marius take command of the troops, letting us set up where we wanted them positioned and then order them to do specific tasks. For example, we could command our archers to fire at an incoming group of enemies by holding down the LB key. We didn't get a chance to try more developed sections of the strategic command element but have been told that they get significantly more complex as the game progresses."

The game might have more gore than previews have shown according to this, "in one section we got to see Marius slice off a barbarians, arms, legs and then head in slow motion. It was awesome, limbs literally flew." I believe previews only show arms getting chopped off. I haven't seen legs or a head get chopped off.

Reading this has increased my interest a bit. Looking forward to the reviews even though I'm anticipating modest scores.

Having watched the livestream, combat wise you seem to just unlock a lot of executions which are the QTEs and depending on the execution you use they grant you certain perks like increased XP, health etc. Not sure how I feel about it so far.

The combo meter is akin to the Batman Arkham franchise, except without the agility factor, so you'll basically be blocking and attacking white a bit with that unrealistic bounce factor from Batman. In Batman it makes sense though because his fighting style is based off of Ninjitsu.The combo flow is definitely a mixture of Arkham and Assassins Creed. Then again, Arkhams flow system is based off of the AC franchise. The only difference is to cut off limbs or stabs with or without QTE is really to land critical attack. That could get annoying.

Basically its a God of War simulator

Anyhow, everybody knows GoW is a DMC clone.

Oh don't even get me started!

God of War is the original one. Dante's Inferno is a GOW clone. DMC is a Dante's Inferno clone. Bayonetta is a DMC clone. Face the facts dude.

Fact is Devil May Cry happened and clones followed... but lets stay on topic.

Ryse isn't a similar game those button mash hack n' slash games. More in vein of Assassins Creed.

yes but it only got greenlighted to be a god of war killer.

And its a God of War Simulator. Not the hack and slash chain combat itself, but the "Press A to Awesome and make the Blood Rain like a Mofo" type deal.

No, Sony has the GoW killer, Knack!

Only Sony makes the killer games. Along with Playstation All Stars and Modnation Racers.

This isn't correct.  Assassin's Creed 2 had a block and parry button where you block and parry then attack to do extra damage or if they're weak enough of an enemy type to instant kill them.  When regularly attacking, you had a single attack which you'd repeat to cause damage until the enemy health diminished.  You can also use whatever your current subweapon is at the time.  AC2's sequels had the same combat and I'd assume the original game's combat was also the same.

Assassin's Creed 3 actually copied the free flow system style.  If you started to attack enemies, you'd quickly dash from one enemy over to the next, over to the next, etc.  It doesn't give you as many options mid combat as Batman does with your attacks, but you can fight with weapons, you can use whatever subweapon you may currently have equipped, as well.  AC3 had grabs as well though, so if one person kept on parrying your attacks, you'd grab that enemy type to knock him off his feet and then instantly kill him.