Microsoft reflects on Ryse review scores: "Metacritic is a complicated topic"

Ryse: Son of Rome's middling review scores have been discussed by Microsoft Studios head Mike Ybarra, who suggests that despite the numbers, plenty of people still enjoyed Crytek's skull-crushing Roman epic.

Crytek's development crunch towards the end of Ryse development created a deal of controversy in the industry and served as the basis for my investigation into crunch-time culture. Read it for a harrowing, damning look at the way developers are crunched.

Speaking with MyXboxLive about the game's critical reception, Ybarra said, "Metacritic is a complicated topic in our industry. At first, it was hard to see the numbers as they were lower than we wanted. That's always hard on any game team that puts a lot of time and effort into a game.

"On the other hand, we did see a lot of gamers saying they loved the game. If you look on Amazon, we are rated 4 out of 5 stars by direct consumers. While there were certainly things we wished we could have gotten in the game and we understand the key criticism, we are proud of Ryse and think it is a fun experience for our audience."

Elsewhere, Ybarra explaiend that Crytek's priority with Ryse was to make it a visual show-piece for the new Xbox One console. "From the very first concept phase of Ryse, we knew making the game visually stunning was important," he explained.

"It's really a set of trade-offs that are made across a wide range of different topics from effects, resolution, scripted/dynamic instances, etc. that when added up brings together both the visual and emotional experience you want users to have.

"I think the point that gets lost a lot is that it's all a game of trade-offs. Resolution alone is not the final determination regarding if a game looks great or not, it's one of many different levers and it's up to the game teams to decide what is best for their unique game experience."

What did you think of Ryse: Son of Rome? Let us know below.

Via OXM.