How the new Xbox One games play ...

Paul Harper takes an early look at three of the biggest releases on the Xbox One console, released tomorrow.

Ryse: Son of Rome

You're Marius Titus, a Roman soldier climbing up the military ranks as you avenge the murder of your family at the hands of marauding barbarians. Your thirst for revenge takes you across Europe, from the streets of Rome to the untamed wild north of Britannia.

Ryse is rightfully one of Xbox One's flagship launch releases, as it showcases the capabilities of the new console compared to its 8-year-old predecessor. Characters' facial animations are remarkably lifelike, and the stunning scenery at times resembles a 2000-year-old Roman tourism video.

Because of the astonishingly realistic graphics, the limb-severing gore on offer may be too much for some gamers, but others will relish it. If you're the latter, Ryse lets you spill as much blood as you can handle.

Dead Rising 3

You've got a sledgehammer and a cement-cutting saw and you're surrounded by hundreds of marauding zombies. What do you do?

If you are mechanic Nick Ramos, the protagonist in open-world survival horror Dead Rising 3, you combine both to fashion a "sledge saw" and make light work of the oncoming undead.

Dead Rising 3 takes place in the Californian city of Los Perdidos, where a virus has turned the population into flesh-eating zombies. You and your fellow survivors have just over five days to escape before the military drops an incendiary bomb on the city, wiping out all organic life.

Prepare to be covered in blood, lose a few friends, and learn how to fashion a weapon out of a teddy bear.

Forza Motorsport 5

This lifts the bar for the motor-racing genre. As you've come to expect with the Forza series, the graphics are phenomenal and the attention to detail in the cars and the tracks is mind-blowing, but it is addition of the "Drivatar" AI system which sets apart the fifth edition of the franchise from its predecessors and rivals.

The system collects data on each gamer who plays and generates a Drivatar who races like you - whether it's hitting the apex perfectly or braking too late.

When you race, you come up against other players' Drivatars, and like us, they're imperfect.

For the best Forza experience, remove the driving assists and apply damage for edge-of-your-car-seat racing. Hit a wall or nudge an opponent and feel your car's handling suffer as a result of damage to your suspension or brakes.

As your car careers towards the bumper of another vehicle you'll find yourself tensing up as you brake to avoid heavy contact, otherwise you'll be hobbling to the finish line.

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- TimeOut