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A lot to it, but I was still bored.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Advent Rising tacks together a lot of different game ideas. It's a run and gun type of game, with the twist of adding magic powers to your arsenal as well. Kind of like Psi-Ops if you've ever played that. It also adds a little bit of action RPG in the mix, of beefing up your abilities when you use them more.

Putting it all together, game mechanics work out good, it's just that it feels like the game misses something..the fun. The guns are pretty ho-hum, so I gave those up pretty much as soon as I gained my first power and nearly never looked back. Melee is all but useless in most cases and even feels clunky. The problem is, the novelty and coolness of whatever power you just got, wears off very quickly, and leaves you just mashing buttons again. The story leaves me tired and the addition of vehicles feels tacked on. All in all, I really liked the mix of all the mechanics, it just can't save the game of a mediocre feel.

There's also the problem of a couple of boss fights where you are given NO clue how to beat them and will be impossible unless by some dumb luck you figure it out or check a walk through. I circled a room for 45 minutes shooting at one guy with everything before I gave up and found a walk through.

It's cheap, so try it out if you want something different, just don't expect a blockbuster.

Also, it's terribly easy to get lost and don't try to skip through the credits. The game isn't over yet and you find yourself in a room wondering 'what the hell?' and the ending after THAT doesn't clean up what you were just doing.

Very surprised, in a good way

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I hadn't bothered with this game for quite some time due to all the negative reviews from critics. I bought the steam version like a year ago since it was priced so low, and just recently decided to play it. I was shocked. The game started out awesome and kept going from there. There are a few key issues with the game. The cutscenes being from the xbox are blurry as to be expected from an xbox port. However there are some clipping issues and screen tearing as well as an unstable framerate in the cutscenes. Nevertheless the cutscenes and the story as a whole, was at least to me awe inspiring.

The action is good and pretty much nonstop once it starts. The controls take some getting used to and could of been better, but nevertheless once you get used to it and gain some powers, you too can start blasting opponents and throwing them off cliffs. I don't want to spoil the story, so you will have to play it yourself for that, and it is definately worth it. Also the game gets a bit cheap by often having seemingly unlimited reinforcements to replace the enemies you kill thus forcing you to move quickly through some areas instead of hanging out to kill everything that moves like I normally would, however this does have the benefit of keeping the action fast and nonstop. Though to counter that I had to resort to easy mode for much of the game and of my own accord started abusing my newfound abilities and spamming them on my opponents to obliterate tons of them in a short time. I figure I should mention two other games, in a series no less that had comparably good stories as their aren't many around to compete with advent in story The Longest Journey and its sequel Dreamfall Game of the Year (both of which I reccomend). Advent rising might even go so far as to surpass the two mentioned game stories, if thats possible...

This game is also available on xbox, however the pc version fixes many of the issues the xbox version had. Also, though the game is no crysis, it looks very pretty, utilizing the limited hardware available at the time of release to make the environments look quite fantastic. Quite a few things in the environment can be thrown around or otherwise destroyed. This may be a minor spoiler for some of you, but stick around after the credits, the game continues on with an impressive and totally unexpected boss fight. After a bit the game finishes in a painful "to be continued" message. It was an awesome ending, but I say painful because it ended and I still want more, like now.

So get the game now and ignore the critics, though some of their criticisms are legit, they mark down the game far too much as a result. This game is not average like the critics would have you believe, but well above average, one could even say it rates as a masterpiece, with some marring.

This review has gone too long already so I need to close quickly. Anyways like I said the game is awesome, ignore the games faults, they aren't all that bad, and if you can do that, then you too should enjoy this game greatly.

Also I forgot to mention it before, though I feel it may be worth mentioning. I own the steam version so I can't guarantee the same for the box version, but I run vista 64, intel quad core, and an 8800gt and the game runs fine except for two crashes, so the game seems to handle new hardware fine without any apparent compatibility issues, no need to mess with any compatibility settings or anything. And with that I conclude this review. Have fun playing.

Advent Rising

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 09, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Decent game, but didn't make the port very well. It has some weird graphical hiccups at times and is way too short for the price. I enjoy playing it, but not enough that I'm glad I bought it.

What was Orson Scott Card thinking?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Make no mistake; this was a promising idea. The initial concept is interesting and the gameplay, especially when your character's powers reach a godlike magnitude, can be fun. However, none of that adds up to a game worth the value of the box it comes in.
First off, the game is not finished. Ever played KOTOR 2? Hated the fact that the ending seemed rushed and unfinished? Not only is this ending even less polished; it cuts off on purpose. Without the phantom sequels to fill in the plot holes, this is a terrifically weak story, something I'm frankly surprised an author like Card would be willing to put his name on. The characters are ill-defined and not particularly interesting or charming. The game makes vague references to Card's books, but neither attempts to explain the setting to non-fans nor explain what has happened between the books and Advent Rising (for instance, why does the destruction of Edumea bring the human race near extinction? What happened to all the other planets colonized by humanity?). The plot that does exist in the game is bare-bones. For example, at one point a bounty hunter is sent after main character Gideon Wyeth, and says that he'd been hoping to capture him alive. Why? Who wants him alive and what do they want him for? Perhaps these questions were meant to be answered in the sequels that will likely never come out. If so, it's a pretty flimsy excuse, and not a very good way to endear yourself to your audience... unless there is a large audience of people who like paying for a full story in a number of full-priced installments.
If you are one of those people, you will be disappointed because unless things change quite a bit, you aren't going to be able to get the rest of the series for love or money. And if you aren't, you'll be as bitterly disappointed as I was.

An underated classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For some reason, this game was given horrible reviews. That is, at first. Places like IGN and others marked it down badly, for really foolish and miniscule things.
Advent Rising, is one of my favorite games of ALL TIME.
It has a story to die for, and a main protagonist that really completes the deal.
The gameplay is fun, it is new, inventive, and after you finish the game, you are at a lost for words. It leaves you sort of hanging, but there is no signs of a sequel. Hopefully there will be, but regardless, its a great game. Just buy it, and play it. Its cheap, and is a great game, which will make you a fan of the series. Forget what places like IGN say, and read the reviews here, directly from the people who have played it.
Do this, and give it a chance.
One chance, and you'll love this game.

Review by a lifelong PC Gamer

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: April 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The negative comments that have been made against this game are completely unfair. It is a great game, and all those for whom it just isn't good enough can go play World of Warcraft or some other game that meets there overrated expectations. If you want a good story and some good action then you should buy this game. It might be shorter than a lot of other games but it has a very engaging story, which despite a few flaws is still one of the best that I have ever seen. I personally hope that they come out with the sequel and soon. They just need to make sure that it is ready because there biggest mistake with the X-Box version of this game was that they came out with it before they had gotten all the glitches out.

Rushed production, but still fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It's obvious that the creators of this game didn't have (or take) the time needed to finish it up properly. While I expected the pre-rendered video cut-scenes to be low-res and blurry (it's a port from XBox after all) I didn't expect such jerkiness and especially not such severe clipping (wow, that alien's cape is hanging though his legs!).

Also falling somewhere between irritating and amusing is the inconstancy in the main character's modeling in the cut scenes. One minute he'll have long hair that hangs over his eyes, the next minute it's a military cut. It's as if somebody started changing him to something new, and ran out of time. Also, in another cut scene, a person who supposedly died is shown for a moment sitting in the seat of the person that you saved in their place. That's just poor production.

Some of the graphics (and especially textures) ARE uninspired and dull, but overall the game looks alright. I got high frame-rates on my mid-range computer with an economy graphics card. Sound is also not very good. Sometimes the noises of battle are too loud to hear dialog that characters are saying to you, and subtitles are only provided for the cut scenes.

Other than weird cut scenes and occasionally sloppy controls, I haven't found this game to be buggy at all. I really had a lot of fun with it, and wish they would have had a chance to write at least a sequel if not both final parts of the trilogy. Even by itself, this game is worth grabbing from the bargain bin for its fun gameplay, occasionally inspiring storyline, and excellent soundtrack.

Great Game, to short for me.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

A love this game, the end was great, I usually don't wait to see the credits but I didn't except the game to continue after them. The soundtrack amazing. I give it a 4 starts overall because is to short it lets you wanting for more.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I've read somewhere that this game has twice the story and twice the gameplay as Halo. Now I believe it. It's a great game with a great story by none other than Orson Scott Card.

Great story, great game.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I just finnished Advent Rising and half to say I am impressed. I bought this over a year ago the first week it came out, played it for a week got bored and deleted it from my hard drive. Well, a few weeks ago I decided to finnish it and that I did. I really got into the story this time and I'm glad I finnished it because the ending is worth it. Advent Rising is not the best game I've played in the genre but it has a wonderful story that you will find in very few games and keeps the action in the game play.I gave it a 4 for the story it tells. Try it and just have fun!

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