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This Game simply sucks

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 40
Date: July 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Never have I ever seen anything with this many glitches, it's almost impossible to even play. Besides that, there are also MANY other flaws, the names are inconsistent, for example, you have Gideon and Maryn, both fantasy names, and you have Ethan and Olivia, both modern names. The character models are EXTREMELY simple, and so is the dull storyline. The dialogue is also very strange, the characters are always making jokes with each other, despite their planet blowing up and all their loved ones dying. The framerate makes the whole game look like a slideshow. Bottom line, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME, DO NOT RENT THIS GAME, DO NOT WANT IT AS A PRESENT, SIMPLY IGNORE IT. I can't wait for majesto to totally bomb when the try to sell TWO sequels! HAAHAHA, like that's ever gonna happen...

Very disappointing game.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 7
Date: March 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'm an Orson Scott Card fan so I really wanted to like it--but it's just a terrible game. The psychic powers are so overwhelming they feel like cheats. With several of the powers you can clear the entire screen of baddies once every two seconds or so for the entire game so the only way to have fun is to intentionally weaken yourself. The weapons are unsatisfying and a confusing chore to select.

The best thing about the "flick targeting system" is that you can ignore it. The baddies come in Serious Sam type waves to be mowed down by your double guns plus smart-bomb psychic powers, so precise targeting is pretty silly. Navigating your character is frustrating. You can stand next to a platform you're supposed to grab onto and jump many times before your hands latch on to the edge. I died from that and the buggy jump controls more than from fighting the bad guys.

About half the sound effects are flat out missing, so many actions have little impact. Overall the game feels very untested and buggy. The story is kinda cool but VERY lightweight next to Card's novels. The characters maintain their same flippant attitude no matter how many of their own people die around them. If you're used to playing quality FPS games like H-L2, FEAR, Call of Duty, etc you will be disappointed.

WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY TOO SHORT!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: August 23, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game was a blast to play. The models and graphics were a little simplistic, but overall, the gameplay was easy enough to pick up. The story was top notch, thanks to Orson Scott Card. And the varied environments were fresh and fun. And kudos to Tommy Tallarico for the soundtrack.

But I beat the game in 24 hours. I NEVER beat a game in 24 hours. I am not that dedicated a gamer. This is terribly upsetting. This is part 1 of a trilogy of games. They should have waited to finish the other 2 games and released them as one.

WAY
TOO
SHORT!

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.

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.

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.

Impressive despite its flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 31 / 32
Date: July 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is the most ambitious game I've ever seen Majesco put together. Story, Game play, Design; all these things have come together to make a great game that is not only fun to play, but has good enough dialog to make you give a crap about the characters. That's saying something when it comes to action games.

This Game does have its flaws, namely some unique technical glitches such as cinematic's being choppy and some minor clipping, neither of which takes away from the over all experience.

The cinematic's being slowed stems from (on XboX) the game trying to load up the next area in the back ground. Pausing the cut scene and waiting for ti to load (the skip cut seen chouse will appear) then running the cinematic will almost always help.

Over all a great game, I would have made it a 5 star if not for the glitches. Also, I fear that most will be shy away from this example of great gaming because of its deep story and technical problems. Don't' hesitate to try/buy this game!

So much fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: August 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Being a fan of video games and Orson Scott Card, this seemed like a no-brainer. Not owning an Xbox, I had to wait for the PC version, which was delayed a few times. And now that it's here, what else can I say than - it was totally worth the wait.

First, the not so great - the targeting system took a little getting used to, it crashed to desktop twice (but immediately rebooted and ran fine), and I died... a lot. Also, one of the branching plotlines seems broken. (a character I thought dead showed up in the middle of a subsequent level)

But all of that aside, the game is so much fun. It looks and plays great on my PC. I loved the game's "practice effect" where the more you use skills and weapons, the more proficient you become with them. I'm playing back through, trying to build certain skills earlier in the game that I found came in handy later on (Which is how I realized the plot discrepancy). The ending was great (don't leave or quit when the credits start rolling - wait for them to end, and keep watching).

I would highly recommend this game for sci-fi or action gaming fans. If you like RTS or more slow-paced games, this probably isn't your game, but for those who like fast paced, cinematic action, you could do a lot worse for more money than picking up Advent Rising for the PC.

Great Game. Hours of fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

My friend gave me this game for my 17th birthday. (Yes, I know I'm using the kid's review). At first I was a little skeptical. It looked good, but I had heard that there were many glitches. I installed it and then started the game. The graphics were very well done. Great fluid gameplay. At first the combat confused me. But you eventually get used to it. The more you fight the more that the flick-targeting makes sense. The game starts out a little slow, but in no time it picks up. As soon as Gideon unlocks his powers the game simply flourishes. The storyline is truly great, characters really come alive and the enemies are not dumb.

Pros:
Great Graphics
Awesome acrobatic moves
Awesome Powers and Awesome weapons (a lot of weapons)
Great characters
Nice variety of enemies.
Incredible story
You feel like your actually in the game.
Fairly good replayability
Gorgeous music

Cons:
Takes 5,000 bytes on your computer
A bit short
A few annoying glitches
(I would have given it 4 1/2 stars)

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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