Advent Rising

I see why this game was not a huge success. I finished it and was kind of sort of fun, but the story was incredibly weak and cliche, the graphics... mediocre, and the action repetitive. Not really recommended.

...There was Advent Rising. A similar premise - humans are begrudgingly welcomed into galactic relations with arguably more advanced alien races - only, this story was written with Orson Scott Card on board. Planned to be a trilogy, most critics didn't care for it, and sales were low, so the sequels were never made. However, I absolutely loved every inch and second of this game. I think if this game had had Mass Effect's production values, but kept its story and especially the awesome combat engine, this would be the series we would have all been talking over and debating for the last five years instead.

Originally played this on XBOX. While working at video game store upon its release, most people complained about the targeting system. On the XBOX version you can adjust the sensitivity for target flicking. After that little tweak the game play become smooth. It amazes to see negative reviews for games that about something that can be fixed by messing with a few setting, maybe 5 minutes tops. Sorry for the rant, this game is definitely worth $6.

Advent Rising is a textbook example of what happens when a game dev dreams just a little too big. The end result is an unpolished, buggy muddle that you somehow wind up loving for its ambitions. I can safely say this is one of the only games in which I went from somehow storming the beaches at the alien equivalent of Normandy to boss fighting a giant gorilla, in the same level. Also the end boss is after the end credits for some hilariously inexplicable reason. The game's story is nothing to really write home about. It's standard Orson Scott Card fare--if you like that, then you'll enjoy Advent Rising's story. Otherwise, it can best be summed up as "rocks fall, everyone dies" followed by "and now you are Space Jesus." ...Like I said, standard OSC fare. It also tends to bring up a lot of questions it presumably would've tried to answer in the planned two sequels, but...well. Oops. As for the bugs...well. There were crashes, my character repeatedly insisting on targeting a wall, enemy AI taking a cue from lemmings and jumping headlong into lava for no apparent reason, a female NPC suddenly turning into a different male NPC mid-cutscene, and my personal favorite, the time I wound up hanging on for dear life to thin air. (I'd been clinging to the edge of a bridge, which then exploded. At which point apparently the protagonist decided obeying the laws of gravity was for suckers. Bless.) On one completely positive note, however, the soundtrack to all this madness is fantastic.

A cheesy, colourful, sllck, sci-fi/action epic.. think a third-person Halo crossed with a stripped-down Mass Effect - this game was obviously inspired by the former in many of its designs, gameplay and vehicles, and I think it may have heavily inspired the latter in its story, themes and character powers. Also, there's visual stuff that reminds me of Evolva in there too. Anyway, lots of frenetic fun to be had, some nice music, great creature designs and beauitful vast vistas to behold - for a 10 year old game I think the graphics have held up quite well due to the texturing being quite subtle and smooth, and the style being very cartoonish. Unfortunately, the game is marred by some really annoying bugs, involving a dozen or so CTDs in my playthrough, and some finnickety keyboard controls. Also, the boss fights are very, very tough, even on easy. And the most annoying thing is this was the first in a trilogy that never got any sequels. A shame, because I quite enjoyed this and would like to see more. Well worth the asking price.