Advent Rising

"Probably My Favorite Game"

Advent Rising

Story written by Orson Scott Card. I read all of his “Ender” series, which he became popular on. I extremely enjoyed his books, so when I saw he had a game coming out, I just had to get my hands on it. And I did. In short, I fell in love with this game, and for a long while it was my favorite game.

Story 10/10

The story draws me to this game like none other. More games need to have good stories like this one, which is why I don't want to ruin it for you. It is in a futuristic setting, comparable to Star Wars or Star Trek. It includes outer space and the humans trying to survive there. One of the things I love about this game is that you get alternate cut scenes according to what you do in the game. You get to choose your girlfriend or your brother at one point (but I won't tell you what for). You get a different scene depending on who you choose. The first time playing through, I didn't know you could do this, and was pleasantly surprised on my next play-through.

I have seen many complaints about a frame rate problem, meaning the voices don't match up with what the characters are saying at a certain time. It seems to be a common problem, but it didn't happen on my copy of the game. The story is very Orson Scott Card like, which, if you like Sci-Fi is a very good thing. You should at least rent this game for the story, if nothing else.

Gameplay 9/10

Level ups are in this game, and boy, that certainly makes it fun. But most people wonder how level ups can be in a shooter game. Well, you can level up your guns. As most people cringe when hearing this, I tell you now, they incorporated level ups really well into this game. You can bring your guns up to level 5 at most. Of course the higher the level, the better the gun is. Even a gun at the lowest level is not useless though, so don't just rule it out. There are plenty of guns to be used, so you'll be busy enough. Gideon (your playable character) dual wields guns, any guns in fact. The targeting system is a bit different from other games, and may be a pain in the beginning. I got used to it pretty quickly though.

Guns are not the only things you can level up though, you can level up yourself. You can level up your jumping and melee skills for instance. I have some great memories the first time I played the game: Using Matrix like jumps while firing at my enemies. Melee is not useless; in fact, I used it more than guns. But that is not the only thing I used to do.

You get powers that are kind of like “the force” from Star Wars. Powers to slow down time, make you dash at insane speeds, create barriers, push your enemies, and more. And you guessed it-they level up also. So while I said melee is my most used, I would slow down time to almost a stop, take out a few enemies, then resume time and watch them all fall at the same time. Finding combinations of attacks when many are selectable is great fun and adds replay value to this game.

My most favorite thing about the gameplay was the car, or whatever you call it. Ever played Halo 1? Many people have and they like driving the Warthog. Well, this car is like the Warthog on steroids. I love driving that thing. The car can jump and boost and has a turret. Just messing around in this thing is worth a good half-hour of play. You have to play it to understand just how much fun that car is.

Graphics 9/10

The graphics are colorful and likeable. Though the people might seem just a little rough around the edges (literally, but not too bad), it wasn't that that caught my eye. It was the visual effects from attacks. The attacks were pretty darn colorful and that made them more of a joy to use. So while the character models themselves aren't the best, the scenery is bright and vibrant when it needs to be and dark and dank when it needs to be. Just like the attacks, they looked like they should. All in all, the vibrant colors of this game were a nice bonus which I wasn't expecting when I picked up this game. But then again, I didn't quite know what to expect when I grabbed this game in the first place. The environments are what make the graphics truly amazing.

Sound 9/10

The music in this game fits the environment you visit. The music is borderline epic. There is not much more to say other than, the music fits. It certainly fits. Very little could be found to improve any music on this game.

Voice acting is very good, and the dialogue is fantastic. The cinematic scenes are enhanced by voice acting, and like I previously said, I didn't have much of a frame rate problem. You can tell the voice actors have had some experience. The people were born to play the parts. Very little improvement here either. Sound effects from the fighting are clear and work together very well.

Replay value? Yes

Usually replay value is limited in games, but in this game, it meets few limits. You won't get everything to max level on your first play though, so you'll have to play it again. The game is rather short, no less than 10 hours unless you are speeding through the game. But I could see most people playing the game over 2 or 3 times. I know I did. Finding glitches and minor errors were fun. There are places in levels they certainly never thought people would go!

Final Score 10/10

It is near impossible to find a game that is more fun that this. I'm sure the price of this game has gone down since its release and even more since the Xbox 360 came out. You may be able to find it in bargain bins at stores, if you do buy it. It's worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/12/08

Game Release: Advent Rising (US, 05/31/05)