Advent Rising

"Great... idea... but... too... much... slowdown..."

Advent Rising marks the 1st installment of a trilogy of games based on the ideas of author Orson Scott Card. So we automatically know one thing: the story should be good! But what about the rest of the package? It's the inside that counts, baby! Read on...

Story:
We're in ssssspace!!!!! What is this, a Star Wars ripoff? Oh goodness, no. Advent Rising takes place way in the future, so we're all pretty much dead by this point. Humans live in space, and have contact with other intelligent beings. Looks like that movie "Contact" gave us humans a heads up, eh? Well, one of these alien races believe humans, or as they call us "exulted ones," to be something more than they think they are. The main character, Gideon, becomes close to these dudes, but both him and the player will not be sure if they are trustworthy. Then there are the other aliens, The Seekers, who are just up to no good! What bullies! Gideon and a couple of his comrades will progress through space fighting off these Seekers while at the same time discovering why the other alien race are so fascinated by the humans. You will most likely become very attached to Gideon and his friends, and maybe even shed a tear at some points (I won't say anything!!).
Story: 9

Graphics:
Graphically, Advent Rising does some good. I thought the ways the aliens looked were very original, and I personally liked the simplicity of the human models. They had facial expressions and just looked pretty cool. Perhaps the biggest downfall for this entire game, though, is the graphical slowdown. Goodness, even when there's absolutely nothing going on (no fighting, etc.) Gideon would mysteriously go into slow-mo. Hell, even during some cutscenes this would occur. Come on, GlyphX, this could have been fixed! We want this to both look and play smooth, but with all the framerate problems, neither of these goals are reached!
Graphics: 7.5

Sound:
The sound in this game is amazing. Everyone who plays will notice the grand effort put into the music—the score was performed by an actual live orchestra. Honestly, I don't know if I've heard as much classical music as the next guy, but as a gamer, I can say that the soundtrack for this game is fantastic. Way to go with that! Oh, and the voicework and sound effects are great, too (but they are forgotten once the music starts playing).
Sound: 10

Gameplay:
Advent Rising's gameplay is like Radiohead's Kid A: very experimental—you will either grow to adore it or immediately detest it. First and foremost, the flick-targeting system. With this the player must choose a target by “flicking” the right thumbstick in the desired target's direction. It is very sensitive, so you must be very careful while doing this. You will often go past the target, and will become very frustrated. It's not all bad if you can get used to it, and I personally admire the originality put into it.

With this flick-targeting system (that is a pain to type out, what with the hyphen and all…), Gideon will use his huge guns. There is a decent number of these to use, and they're all pretty enjoyable. I didn't really notice much of a change in the damage given with the different guns, though, but nevertheless it was still an okay time.

Given time, Gideon will also acquire special “powers.” Isn't that exciting?! I'm jumping out of my seat. But seriously, these are some cool powers. Gideon can shoot blasty thingies out of his hand (while doing an impressive sideroll… very cinematic and very fun to do), use telekinesis, create shields, etc. They are all going to be used, too, so no worries about useless abilities. As the story progresses Gideon's powers will be upgraded, adding even more fun!

Unfortunately, as said before, the slowdown of this game really hurts the playability. It will slow down sooo much that you may even decide to turn it off for the day. Additionally, there are many glitches, some even causing unavoidable death. Why didn't they fix these? They couldn't have thought we wouldn't notice any of them. Seriously, they delayed this game a lot, but what did they do in that time? Argh, it's so disappointing.
Gameplay: 7

Replay Value:
How long will Gideon's quest last you? Or at least the first third of it… Well, it may last you ten hours, give or take a few. It's pretty short, and you probably wouldn't want to go back to it anytime soon after you beat it. There's Xbox Live with it as well, but even that will probably not last you too long. I say rent this big boy.
Replay Value: 6

Overall:
The final number! Should you play this? Well you already know what score I give this game, but here's a nice summary: Good story, nice graphics, original gameplay, beautiful music, TERRIBLE FRAMERATE. That last one, with the capital letters? Yeah. It can potentially completely ruin the experience. I recommend it, but I warned you.
OVERALL: 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/05/05