Advent Rising - F.G.R

[Syed Fawad]

Yo, back with another review. Though this thread is bound to become spoilereffic if there are more peeps here who've played through this baby.
Here we go:

Fun, really fun and entertaining and enjoyable. But, it's short. Or may be it felt short. Great fun, no matter how long it is, appears to be short but I think it was short in a normal way too. I played it for two days, 2-4 hours per day and its over. Though it never got boring and/or very repetetive and held its fun and interest factor very superbly. So much so that I am eagerly looking forward to its 2nd and 3rd Episodes. Yes, it's a trilogy and the 1st epsiode leaves you at the end of your chair at its end. "Oh no...c'mon.....NOT NOW NOT NOW" and BANG, "to be continued....". I hope they get the next one in quickly. Yeah, the story is a real treat after quite some time on a PC game, and one of the coolest presentations I've seen in a while.

Presentation - 9.7/10

Well, it may appear that I gave it a very very high score, despite of low FPS cutscenes, simplistic menus and rather poor graphics. But For some reason, it was very easy to look over the bad parts of the game VERY easily. At least for me. This game has got very mediocre scores so I started it off expecting crap and that's probably why I loved it. Because it was really cool. It is no short of a HolllyWood blockbuster when it comes to scripts, story narration and direction. The art style is pretty nice too. Sure it has borrowed elements but they have been mixed up so well.....its like saying microprocessors are borrowed from sand, in other words...it looks quite original in its own flavour though the ideas might have rooted in previous games/movies. You've got Star Wars, Star Trek and Xenosaga there clearly.

Very strong presentation in my opinion. The sense of humour holds up. Nice facial expressions. Time and again there are problem's with the lead characters hair style.....(he probably uses a wig at times). Plus you'd expect at times to be ppl more emotional....like a more panicking and gloomy behaviour when you see your planet exploding.....

Spoiler:

Your fiance or brother dying

, however, it still comes up great. A very enjoyable and intriguing story with a nice script. That's where this game rocks.


Gameplay 8.8:

Since the gameplay borrows so many elements from so many games, it looks original again. There's that little leveling up for RPG freaks but its all automatic. You simply get an upgrade for guns/powers you use most. The more you use, the better/stronger it gets. Same goes with jumps and dodges that can improve to get better looking. Dodging can improve to adding a little slo-mo bullet time effect to make things look even more cool. You get some DMC elements with dispatching enemies in style and this hero has the best style of reloading I have ever seen. :guitar:
You can have two equips, each to either of your hand and it can be from both guns to both powers to gun/power combo. You can use powers with shield, ice shards, flux balls, surges (may the force be with you) and lifting and playing like a Jedi again. The mechanics are cool so you'll enjoy it but since there are no ragdoll......it isn't as much fun as it could've been. But tell me, will ragdoll make much of a difference in DMC? Probably not
It takes a little time to get used to the gameplay system but it can get enjoyable. There are some glitches and bugs that can be annoying. The boss fights are cool too, apart from the first 2-3. But still they don't win over RE4, DMC3 or MGS3. In fact, the challenge level is not even close. This game is rather easy.


Sound 9.2

It rocks. THe soundtrack is freakin' awesome. In fact, it's better than majority of Hollywood movies I have seen and adds a lot of flavour to the presentation aspect. If the presentation is so great, itsprobably because of the strong track that accompanies it. The voice acting is great too and the alien voices , specially of that bounty hunter in its native language....it is damn original. The characters too deliver their lines with great precision to the situation. Marin's voice is great, her dialogue set and its delivery during their take off from Edumea was, donno why, I liked it. The special effects and surround sound sounds nice as well. I don't have any such complains from the sound department.


Graphics 8.0
Weakest element of this game. The water looks nice but I am too spoilt by the source engine. The environments are simplisitic......not much technical special fx like normal mapings or realtime shadows, but the art style is good enough to get the job done. The faces look nice too. And Gideon's brother looks more like Gordon Freeman.
The outdoors looks better than the indoors. Indoors are mostly the same, very little variation in style and design. The character models are less detailed but have great artistic touch to them. I mean, you've got aliens that are far more innovative in design than your Steven Spielberg's Blockbuster which starred Tom Cruise and a mega huge franschise known as War of the Worlds.......man, one of the worst alien designs I had seen In fact, the aliens of Advent Rising are almost upto the Star Wars mark. They have their own dressing style, unique weaponry, habitat. The Aurelians look like aquatic beings...froggy faces with three lips and tall sea-monster like figures....though very polite and disciplined. Then you get the Seekers and their ruthlessness is almost loveable. Four legs, two arms and a tiger like low pitched voice with carnivores facial detail. They can stand on two legs, giving more height and slender looks and adding the arrogant ruthlessness in them. Great work of art. Bravo!!


....continued......

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Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

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Last edited by Syed Fawad; January 16th, 2006 at 18:06..

[Metalmurphy]

Damn you Syed Fawad i was gonna do a review for the game as well as i am loving it. xD

Been a long time since a seen a great story on a PC game. And i disagree with the game beeing short I've been playing for a long time and still isnt over, everytime i think "ok this must be the end now" something unexpected happens and the story continues. Maybe theres alternative stories since u can choose

Spoiler:

to save either ur brother or wife in the beguinning

and maybe u got the short storie

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
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[Syed Fawad]

Originally Posted by Metalmurphy

Damn you Syed Fawad i was gonna do a review for the game as well as i am loving it. xD

Been a long time since a seen a great story on a PC game. And i disagree with the game beeing short I've been playing for a long time and still isnt over, everytime i think "ok this must be the end now" something unexpected happens and the story continues. Maybe theres alternative stories since u can choose

Spoiler:

to save either ur brother or wife in the beguinning

and maybe u got the short storie

As I said:
"But, it's short. Or may be it felt short. Great fun, no matter how long it is, appears to be short."

In boring games, an hour to 2 seem long. In cool games, 10 hours are short. That's relativity

Well I think this then proves that Advent Rising is indeed a REALLY fun game. You're STILL not done with it!?

The funny thing happened when the credits started rolling. I was like.....HEYYYYYYYYYYY that's SO unfair!!! And right after the credits the game continued and I was like all happy again

The last fight did piss me off a bit. But the twist was indeed worthy of the final twist in the game. And the point at which the game leaves......ubersome!

__________________

Asus K8N (nForce3)
AMD64 3000+ (754)
768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP)

Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

[Metalmurphy]

Hey dont ruin the game for me xD

Im at the

Spoiler:

level where ur invading the Seekers base that looks like Omaha beach in WW2 lol, must be near the end of that level and maybe/probably its the end of the game too.

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Syed Fawad]

I am really very amazed that no one has come to this thread. Is it really true that not many on NGemu tried this game!?

And Murphy, lemme know when you're done. At least the two of us can keep this thread up.

__________________

Asus K8N (nForce3)
AMD64 3000+ (754)
768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP)

Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

[caipirinha]

Played it, loved it, looked around and no one cared, now quietly waiting for the sequels.

the best thing is mastering those controls, playing with a gamepad is essential imo, you can blast everything using both powers and guns in a single dive using it.

oh and I have the soundtrack for this game, it is truly something amazing.

[Metalmurphy]

Yeah soundtrack is also pretty cool.

I finished the game btw, i finished few hours after my last post here actually

And about the trilogy

We Say: You’re not the only Advent Rising fan, David. We dug the kinetic and story-driven action that GlyphX’s debut effort delivered, and the developer has always gone on record saying that the game was planned as the first of a trilogy. Unfortunately, Majesco wouldn’t go on record specifically addressing the future of the Advent series. What a representative for the company did say was, “While Majesco is currently focused on their new upcoming titles for 2006...we remain committed to our existing, originally developed intellectual properties including Advent Rising and Bloodrayne, but are not ready to make any announcements at this time.”

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Syed Fawad]

Well, perhaps they're planning on continuing it on the future generation consoles with all the fancy eye-candy? I want it to be multi-platform really...

__________________

Asus K8N (nForce3)
AMD64 3000+ (754)
768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP)

Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

[navilink]

oh man this game actually is my Most Anticipated Games of 2005!!! sooo sad that it goes under the nose and armpits unnoticed....all i heard is the COMPLAINS about the pathetic framerates...nothing good said about the game....

basicallly this is the most underrated games of 2005!!!

__________________
AMD Athlon Thunderbird 900Mhz, 192MB SDRAM PC133, 64MB GeForce4 MX440SE, DirectX9.0c, Detonator 45.23, Creative Vibra 128, Win98SE

:: N64 Emulation Setup ::
EMULATOR: Project64 1.6 :: GRAPHIC: Jabo D3D6 1.5 & D3D7 1.4 :: SOUND: Jabo DirectSound 1.5 :: CONTROL: N-Rage Direct-Input8 V2 1.83a

:: Playstation Emulation Setup ::
EMULATOR: ePSXe 1.6.0 :: GRAPHIC: Pete's D3D Driver 1.7.6 :: SOUND: Eternal SPU Plugin 1.41 :: CDROM: ePSXe CDR ASPI core 1.5.2

[Syed Fawad]

ABout the framerates......I too heard the xbox version kinda chugs down and is buggy, but if you've got a PC like mine...then it goes silky smooth. So grab the PC version instead of the XBOX one.

__________________

Asus K8N (nForce3)
AMD64 3000+ (754)
768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP)

Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

[industrian]

I heard about this game a while back but never really looked into it. Might buy it when my student loan comes in based on your recommendations (lol, I'll put that on the registration card).

The soundtrack is very cheap as well, so i might pick that up and add it to the collection.

[Metalmurphy]

Seems Majesco just canceled Taxi Driver and Demonik :S Things arent going very well for Majesco Somehow i dont see this trilogy continuing.

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Syed Fawad]

Originally Posted by Metalmurphy

Seems Majesco just canceled Taxi Driver and Demonik :S Things arent going very well for Majesco Somehow i dont see this trilogy continuing.

Oh boy.... I don't want another Shenmue like thing happening.......

__________________

Asus K8N (nForce3)
AMD64 3000+ (754)
768MB DDR 400MHz (PC 3200)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT 128MB (AGP)

Aquamark3 - 53,000

"Good friends mustn't always be together. It is the feeling of oneness when distant that proves a lasting friendship"

[navilink]

hmmmm maybe other developer will take it up...

the trailers for Advent Rising are amazing...that's what makes me sooo ooooze about this game...although i haven't played it yet...waiting for computer upgrade...

__________________
AMD Athlon Thunderbird 900Mhz, 192MB SDRAM PC133, 64MB GeForce4 MX440SE, DirectX9.0c, Detonator 45.23, Creative Vibra 128, Win98SE

:: N64 Emulation Setup ::
EMULATOR: Project64 1.6 :: GRAPHIC: Jabo D3D6 1.5 & D3D7 1.4 :: SOUND: Jabo DirectSound 1.5 :: CONTROL: N-Rage Direct-Input8 V2 1.83a

:: Playstation Emulation Setup ::
EMULATOR: ePSXe 1.6.0 :: GRAPHIC: Pete's D3D Driver 1.7.6 :: SOUND: Eternal SPU Plugin 1.41 :: CDROM: ePSXe CDR ASPI core 1.5.2

[Coolsvilleman]

just got this game. the rumours about slow framerate must be wrong because my pc can handle the game ultra fine. But i think there is an error in the game because im stuck in this hallway chasing this guy and after i defeat all the people im supposed to nothing happens and im just stuck in the hallway.

Originally Posted by industrian

The soundtrack is very cheap as well, so i might pick that up and add it to the collection.

ps. there is a folder called music in the game directory if you dont want to shell out for the soundtrack.

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www.coolsvilleman.homedns.org Normally down. E-mail me for a DVD @ coolsvilleman@gmail.com

[Metalmurphy]

The slow frame rate happens in 2 or 3 of the final levels in some rooms and in the cutscenes, apart from that the game ran fine at 1600*1200, the game didnt seem to work with AA though.

Ah i think it had some problems on the Xbox too.

__________________

-------------------------------- Computer Specs ----------------------------------
Intel Pentium IV Prescott 3.0 HT → 4x 512MB DDR-DIMM → ASUS GF 6800 GT
Sound Blaster X-Fi → 2x Maxtor 80 GB (RAID 0)
Hitachi 19'' Monitor → Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Theater
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Lobo]

The crap control makes me dislike this game. The extremely easy enemies also make me bored of it. I followed the game since it's special in Game Informer 2.5 years ago. And it's PSP sister title Advent Shadow was supposed to launch around the same time as Rising. It never did.

Majesco's no longer publishing anything big, they spent a lot of money on advertising muscle and publishing dollars for this game and Psychonauts (tv commercials and what not), whomever developed this game though is still around. THey may make more. It was supposed to be a trilogy.

However, the game sold like garbage (better than Psychonauts...which is an infinitely better game ><) so, like Shenmue I don't see it going anyway.

I was really dissapointed in how it turned out...it sounded much cooler in GI those 2.5 years ago. I love Orson Scott Card though, so I'm gonna try and plow through this game someday. Crap control and all. (I made it to the 2nd 'driving' section and just past that point...so I think I gave it a good enough run to gauge the game).

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~You should never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.~ Bullettooth Tony (Snatch)

[raksmey1309]

Look like it's just a boring space adventure game the graphic is very poor.I dont know much about the storyline.
Does this game really worth to play?
Give me some advises plz.I will install it again
THank U.

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Last edited by raksmey1309; January 23rd, 2006 at 23:50..

[caipirinha]

raksmey 1308 delete that post ASAP please.

and buy the friggin game, it's really cheap nowadays.

[KanedA]

raksmey1308 I think you will get another warning, be carefull 'couse you will be punched with a ban

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