Advent Rising had a hell of a lot going for it. It was an action adventure sci-fi game with combat that revolved around the combination of guns and telepathic abilities and it was written by legendary sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card. On paper; this sounds like one of the greatest video games ever, rivaling the likes of Half Life or Halo, but the end result was nothing short of an epic mess.
Released in the summer of 2005 and published by Majesco, Advent Rising told the story of hot shot pilot Gideon Wyeth, who is one of the last known humans alive in the galaxy after the extermination of all humans by an evil alien race known as the Seekers. I know, once again, this game sounds amazing. Orson Scott Card really did an exceptionally amazing job with this story line, as he does with most of his other sci-fi works.
Card did a great job making Gideon a sympathetic and courageous sci-fi character as well as giving the story plenty of shocking moments. The story was obviously not the problem of Advent Rising. One of the many problems was that the pacing in the beginning of the game was so slow, Advent Rising took far too long for the game to get to the interesting telekinetic combat portion. Once powers were obtainable: Gideon was only given the weakest of powers to start with. However, when one became more familiar with the telekinetic powers; Advent Rising became a blast to play. The use of guns almost became silly once Gideon started leveling up his powers.
The combat system in the game was fun, but it also suffered from poor control issues. Advent Rising’s controls were clunky and seem to be the most rushed portion of the game. Gideon’s movements, especially the jumping, could sometimes be frustrating-especially when facing several enemies at once. If Majesco had just taken another few months to work out the control kinks- Advent Rising would have been almost perfect. However, these problems do exist, and that was probably one of the major reasons that it failed. The biggest problem with Advent Rising was the glitches concerning the telekinetic powers, which made me furious on several occasions.
For example, I beat the entire game, got to the last boss in the last level only to realize: the telekinesis power that I need to beat the last boss would not work. I literally had to start the entire game over because a major glitch rendered all of my powers impossible to use. It was downright annoying to have to replay a game that I was just moments away from finishing just because of a programing error.
Advent Rising was a bright idea that just fell apart for no good reason. It had a monumental story and an involving combat system, but that was not enough to make up for the pitfalls of the game. It could have, and should have been, so much better than it was. I can’t help but wonder what the Advent Rising franchise would have been like if this game did not have the messy controls and game halting glitches. I’d imagine that the 2 planned sequels would have been astounding, and even as critically and commercially successful as sci-fi games like Halo or Doom. If Advent Rising would have been a success; Majesco games might not have gone bankrupt and they might still be a functioning company today. Also, the planned $1,000,000 contest (put on by Bradygames, Gameworks, Gamester and Sobe) would have not been canceled.
Advent Rising should have been great, but unfortunately in this universe: its known as a monumental failure.
August 8, 2009
#1
Ouch – I hate debilitating glitches like that. A few bugs is fine (it can even be amusing), but if a bug renders the game unfinishable you start to wonder how it got past the QA in the first place.
August 8, 2009
#2
I consider this article to be incorrect, if not backwards. Debilitating glitch or not, I have none of the issues you describe, and still consider it one of the most fun game's I've ever played, and I've played a lot. They had many general issues, but find me a game that has none, and I'll know you're a liar. The franchise should have continued. The powers were amazingly well put together, the so-called 'slowness' you complain about was part of the story experience in the fact that you fight with guns (I played the game as I always do ignoring everything anyone has to say and playing with a completely open mind, and knew nothing of powers, which is the way it's meant to be played as far as I'm concerned). You're SUPPOSED to switch to the powers and discover their strength; seeing how they annihilate the use of guns, and realizing that while you're the same person, the powers truly ARE POWERS. That was part of the damn plot, you could choose not to use them, but it was an ingenius implementation of plot generating gameplay.
The glitch is unfortunate, but I never have experienced or heard of it before. In fact I had never once had a game-halting glitch. I would be completely furious and definitely consider the game idiotic for having them, but it was such a strong game, I wouldn't have cared. And let's not pretend 'sales' determine a great game to anyone who matters in that facet… it never has.
August 8, 2009
#3
I consider this article to be incorrect, if not backwards. Debilitating glitch or not, I have none of the issues you describe, and still consider it one of the most fun game's I've ever played, and I've played a lot. They had many general issues, but find me a game that has none, and I'll know you're a liar. The franchise should have continued. The powers were amazingly well put together, the so-called 'slowness' you complain about was part of the story experience in the fact that you fight with guns (I played the game as I always do ignoring everything anyone has to say and playing with a completely open mind, and knew nothing of powers, which is the way it's meant to be played as far as I'm concerned). You're SUPPOSED to switch to the powers and discover their strength; seeing how they annihilate the use of guns, and realizing that while you're the same person, the powers truly ARE POWERS. That was part of the damn plot, you could choose not to use them, but it was an ingenius implementation of plot generating gameplay.
The glitch is unfortunate, but I never have experienced or heard of it before. In fact I had never once had a game-halting glitch. I would be completely furious and definitely consider the game idiotic for having them, but it was such a strong game, I wouldn't have cared. And let's not pretend 'sales' determine a great game to anyone who matters in that facet… it never has.
August 8, 2009
#4
He didn't say that not using guns was a negative, in fact I'm pretty sure he was lauding it as you are.
I think the word great in this case refers more to greatness in a historical context. Advent Rising may have been enjoyed as a great game by lots of people, but it isn't generally thought of as a great game because its flaws kept it from being that way.
August 9, 2009
#5
I was pointing out that his statement that they were too slow in building into the powers is simple-minded. It reeks of the Halo generation style whining that things must explode immediately or it's not worth the time. The powers were only amazing because you felt you truly earned them, building with the character. The game essentially set it up so the player could be proud to be a human in that game's universe, and in doing so, having started as a human with a gun, and then discovering such amazing abilities and discovering what they are capable alongside the main character…. I can't think of a better way to have unfurled such an awesome story/gameplay connection.
As for flaws keeping it from being a great game, I have never once met someone who played the game and didn't like it (outside useless game critics), and I know at least 30 people who have played it. None have mentioned such bugs, at worst they felt the characters were a bit weird or moved oddly but once you got used to it, it flowed very smoothly. These so called 'flaws' are always spoken of in general terms, never really specified, and when they are, they're always bugs (with the exception of this glitch, which is the first I've ever heard of it), and bugs are bugs… get over them.
I played it on the PC, with full control that comes with it. No console B.S. with FPSs or TPSs, as even mediocre PC players can trounce better console players in FPSs simply because of the controllability. Any gameplay flaws were so minor, it wasn't even worth considering or remembering. Everything responded quickly, and the complaints about jumping… I can't honestly remember a time jumping was utterly necessary and rushed to do so.
Simply put, all flaws included, the game was exceptional and doesn't deserve a false reputation.
Critics failed it, it didn't fail us.
August 9, 2009
#6
Jeez man, calm down. I loved Advent Rising, but the major fallbacks I had were the controls and the aforementioned glitch did severely hinder my first play through. I loved the writing by Orson Scott Card and the amount of guns and powers and secondary functions. But you cannot deny the problems it had.
Hense, the mostly mediocre reviews (by IGN, Gamespot etc) it received.
And do not try to pretend that sales are meaningless: the only reason games are created and published are so that they can be sold. If Halo, Mario Bros. or GTA were commercial bombs: they wouldn't have any sequels.
Plus, I never said that Advent Rising was a bad game; I just said it was rushed and one of the main causes of Majesco's bankruptcy.
August 9, 2009
#7
Honestly I in fact can deny it had problems like the ones you describe, as I never once ran into them. I can't say your glitch issue is unmentionable, but I consider it a universal crap in your lap if a critic ends up getting it and nobody else does. So all I can say is I'm sorry your game hated you ^^
Game scores mean nothing really these days anyway. The 1-10 system has been useless since someone gave a game a 10. Ever since then it's lost all meaning. As for reviewers and reviews, most of them aren't and never were worth listening to. First off, where does the prospect of forming an opinion for oneself about the game come in? The only valid argument I've ever heard is 'I only have so much money to spend, so I'd like a general idea what's good' but that's what friends are for. You get a quick "This one, you'll like it" and a "Thanks man, I'll try it out" and go from there.
And be a gamer for a moment and recognize what I mean by sales having nothing to do with how great a game is. Don't pretend that art is deemed good by its pricetag. Every one of us has seen multi-million dollar paintings we could have done better in 1st grade. If everyone keeps deeming something's success by its sales alone, nothing will ever grow. All good sales means is it will probably see a sequel, and everyone knows that doesn't exactly mean a good thing all the time. A game is a game, a game is not its sales. Too many idiots continue to make those considerations one and the same. They are most definitely related, but never have and never will be the same.
I'm glad you liked the game, play it on PC if you didn't. Control issues are non-existent.
August 8, 2009
#8
i agree with Dave. I thought this was a GREAT game and wish the 360 supported it. The story was good, gameplay was fun. I didn’t have any issues you had. It just sounds like you had a little bad luck… sorry, that sucks for you.
August 8, 2009
#9
I won't go into too many constricted jumbles in the above article as it simply isn't worth my time defending my view on this truly awesome game!
Advent Rising was so captivating, fun and well balanced all together!
If there was one problem that the game suffered from it would be the fact that it was reviewed by far too many jaded 'so-called' pundits. Reviewers who all got it wrong!
August 9, 2009
#10
Advent rising was a great game one of my personal favorites for the original xbox a couple bugs so what every game has them dont need to crucify games for something you cant prevent….anyways it was great fun and a good story to it wish it had made backward compatibility id buy that game again
August 9, 2009
#11
Advent rising rocked. I had issues were controls would periodically lock up, but it never lasted for long. It's the general lack of polish that bothered me. Watching some of the cut scenes you will see giant alien warships with no textures on them…just big brown space ships floating around. The exploding force push more than made up for it though.
Hopefully Chair Entertainment wont mess up with Shadow Complex because that game looks awesome. Who knows, maybe if it does well enough Epic will buy the rights to Advent Rising rights from Majesco and the guys at Chair can make the game right.