Don't know how a company can delay a game for 3 years and then release it in this state.
User Rating: 5.4 | Advent Rising XBOX
Now I heard about Advent Rising only 3 months ago and I was giddy with anticipation. But when I saw those reviews I felt really bad about the game. There's something I learned from anticipating games like Pariah and Close Combat, and it's this: always assume the game will suck when it's released. That way if it does suck, then you won't be devastated, and if it turns out to be awesome, you'll be delighted. Even so, I was dumbstruck by reviews. Even so I bought the game, and I can tell you now that I'm disappointed. The bugs are all there. So is the poor framerate. The graphics aren't even the best, which makes for a confusing paradox- low-tech, but it still manages to slow down the Xbox's performance. I don't get that one. The storytelling was bland, pretty bad. Character development was almost nil. These two things go hand in hand in making an immersive experience and neither was fully developed. If they had fleshed out the characters and the universe with more in-depth cutscenes, instead of a bunch of filler showing a bunch of aliens standing around, and having more sequences where you can explore the environment more than just going from one combat zone to the next, then the universe and story would have felt more complete. Other than that the story's premise was good. But the combat is still great. I pulled off plenty of memorable combos that could, as Mustard put it, "kick a Jedi's ass". The powers are good, vehicle combat is fairly solid, though it could be improved. Some of the weapons were too redundant- same function, different look. The upgrade system is good, I like it, it could use a little tinkering for more diverse upgrades, though. Sound is kind of broken. Musical scores are great. But sometimes the sound skips or breaks off, or you can't hear a character becuase you're not facing in the right direction. That's a big flaw and also hurts the storyline. Haven't seen half the vehicles they promised to put in. The Hurricane was hyped as being the centerpiece of 'possibly the best chase scene ever' but the only mention of its existence was a five second cutscene. No speeder bikes either. Dammit. The game is short. I just beat it this morning. Which, if this thing doesn't record dates, is June 4 2005. Three days after I bought it. I'll give it to Best Buy for store credit to preorder Battlefield 2. I just hope to christ that Advent 2 will be much better. 
