A few more months in the shop and Risen would have been something truly special.
Risen is no different from past PB games, it's riddled with bugs and glitches and if you have any hope of getting anywhere in the game you better make friends with your most important ally real quick: the quick-save button, as you will constantly and consistently run into the games worst enemy, your own desktop.
However after ignoring my better judgment and jumping right into it I can safely say that I'm glad I did. Risen has a very old school feeling to it that I can't quite put my finger on, right away I felt at home in the games world. The environment has a very lived in and dirty feel that you just don't see very often in games today. You really get the sense that you're just a visitor in this massive world and not that the environment was created to be your own personal plaything.
Which brings me to the graphics. Again the world is very nice to look at, everything is really well detailed and the few cities in the game are also all very vibrant and alive.
I wish the same could be said about the character models.
Models are all very blocky and poorly animated, especially the human characters in the game. You'll find reused textures and faces up the wazoo after a while. Monsters also get the old tired "Same texture, new color!" treatment later on as well. Sadly, animations are the biggest issue with the graphics and even have a negative effect on combat to a point. Movement looks sloppy and jerky, combat is stiff and bland and emotive animations are just...awkward. Most of this is easily ignored however, you don't play an RPG for it's graphics after all but it's surprising just how amateurish the models are.
The graphics might be one of Risens low points, but it's quest system more than makes up for any graphical shortcomings. Most quests are very long and involved and thanks to some terrific voice acting, dialogue sequences and some seriously great writing it's very easy to find yourself starting to care about many of the characters and their respective plights, a rarity in RPGs today. Risen does a great job on that front, but it goes even further showing not only why the opposing factions dislike one another, but also giving them each a human side. I never found myself opposed to one or the other, I understood the stance each group had taken and why. It doesn't stop there though, it goes even further to show you all the people caught in-between.
The fighting system is one the games few major shortcomings. Combat in Risen is extremely tedious and difficult. Enemies can easily take you out in just a couple of hits (the quick-save button once again returns to aid you in your fight against evilz). Poor and unresponsive controls coupled with some questionable design choices just turn combat into a serious chore. Other factors work against you as well such as the animations which we discussed earlier. It's difficult to parry an opponents attack when the animations are so choppy and rushed that by the time you see an enemy move to strike you've already been hit. As if all that wasn't enough, monsters for the most part run around in packs which is pretty much death for lower level characters.
Despite this, it actually works in the games favor a bit. It adds another layer of realism I wasn't expecting (nor were the developers I bet). I was actually nervous at points to go outside the safety of some of the human settlements, and when I did I was always very cautious. Not something I'm accustomed to in most RPGs where you've pretty much got the upper hand right away. In an odd way, it helped me appreciate the human characters in the game more. I know, it sounds strange but it works. For those of you snickering, please be aware that I played as a staff wielding, scroll using, water barrel drinking mage. Not exactly a path I recommend for your first outing with Risen.
Despite all the low points there's a lot to like here for any fan of the genre. Old school roleplaying fans... this one's for you.