- Game is divided into 4 chapters and lets you decide which side you will join
- Spells can be cast either through a scroll or a rune (30 different spells)
- Full world streaming support – No loading of screens
- With each level, the character learns and improves his skills
Product Description
A sweeping story captivates players from the start! An epic story in an authentic world hand-crafted with an eye for detail and populated by “real”, plausible characters. A Mysterious Volcanic Island The heavy tremors on the island bode ill for its inhabitants. Ancient temples have risen from the ground recently, bizarre creatures are terrorising the area. Fear and terror is spreading among the population. The End of All Hope? A group of powerful men who call the… More >>
I will start out by giving this game 5 stars for being the most Interesting one out right now.Deduct 1 for outdated Graphics( I did not buy a high end game machine for lousy Graphics )I Played OBLIVION on a low end game PC with an XP OS and the graphics were the best I have ever seen and the Game play was much superior to this one.So don’t even try to compair this to Oblivion.This game could not even carry Oblivions Jocky Strap!!!I knocked off another star for the stuped fighting technique.Why Not just let the players fight the way they want to.I started to knock another star because the game was taunted as being a sexual game that did not follow through on the promise but decided that would be in bad taste.
Rating: 3 / 5
I want to make it clear this is a review of the Demo only.
I’m a long time role playing games fan and player. I was excited about Risen because the same group made Gothic 1 and 2 which were great games. But I was very disappointed after playing the demo. Many problems with the game. First, combat is boring and clunky. This is one of the most important areas in a rpg to get right since you will be doing combat for a vast amount of time in the game, in Risen the combat feels really clunky and hard to control and is boring on top of it. I can’t imagine playing through the whole game with this kind of combat engine and mechanics.
Second, the world feels compact and small. You barely move over a hill or some ground and you are already in the next important area of the game. For some reason they put everything close together on the island. Third, the world has blurry graphics and terrible lighting. All the textures are hard to make out and they have some kind of blurriness to them, the lighting is very dark and should have been much brighter. Everything looks washed out, murky and blurry. It’s not an attractive world to walk around in or explore to say the least.
Lastly, this game is basically an inferior remake of the Gothic 1 and Gothic 2 games. Most everything is recycled from those games, including the sound effects and monsters. Except the voice acting is bad and uninspired, where in the previous Gothics they had good voice work that was memorable. Also the combat in those Gothics was way better and more exciting. Even the graphics were better in that they were more pleasing to look at and create a superior atmosphere, even though they are outdated by several years, than in this game which had a poor artistic vision.
My advice is to try the demo before you buy the game. And then go ahead and buy Gothic 1 or Gothic 2 instead and play that if you haven’t already, they are much better games than this inferior remake.
Rating: 2 / 5
Risen comes off with the usual court ordered flare of western RPG’s. You are some nameless person dropped into a new place with no opinions, friends or skills of your own. It is then up to you as a player to figure all of this yourself.
In all, it does it well. I recall in Oblivion, I must have restarted my character about a dozen times to find that “perfect” look and class/race build. This game throws all of that away and leaves you with a complete blank as far as class and race goes as well as only one look. You pretty much look like Cole from Infamous or like the main guy from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Shaved heads are gaining popularity in the gaming industry.
From the start you are forced to make choices that will change the course of the game completely. Will you join the rebel bandits and work on your fighting/archery skills? Or join the monastery and work on your staff/magic skills? Or will you put off the choice by putzing around town for a while.
I have a feeling that most of the 5 star reviewers got about this far and called the game great. Sadly, I played the game for the necessary 5 hours to get to my requisite number of bugs that dropped the score a few notches.
At first, I was confused as to how a game gets released to PC before XBox, and now I know. PC games can be patched out of beta states, but XBox games, due to some not having hard drives, have to be of a higher functioning caliber than this. Most of my issues are small and map or journal related. But, I have now hit a complete game stopping, have to restart bug that is just plain bad planning.
Most bugs are possible to get around. Some guy not being where he is supposed to be. Multiple quests requiring you to turn in the same item that a major, game progressing quest needs. These can be fixed by working your way through a broken dialog sequence, or using the console cheat menu to create another item that the game took from you.
Others, not so nice. My current issue has to do with a combination of doing quests out of order and talking to the wrong people in the wrong order. Honestly, if the game must progress by linear means, then it shouldn’t give you the opportunity to ruin yourself like this.
On the plus side, the game does look good. It has more flexibility and entertainment than I got out of Oblivion and even with the game stopping bug, I will likely start a new game and try to avoid that pitfall.
A patch to make the journal more useful would be nice. Currently the thing has quest names, but many times objectives are obscure or non-existent. Several times I opened it to find help, and only found a transcript of a completely unrelated conversation. Not being able to walk around with the map open is a bad note as well. You can open a general (no quest pointer) as you walk, but the moment you click it closes. Being forced to open and close your window to see where you are going is painful. Having some map labels wouldn’t be asking too much either.
My apologies for the rant on the faults of this game, I honestly think there is good content in here somewhere it just needs some more polishing to bring it out. Conversations sound good and are written well (so much better than Two Worlds or Oblivion). Combat, difficulty and simple immersion is also better here than I have experienced in many releases as of late.
If you are feeling brave, grab this game for some good hack and level entertainment. I would suggest waiting for a patch though.
Rating: 3 / 5
I’m 64-years old and have been playing computer games since a home computer used a tape deck for a hard drive, and after you loaded a program, you could go mow the grass, make a cup of coffee, and Pong might be running when you got back. I seldom write reviews on games, but this one in my opinion sucks! The first thing I didn’t like was that they put this game on the market when it had an unresolved issue with NVIDIA video cards, who are a major manufacture of graphics cards. I bought this game this Christmas, and nowhere in any ads did I see this mentioned. There is a fix now; only it still doesn’t work the way it should! Lucky for me since I build my own computers, I had several other graphic cards to choose from!
So I fixed the first problem, now to the mechanics of the game! There is no mouse sensitivity control. I’ve been playing this game since Christmas trying to give it a fare deal, but trying to control your man in this game is like trying to control a drunken sailor!
I’ve tried several different mice, and as far as I can tell, combat mode is pure luck, where you just swing like crazy hoping to hit something, and when it’s over with, you don’t even know where you are, because you have just been spinning around swinging!
The story line stinks! I’ve been playing this game a week now, and I still cant figure out who the bad guys are, and who I want to join! The first thing they do is lock you in a town, where all you can do is mindlessly ask the same people the same questions over, and over again, until you become so bored you want to climb a tower with a rifle and start shooting people!
If I had to rate this game on its own merits, I would only give it a 3, because the graphics are fair. If I rated it against their own Gothic II; it would get a 1!
But if I had to compare it with a real role playing game like Oblivion; it would get a -9!
Anyone who gave this game 4, or more stars; must have the mental capacity of a bag of hammers, and doesn’t mind doing the same thing over, and over, and over again! It took me 3-years to get bored with Oblivion, but only one week to be bored with this excuse for a video game. Save your money, and buy something else!
Rating: 1 / 5
I’ve owned many of this companies games and usually love them. Sadly There continue to be the same bugs with gameplay and graphics Over and over again, and with overall plot/gameplay. Do not purchase, unless you have a lot of patience.
Rating: 2 / 5