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| No, it's not Halo. I know it looks like it, but trust me, it ain't... |
Before I begin, let me explain what The Vault is. Think of The Vault as where I keep all the games, films and books that I've played, watched and read over the years and truly, deeply, with every ounce of my soul, despised. The broken, the shoddy, the incomprehensible, they're all here. Every so often, I'll dust one off and analyze just why I hated it so much.
This week, I offer you an Xbox game published by Majesco Entertainment in 2005, Advent Rising. Or Bile Rising, as it should be more accurately monikered. Set spleen to vent...
When I was a lad, I used to love climbing trees. I imagine most youngsters still do. One of the very first things you learn when climbing our bark-encrusted friends is the principal of reach, or more specifically, where your reach ends. Over-ambitious? Reaching too far? Then it’ll be a few weeks in plaster for you. After your first big fall, you soon learn that the branch you thought you could reach might as well have been on the moon. So, you set your sights a little lower and concentrate on having fun.
Personally, I don’t think anyone at GlyphX Games had ever climbed a tree, as the principal of not over-reaching oneself apparently passed them by. Possibly with a badly-realised whooshing sound.
Advent Rising was supposed to be an epic. A sweeping space-opera concerned with the future of mankind, told over a trilogy and promising production values to match its ambitious storyline. In hindsight, GlyphX were always reaching for the stars. Not necessarily a bad thing, as some of my favourite games are ones that fall just a fraction short of what they could be (the Fable series, for instance) Sadly, they missed by an enormous margin. Seriously, we're talking galactic measurements here.
That’s not to say that the intent was misplaced, the bare bones of a very good game were there. However, there were so many technical and fundamental gameplay issues that what could have been a very good sci-fi shooter turned out a bit of a mess. Perhaps the best way to explain what went wrong is to look at Majesco’s press release for the game, analyse some of the promises they made concerning it and see how well they succeeded in delivering said promises. Or not. Anyway, to begin:
Personally, I don’t think anyone at GlyphX Games had ever climbed a tree, as the principal of not over-reaching oneself apparently passed them by. Possibly with a badly-realised whooshing sound.
Advent Rising was supposed to be an epic. A sweeping space-opera concerned with the future of mankind, told over a trilogy and promising production values to match its ambitious storyline. In hindsight, GlyphX were always reaching for the stars. Not necessarily a bad thing, as some of my favourite games are ones that fall just a fraction short of what they could be (the Fable series, for instance) Sadly, they missed by an enormous margin. Seriously, we're talking galactic measurements here.
That’s not to say that the intent was misplaced, the bare bones of a very good game were there. However, there were so many technical and fundamental gameplay issues that what could have been a very good sci-fi shooter turned out a bit of a mess. Perhaps the best way to explain what went wrong is to look at Majesco’s press release for the game, analyse some of the promises they made concerning it and see how well they succeeded in delivering said promises. Or not. Anyway, to begin:
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| Is it just me, or is that an excessively camp way to shoot at aliens? |
“Unprecedented single-player gameplay that allows gamers to play through the thrilling action sequences of a blockbuster movie or game, rather than just watch them”
It plays like any every other third-person sci-fi shooter you’ve played. There’s nothing ‘unprecedented’ or ‘thrilling’ about it. In fact, the only thing I found that could be considered ‘unprecedented’ were the number of bugs I enountered, but more on that later. Also, contrary to the press release, all the best action and set-pieces happen in cutscenes. So you do “just watch them”. Moving on then...
“Built using next-generation Unreal technology, integrated with the Karma physics engine”
If by ‘next-generation’ you mean “has ropey AI that results in enemies leaving you alone as soon as you go past them, them being unable to find cover, regularly bugging and getting hitched on the scenery”, then yes, this is ‘next-generation’. The physics engine in particular throws up some wonderful bugs and appears to be completely, utterly, magnificently broken. Nil pois.
“Unprecedented collaboration with award-winning, sci-fi author Orson Scott Card on sweeping storyline”
Supposedly, acclaimed science fiction writer Orson Scott Card was involved with the script. The question I feel compelled to ask is “where exactly”? The game takes the form of a bog-standard third-person sci-fi shooter with a few scripted set-pieces thrown in for good measure. Hackneyed and derivative in the extreme (The human race is under attack from an evil alien race and only you can stop them! My goodness, how unprecedented!), the story wears its influences pretty boldly on its sleeve while at the same time trying to present them as something new. Granted, there is a rather fine cliffhanger of an ending, but fans of Halo, Star Wars and every other sci-fi movie or game in existence will have seen this all before. Many times. But done with style and panache. Next point of order please...
It plays like any every other third-person sci-fi shooter you’ve played. There’s nothing ‘unprecedented’ or ‘thrilling’ about it. In fact, the only thing I found that could be considered ‘unprecedented’ were the number of bugs I enountered, but more on that later. Also, contrary to the press release, all the best action and set-pieces happen in cutscenes. So you do “just watch them”. Moving on then...
“Built using next-generation Unreal technology, integrated with the Karma physics engine”
If by ‘next-generation’ you mean “has ropey AI that results in enemies leaving you alone as soon as you go past them, them being unable to find cover, regularly bugging and getting hitched on the scenery”, then yes, this is ‘next-generation’. The physics engine in particular throws up some wonderful bugs and appears to be completely, utterly, magnificently broken. Nil pois.
“Unprecedented collaboration with award-winning, sci-fi author Orson Scott Card on sweeping storyline”
Supposedly, acclaimed science fiction writer Orson Scott Card was involved with the script. The question I feel compelled to ask is “where exactly”? The game takes the form of a bog-standard third-person sci-fi shooter with a few scripted set-pieces thrown in for good measure. Hackneyed and derivative in the extreme (The human race is under attack from an evil alien race and only you can stop them! My goodness, how unprecedented!), the story wears its influences pretty boldly on its sleeve while at the same time trying to present them as something new. Granted, there is a rather fine cliffhanger of an ending, but fans of Halo, Star Wars and every other sci-fi movie or game in existence will have seen this all before. Many times. But done with style and panache. Next point of order please...
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| Seriously, does this look like fun to anyone? Hello? |
“Develop amazing superhuman powers including energy blasts, levitation and energy shields”
Or “develop amazing superhuman powers that make the game far too easy”. By the time you get a little way into the game, your psychic abilities are so powerful that they render the entire experience moot. It becomes a walkthrough. Amazing.
“Wield an arsenal of awesome weapons, all with unique alternate fire abilities”
“Awesome weapons” like machine guns, pistols, lasers and rocket launchers. Wow. I’d never seen those in a videogame before. Although, to be fair, they all worked well, they felt quite meaty in operation and the ability to pick up weapons on the fly and dual-wield almost anything was quite well implemented. Still, it doesn’t make up for the unimaginative, lacklustre weapon set. Not by a long shot.
“Command a vast array of incredible vehicles including human and alien assault vehicles, hover tanks and flying vehicles”
I’d have loved to command them, if only the control system hadn't been so fundamentally flawed that it felt as if everything had a mind of its own. Which brings me neatly to my major ‘picked bone’...
“Versatile control scheme that allows for acrobatic movement and precise targeting of enemies while quickly switching between weapons and powers”
Oh, how I laugh. Yes, the targeting was precise, but then it should've been as the game utilized an auto-targeting system. The thing I particularly enjoyed about the ‘versatile control scheme’ was the way it latched automatically onto anything I could interect with (such as ammo or health packs) when all I really wanted to do was attack the twenty enemies that had surrounded me. Then there’s the fact that the dodge and pick up actions were assigned to the same button. Picture the scenario - an enemy attacks, you go to dodge but fail to notice the ammo clp by your feet. Your avatar goes to pick it up, and you die. Frustrating to say the least.
Add to this the delicious happenstance that assigning and switching the game's weapons and psychic powers in the middle of a firefight (surely when you need to do it the most) took a couple of seconds too long. Just long enough, in fact, to ensure your enemies could get a few cheap shots in. That is, if the atrocious AI had even detected your presence, of course. In point of fact, on occasion I stood behind enemies that just completely ignored me, even when I started pumping glowing plasma-bullets into their backs. Marvellous.
Then there were the frame-rate issues. Oh my word, the frame-rate issues. To say the game slowed down a little is like saying that running through an acre of brambles naked ‘might scratch a bit’. Sometimes the game dropped to single figure frame-rates, chugging along and making it unplayable. The worst thing was, this happened at completely random times, not necessarily when there was a lot going on. You could just be walking through a completely empty area and the game would suddenly hitch-up and limp along for a few seconds. It’s not as if the developers had the excuse that the game was visually astounding or pushing the technological boundaries of the time either - it was average in the extreme. Bordering on bland. Oh dear. This isn't going well for poor old Advent Rising, is it? Maybe some nice relaxing music would help...
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| You know a game's bad when your avatar falls asleep from boredom... |
“Soundtrack performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Los Angeles Orchestra”
The soundtrack was excellent - atmospheric and beautifully orchestrated. Unfortunately, while many games had featured ‘dynamic soundtracks’ for some time, GlyphX seemed to have missed the point somewhat. Sometimes, you’d be in the middle of a huge action sequence and the music would fade out or stop entirely. Other times, entering a perfectly non-descript and empty room would result in a choral fanfare of the mightiest proportions. As if you'd just discovered the secret of alchemy and were now wealthier than Saudi Arabia. Frankly, it was bizarre.
Added to all of these technical issues, the compromised aesthetic of the game (many enemies and areas were horribly er... let's say "reminiscent" of Halo), the laughably over-acted cutscenes, derivative storyline, glitches, bugs and general shoddiness of the finished product make me think that GlyphX didn’t just reach a branch too far, but that they should have stayed out of the tree altogether.
There were one or two nice ideas in Advent Rising, and in the hands of an accomplished developer maybe it could have been a very good game - possibly even the epic trilogy it was purported to be. Unsurprisingly, after the complete hash that was made of this title, we never did see any more ‘Advent’ games. We probably never will. In all honesty, that’s the only crumb of comfort anyone should take from this debacle.
Never has the expression “all mouth and no trousers” been so apt. This was a technical mess that should be remembered only as a lesson in misplaced ambition.
IF IN DOUBT - OFFER FREE MONEY
In a cynical attempt to get people to buy a game they obviously knew was broken beyond repair, Majesco decided to offer anyone that actually purchased this malformed manifestation of ineptitude the chance to win $1,000,000.
Applying only to the first 500,000 copies sold, each week an ‘easter egg’ was downloaded via LIVE that hid the letter ‘A’ somewher in the game. Clues were published on Majesco’s website and it was then a race for gamers to find the ‘A’ and enter the unique code they were give on Majesco’s site. With rewards ranging from $10,000 in the first week to the promised $1,000,000 in week six, it was too tempting a proposition for many gamers. Although the contest was only open to residents of the US and Canada, it was a clever marketing ploy - one that ensured many gamers bought Advent Rising despite the horrendous technical issues.
Clever. Shameless, but clever.
The soundtrack was excellent - atmospheric and beautifully orchestrated. Unfortunately, while many games had featured ‘dynamic soundtracks’ for some time, GlyphX seemed to have missed the point somewhat. Sometimes, you’d be in the middle of a huge action sequence and the music would fade out or stop entirely. Other times, entering a perfectly non-descript and empty room would result in a choral fanfare of the mightiest proportions. As if you'd just discovered the secret of alchemy and were now wealthier than Saudi Arabia. Frankly, it was bizarre.
Added to all of these technical issues, the compromised aesthetic of the game (many enemies and areas were horribly er... let's say "reminiscent" of Halo), the laughably over-acted cutscenes, derivative storyline, glitches, bugs and general shoddiness of the finished product make me think that GlyphX didn’t just reach a branch too far, but that they should have stayed out of the tree altogether.
There were one or two nice ideas in Advent Rising, and in the hands of an accomplished developer maybe it could have been a very good game - possibly even the epic trilogy it was purported to be. Unsurprisingly, after the complete hash that was made of this title, we never did see any more ‘Advent’ games. We probably never will. In all honesty, that’s the only crumb of comfort anyone should take from this debacle.
Never has the expression “all mouth and no trousers” been so apt. This was a technical mess that should be remembered only as a lesson in misplaced ambition.
IF IN DOUBT - OFFER FREE MONEY
In a cynical attempt to get people to buy a game they obviously knew was broken beyond repair, Majesco decided to offer anyone that actually purchased this malformed manifestation of ineptitude the chance to win $1,000,000.
Applying only to the first 500,000 copies sold, each week an ‘easter egg’ was downloaded via LIVE that hid the letter ‘A’ somewher in the game. Clues were published on Majesco’s website and it was then a race for gamers to find the ‘A’ and enter the unique code they were give on Majesco’s site. With rewards ranging from $10,000 in the first week to the promised $1,000,000 in week six, it was too tempting a proposition for many gamers. Although the contest was only open to residents of the US and Canada, it was a clever marketing ploy - one that ensured many gamers bought Advent Rising despite the horrendous technical issues.
Clever. Shameless, but clever.
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