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14 Post subject: Advent Rising (For PC)  PostPosted: Aug 28, 2005 - 05:53 PM
no0b
no0b


Joined: Aug 26, 2005
Posts: 6

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*looks around*

Okay. I've heard all the whining about the controls and bugs in the X-Box version. I experienced some camera bugs myself... the wild, insane spinning was actually kinda amusing, but I digress. Once I got it working...

Wow. Just -wow-.

Story's a bit depressing, but hey, it's Orson Scott Card we're talking about here. Ender's Game wasn't quite an upper. And it's a good story... I WILL buy the next two when they come out, even if just to know the end.

But if the gameplay's similar, I'll have more reason than that. I loved the gameplay. It's not your basic FPS point-at-it-and-click-to-shoot style. You can go FPS, yes, but still... It has a flick targeting system which really, you only need to use towards the end when you get powers. It worked quite well for me, aside from one point... And at that point, you can use an alternate way around, so it didn't matter. Until you get used to it, you'll end up flinging everything but what you wanted to fling. However, if you don't need it at the moment, just turn off the ability to target inanimate objects and you're fine. You start out using your fists in a few brawls, then you get kicked up to guns, then powers.

Melee fighting is more fun than you'd think. You get a variety of dodges, hits, etc. When you start getting powers is when it gets REALLY interesting. Jump up and slam the ground to send all the ickies around you flying. Another thing is that... Well, you never really expect to see what you see in promos in the game, do you? Think Final Fantasy. Beautiful cutscenes, then... pixels. Well, you DO see it here. Example: At one point in the minipromo animation on the site for the game, you see the PC jump up, grab the alien, flip around to his back, then crack his head almost off. If you play your cards right, you can DO that ingame, once you reach a good melee skill. Entirely cool. Especially if you start really disliking those aliens like I did. Ugly buggers...

Even the descriptions of the guns rock. They're fun to use and the keyboard layout isn't hard to get used to. Only complaints I've heard are about the alt-fire mode keys. Frankly, considering the alt-fire of these weapons... If you even need the alt-fire mode, you'll have to be somewhere where you can take a second or so to aim the impending massive explosion. And I didn't find it that difficult to get to. Even if you have nothing targeted specifically, autotargeting lets you fire at the enemy. This gives you more room for controlling your motion and dodging. Double-tap dodging is also very fun, but takes a few drops into the abyss below to get used to. Highly useful otherwise. And sometimes, in dodging, you will hit bullet-time. Called a "time slow dodge" or something. Imagine quickly dodging to the side, bullet-time firing a deathblast to five aliens, then re-entering normal time and rolling off to the side, only to come up running to avoid a massive explosion. Yeah. I got a kick out of that.

The powers... Once you get to the powers, all else but melee becomes utterly obsolete. Well, I should say, once you get a few powers or get the hang of powers. Lifting a guy with your left hand and pumping him full of charge-stripped ions that tear through spacetime, gathering entropic energy weaves before impact with your right is handy. I loved that gun. Some of the powers are almost jedi-like (Push/lift) and some are... well, not. You can equip one to each hand (like the guns) and figure out the combinations that work for you. The first you get is lifting. The better this gets, the more you can lift. Like masses of enemies. You can beat them against each other or walls or just fling them off into the dead expanses of space. Your second power is surge. This is kinda your push and pull. The more you hold it, the more you push. It's got an impressive punch, too. If you get good enough at it, you can use it to steal your enemy's weapons right out of their hands. Negate's your third power... It's basically used to set up shields. You also get a personal shield that you can use as you go. It's more situationally useful. You get the fun one fourth, though. Aeon pulse. Normally, it's just a basic electromagnetic pulse. Yeah, useful, sure. Surge hits more people, but this is your sniping power. It gets damned fun when you master it. And do master it. ASAP. When you open the secondary ability, it becomes more like the picture on the box. You float up into the air and release a radial, 360-degree electromagnetic flare. Once totally mastered... Well, this'll clear everything short of giant walking robots of doom, tanks, and ships. Can't get any better than that, right? Wrong. Shatter's your last power. This is what you use for those aforementioned robots of doom, tanks, and ships. They no likey sub-zero temperatures. I never even used the secondary... Everything was dead by then.

Like all games, you get vehicles, too. For a teeny little bit, you fly a shuttle... just long enough to get into the dock. Ah well. To compensate, you spend a good bit of time in the vehicle towards the beginning, the Scythe. (A la Warthog. But without tusks. No, not a Puma.) Control's easy enough. And running over aliens can be insanely satisfying. Especially when they get half-trapped under the thing as you drag them along. Heh heh heh... Now, the tanks. These are hovertanks. And boy, are they fun. Simple design... And they start to burn funny colors if you get them too damaged. Ehe. The last thing you get to use are anti-aircraft turrets. Despite the name, they are also useful when utterly exploding aliens! But I enjoy that too much... You get to fight some real ships with these. Very satisfying not having to run like hell away from them as before. Which you will have to do. Missles -hurt-.

You may think... Damn, this sounds easy. Sure, parts were. But they were... ahem, creative enough to keep you interested. The various kill-shots were... absolutely amusing, if you could figure all of them out. I did, so how hard can it be? The neck-cracking one was my favorite. I will tell you now... the boss battles are NOT that easy. They each have a trick to them. You MAY have to get help elsewhere on some of these. I did on one or two of them.

Another thing: WAIT. THROUGH. THE. CREDITS. Just DO it. TRUST ME! You may need help with this, but just do it, for the love of plot!

A note on "open"ness... No. It's not an open game. It's telling a story... kinda like a movie. You only have two choices to make, and they're not lasting ones. Well, I guess they are "lasting" for some characters, but it doesn't really matter. The first one doesn't matter at all. About the same thing happens either way. Just a cutscene. The second just changes who's in some cutscenes. Go with your gut. If you have a SINGLE chivalrous bone in your body, go for the girl. You'll understand when you get there.

I loved this game. I loved every moment of this game, even the depressingish plot. It was worth the wait. It was worth EB getting it in a week late -AFTER- the release date had been pushed back. Highly entertaining to use. And a nice ego-booster in some spots. I'll give it four stars. The fifth is only gone because of bugs.

EDIT: Silly me. I forgot one power!

Time shift: Slam into baddies at an impossibly fast speed. Also good for covering distance without getting shot. Another use I accidentally found out is to shift to something on a ledge above you. For a moment, you end up flying, and then you land safely on the ledge. Alternate ability slows time. Kinda like Time Stop, really.

_________________
"There are always some lunatics about. It would be a dull world without them." - Sherlock Holmes
 
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