Cheat Index - Advent Rising XBox Review

It's been two years since Advent Rising was first announced. From the onset the game was extremely ambitious. It was to be the first installment in a three part sci-fi epic with story elements contributed by famed science fiction author Orson Scott Card. The gameplay would blend third-person shooting mechanics with god-like super powers and an original targeting system.

However, when the game was playable At E3 in 2004 it suffered from a horrendous framerate and iffy controls. It looked as though GlyphX had overshot its capabilities and Advent Rising would slide into the dark valley of games brimming with potential, but lacking follow-through. Thankfully, the title was delayed and we watched with delight as elements of Advent began to come together. The result is a genuinely fun experience that mixes elements one expects from big-budget projects with some lingering technical shortcomings.

In a Galaxy Far Far Away...
Nowadays, it's not enough for a game to implement tight mechanics and flashy visuals, it must also contain a compelling storyline with an arc that leaves players with a satisfied sense of accomplishment. Just look at the backlash to the Halo 2 cliff-hanger. With Orson Scott Card attached to the project, (he co-wrote the dialog) it was a comfortable assumption early on that Advent Rising would contain a compelling narrative. In this category, the game does not disappoint.

Set in the distant future, humans are capable of interplanetary travel and have colonized new worlds. The game begins when first contact is made with not one, but two alien races. The first visitors are a benevolent group of fish-people that refer to humans as the "exulted ones." It turns out that the human race is the basis of a far-reaching galactic religion that believes the mythic creatures will usher in a new age of galactic harmony. On the flip side of that coin, another race called the Seekers are in the process of roaming space looking for humans and exterminating them. They are also converging on Gideon's planet.

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