RISEN REVIEW Posted by PlayDevil.com Staff on Dec 3, 2009 15:43 (100 days ago) |
Written by: Mark
 To Rise or not to Rise at all:
"Risen" on the Xbox 360 is the latest role playing game (RPG) to be released on the system. It is fair to say that it faces stiff competition with the likes of the excellent Oblivion and Fable 2 but have German developers Piranha Bytes released a game which competes can hold it’s own or simply a game best left on the shelves?
Story:
The story in the game sees the player taking on the role of a shipwreck victim who has been washed up on the shores of a mysterious island named Faranga. As expected Faranga is anything but a deserted island and is populated by humans and a variety of fantasy creatures.
The player starts with nothing but rags on his back and very little to defend himself apart from the odd stick which can be found at the start of the game but this soon changes in typical RPG fashion when the player interacts with other characters, levels up and obtains much better clothing and weapons.
The good sized island is packed with buildings and other characters which can be interacted with throughout and this certainly prevents the story from being boring however it would be fair to say that the story can never be considered captivating.
 It also soon becomes obvious that the story is packed full of clichés expected in games set in such mysterious surroundings and more importantly those found in other games in the RPG genre and this strikes me that the developers have gone with the tried and trusted format to ensure that it will appeal to a wider audience.
Gameplay:
With the aforementioned graphical failings it would be interesting to see if the game could be rescued by the gameplay and to be honest this is yet another area which is inconsistent.
It is clearly obvious that Risen draws comparisons with Oblivion in how it plays although there are just too many ups and downs in it’s execution.
Firstly the combat I just could not get to grips with and it all too often proved too frustrating to judge distances between the player and enemies which on occasions led to too many deaths for my liking. Add to this the pretty poor lock on system and the lack of fluidity it again adds to the overall frustration.
Secondly is the confusing inventory system. I am sure you are all aware that in any RPG this is a key part which needs to be done almost to perfection and be user friendly. In Risen the inventory is simply clumsy in how it is executed and instead of a smooth system proves far too long winded to do even the most simplest of tasks. This is not helped by the awkward control system which does not lend itself to the game too well.
 It would be hard to totally lay all of the control faults at the feet of the developers and I am sure that this is one game which would be far better suited to the mouse and keyboard controls of a PC.
So far the review has been heavily leaning towards the negative aspects of the game however that is not to say that it is without it’s good moments. Deep down Risen is pretty decent and if you can look beyond the obvious flaws I am sure that RPG fans will find at least something enjoyable with the game although the more casual gamer will undoubtedly be unable to overlook what is wrong with the game.
As with all RPG’s the game will offer a nice amount of longevity with plenty of island to explore however it is questionable as to whether the majority of gamers will want to play the game for long enough to experience some of the nicer aspects which can be found the more you play and the better your character becomes.
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Dec 4, 2009 11:14:21 (99 days ago)
