Deep Silver released Risen a couple of days ago, a game from the developers of the Gothic series, Piranha Bytes. Here's the First 10 Minutes, of a game that may be described as Oblivion lite edition. Unfortunately, the X360 version is a huge disappointment on many levels.
I haven't been able to play it much since I got it late, but I'll share some of the early thoughts I've gotten so far. First of all, the previously mentioned graphics. There's a comparison image posted in the comments section below and that image simply says more than a thousand words. Except for the poor-looking environments and characters, there's also the framedrops.
The text size is so small that I found myself leaning forwards my tv as soon as a conversation began. The HUD works in the same manner, with small icons and object description. The cutscenes are sometimes laughable, with poorly choiced camera angles and low-poly characters. The battle mode is very clunky, with the first hours of the game consisting of using the A button for attack and B button for shielding.
The game takes off with the player as a stranded survivor on an unknown island, this is the part that the video shows below. My video settings didn't match the game's very dark colors, so the night setting in the beginning looks a bit off - sorry about that. You'll see a couple of conversations and battles, so enjoy!
All comments (18)
X360:
http://i36.tinypic.com/900vau.jpg
PC (thanks to Durante of the Neogaf forums):
http://i36.tinypic.com/2whjez6.jpg
We as human beings have achieved great things together because we keep building upon the successes of previous generations. All this requires time and resources. It took a long time for us to reach the point where we are today, all thanks to the sacrifices of many men and women and the time they spent researching and improving previous theories.
This game however, will be like a divine force coming down and taking 10 hours of someones life, causing a sort of time void of nothingness, where no emotion exists. Where you feel nothing but time does not stop. This game will shorten your life expectancy.
Frankly, I think the mere existence of this game has altered the timeline forever. It has created a black hole that will drain the collective time resources for the human race. Resources that could have shortened the search for a cure for cancer, a practical solution for travelling at the speed of light, saved lives in third world countries and discovering alternative energy sources.
As human beings, homo sapiens, have been given the gift of feelings and emotions. We live and feel. Treasure life. Don't play this game.
But we also have a duty as the youngest generation of a race that stretches millions of years back, to achieve something great during OUR time so that the next generation have something to build on. Respect that duty. Don't play this game.
The game looks beautiful on PC thanks to the lighting, the character models are a bit below average and so is the environment geometry. But that's to be expected from a low budged game.
Considering how much money there is in the console market, I just can't fathom why PB would allow such a trash port of their game. Deep Silver must hate the thought of actually having a hit on their hands.
X360:
http://i36.tinypic.com/900vau.jpg
PC (thanks to Durante of the Neogaf forums):
http://i36.tinypic.com/2whjez6.jpg
What I can't figure out, is if they are delaying the US release until then, then why not just delay it in all markets? Why release the Euro version now, when it is clearly not finished?
i almost burst out laughing when the shipwrecked woman and i, after walking through a jungle killing giant birds, tells me i have to find a frying pan so we can have some fried meat...firstly, we're the only survivors on what seems to be a deserted island (no indication of life att his point), what makes you think we'd ever find a frying pan in the freaking jungle?, and second, who the hell says fried meat?
its a pretty embarrassing product tbh.
X360:
http://i36.tinypic.com/900vau.jpg
PC (thanks to Durante of the Neogaf forums):
http://i36.tinypic.com/2whjez6.jpg
On a sidenote, its nice to see the PC being the primary platform for once, but come on.. This is laughable.