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An epic story is unfolding. A wonderful musical score accompanies good voice acting and solid direction. Sadly, technical and design problems outweigh this list, dragging the experience down with them and sinking this game.
In an effort to be fair, I made a list of good and bad points for Advent Rising from what I have seen so far. Good: 9, Bad: 12. The problem is, just about every good point comes with a caveat. For instance, the direction is generally solid, but too many choppy edits and cuts between scenes leave me confused and off-beat.
The list of problems includes design and technical issues. Fly-through camera jerks and stutters (poor spline implementation?). Scythe is too difficult to drive fluidly. Weapons are mostly indistinguishable from each other as pickups. Enemies spawn behind you and are totally silent, so you never hear them coming. Some animations are stiff. And the list goes on...
By far the number one problem hurting this game is the combat. Targeting is a major source of frustration. Too many non-enemy targets are selected too often. Targets are not selected when they should be. Worse, sometimes the game decides to target an enemy and simply takes control of the camera and snaps your view to targets that you are not even facing! Checkpoints are so far apart that I have had to redo boss fights (maybe they are mini-bosses) because I died some 5 minutes later and three rooms away.
I want to like this game because I like the story and the universe they have set up. I want to experience the adventure all the way through. I hope I do not give up in frustration without finishing it.
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