Hardcore RPG fans are prone to utilizing their mouse as an extension to their carpel tunneled arm. This being the case, Piranha Bytes, the German Developer known for its Gothic series, has given those twisted tapping hands a break and brought Risen to the 360. But in a genre filled with critically acclaimed titles like Dragon Age, the bar has been raised extremely high for Risen this time around.
Risen’s a tale of an old power awakening from under the earth. You are thrown onto the hostile island of Faranga, which is suffering from random earthquakes and sprouting treasures in its ruins. With nothing but the shredded scraps on your back and an old withered stick, the beast littered forests lay ahead. The basic plot line sounds a bit cliche, but Risen has all of the necessary pieces for a great RPG. Hours upon hours lay ahead in a land that begs to be looted, beasts that must be slayed, and people that are begging to tell you their problems.
Risen may be user friendly to those fans of the Gothic series, but for those that love the Mass Effects and Fallout 3s, its mechanics can be unforgiving. The clunky feel of combat makes the grind an unwelcome guest. Fighting wolves or any type of fantasy creature becomes more of a duty than a satisfying experience. The creatures are not all that scary and obnoxious to fight against. First of all, they are extremely powerful compared to how weak of a character you are for the first 10 to 15 hours of the game. The way to get past these battles is to hide behind the shield and peck at them. There is a dodge move, but with the combat feeling so stiff, it was given up altogether after a few hours. To be honest, I had to stop playing at times out of pure frustration.
A lot of the time in Risen will be exploring villages without a sense of direction. It’s this beginning stage of the game that will test the player’s patience the most. Being sent on grueling side missions to bring this potion to that person or to talk to God knows who about God knows what is exhausting. The missions either become intermingled with one another or are hard to find. There’s no pointer or map that lends itself to help find the way to the next possible task. The patience payoff comes hours in at about the same moment the true enemy appears. The connectedness to the characters adds to the experience while stepping into the hero role. Within the side missions comes great dialogue and character development. This feature allows for a breath of fresh air from that grindy combat being done in the forest. Conversations give a sense of purpose in the town and caring about for these people desperately needing help. Feeling the role of the hero take shape while knowing how much the characters are struggling brings the motivation needed to push forth in this new land.
Risen is a looter’s dream come true. Caves, forested areas, and infinite farmlands, hold treasures that push exploration. Digging up graves during a quest can help take away the monotonous grind that can lay within Risen‘s storyline. There is integration with questing and looting as well. For example, finding teleport stones will help with world travel. Looting and searching bring a bit of luster into the mix, but not enough in an open world that can feel so large. The gear acquired in the beginning stages of the game will be carried around for the majority, but for reason. The helmet or armor not only make the character more pliant, but bestows a sense of success and class. This adds to a feeling of pride while donning the armor and upgrading its defenses. Armor also proclaims which faction chosen. The faction depends on the choices made through the story’s progression and is one the strongest points Risen holds. It helps to not feel as though the story is preprogrammed. Instead, the story actually seems to shape itself around actions played out. Whether it may be choosing magic or befriending bandits that are prone to focusing more on pure combat. These choices also affect which quests and skills that will be offered as the world evolves. Creating a character through the decision making process brings a variation to the familiarity.
In a universe with games like Bioware’s Dragon Age releasing only a few months prior to Risen, the bar’s been raised. Risen has tried to find a place in the hearts of 360 owners by bringing the PC version to the console universe, but it simply doesn’t transfer well. From personal experience, there are some major differences between Risen and the majority of the well crafted RPG releases as of late. As mentioned earlier, the combat in <Risen is clunky. It’s hard not to picture how much better it would feel through a PC and mouse setup. The awkward menu screens and stiff button hack and slash on the 360 controller are the most obvious blemish. Fluid motions and tight combat are to be expected on the 360, as motion takes center stage in modern day RPG games. Companies like Bioware and Bethesda have taken notice in places Piranha Bytes has not. How about a map? For the most part, RPGs keep a map easily accessible. This is to keep with a sense of direction in worlds that are too large to keep track of by memorization. Not only does Risen not have a map easily accessible, but most of the time I had no idea where to even go. Risen is like the kind of girl that not only doesn’t hold your hand, but doesn’t even stick around for breakfast in the morning.
The visuals and attention to detail in games like Dragon Age look light years ahead of Risen‘s. Many parts of exploration in Risen were drowned out by cloudy visuals. For example, when flashing the light in a cave random spots of light or dark gray walls with little texture appear. Although the far off landscapes in Risen look vast and of grand quality, it’s when they get to a closer range the faults become clear. Releasing Risen a few months after a game like Dragon Age only brings about a reminder of what Risen is lacking. The flaws, no matter how minor, scream out to be noticed.
Risen has been transported from the PC version to the 360, and as mentioned earlier, it doesn’t transfer well visually. To make matters worse, the frame rate is bad too. Normally games have frame rate problems if there’s a substantial amount of action happening on screen, but Risen has issues even when you’re just walking around. Upon close examination, Risen‘s graphics feel 10 years behind. Bad textures mixed in with clunky glitches make it feel like your playing on a bad PC laptop.
Risen‘s effort is there in overall detail, but it gets lost in the minor nuances it has on every path. The story is just too long to tolerate such obvious graphical problems. In a genre that has taken leaps forward as of late, Risen fails to meet up to the new expectations. One can’t help feel sorry for the game itself. It’s long, fun, and has treasures galore, but pinned against other RPG releases Risen just doesn’t hold up.
The Rundown
Risen has found itself in a scary time and place. With global phenomenons on the 360 like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and Fallout 3, Risen has to be able to compete with this 2010 era. The problem is it can’t. The overwhelming amount of graphical and technical issues combined with bland combat experiences set it behind for the current time and place. Risen‘s sometimes engaging story and realistic characters aren’t enough to save it from being benched as the stars take the field in this year’s first quarter.
