Risen Review
The Short Version: Risen is an incredibly long and boring RPG that is damn near torture for any sane person to play (on Xbox 360). Only Hardcore RPG’ers willing to forgive a list of bugs, glitches and poor design choices a mile long need apply. Why anyone would subjugate themselves to Navigating an unforgivably backward-ass Map & Quest Interface in this Grindfest – that on occasion looks as if it was developed in 1999, for little to no reward is beyond me. Especially when there are far superior RPG choices out there. Do yourself a favor and stay far away from this one! Or at least wait for a bargain bin price to satisfy your morbid curiosity.
The Video Review:
What you’ll Like:
• Massive amount of Content, over 60+hours, but will you even want to play through it all?
• Surprising amount of Dialogue, and your main character has a voice, I like that fact.
• Some of the Spells are fun for a few minutes.
What you’ll Hate:
• Its Incredibly Boring throughout the entire game – No real “Epic feeling moments”.
• Awful Interface. Map & quest screens are nearly useless and buried under too many button presses.
• The game is filled with Broken Quests, Glitches, Bugs, and Framerate hitches (every time you kill an enemy). Unforgivable.
• Combat is underwhelming – Block, mash button, Push enemy up against wall, block, mash button. Rinse Repeat.
• Crude graphics and Pathetically Sloppy Textures.
Final Verdict:
3/10
Terrible Game!
Issue your own Final Score Above!
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136 thoughts on “Risen Review”
God, but I love the Internet. Everybody hates everyone’s opinion, marvelous. Snarling pack of wolves, I tell ya.
You know what’s truly wondrous, though? In a lot of ways, I find this review to be overly negative. The cool part about that is that it doesn’t bother me. Why not? Because it’s funny! Remember funny? Guys, Joe is an entertainer. It’s what he does. Yes, he’s here to evaluate games, yes he’s here to advise purchases, but he’s here to make you LAUGH, too. This is his opinion, it’s not going to be wholly objective, half his persona is based on being ANGRY. If you feel one of his reviews is being a little negative, that’s because it is! It wouldn’t be funny if it wasn’t!
It’s comedy. Don’t take it so godamned seriously.
@Captain Scrambles
Heh wait and see the last one’s punctuation xD
But then again it’s not my mother tongue so..:)
PS. No i m not a German trying to promote his national developer:P
fun review. I enjoyed it like all your others. I’m actually going to play this game to see for myself how it plays lol. Keep it up man
Great review as always, Joe. I’ve been watching your reviews for a while now and this is the one I’d really want to comment on. I don’t agree with most of your review other than the fact that the Xbox 360 port is terrible. It’s pretty much a golden standard to buy Eastern European games on the PC because that’s where they’re going to be best – especially old school RPGs.
This game is pretty much a slightly worse but far more stable version of the Gothic games – specifically Gothic 1 and 2. They’re hardcore on the difficulty but also heavy on rewards and progression. Going into the game with a mindset from playing most modern western RPGs will result in frustration and general insanity. Much like a person going from Call of Duty to STALKER – you’d be ripping your hair out and smashing your head into your keyboard within the first 20 minutes.
Risen does nothing wrong, just different. You have to level up to get your learning points then head to a trainer to level up your skills. It’s a system where you have to think hard on what kind of character you want to play and what faction you want to join. You can’t be master of everything, destroyer of worlds. You can master magic, melee or try out a jack of all trades all while balancing increasing your stats and skills.
Risen is a game that doesn’t give you anything and everything you get is taken. To learn your boundaries you really have to talk with the NPCs and listen to what they have to say. The same with quests, they tell you where to go and what to do. That sweeping job that the guy gave you, I never did. He never gave it to me because of the way I approached that level. I joined up with the faction and not sent there as punishment and I behaved inside the Monastery. Had I acted up in there, I would have been sweeping the epic floors.
Unlike Gothic, Risen doesn’t dish out as much for rewards like you criticized the game for. The game was terribly lopsided that way. In Gothic 2, I remember killing skeletons that could two shot me by carefully blocking and attacking them to death to be rewarded with a Two-handed dragonslayer sword – the rest of the game was cake. It is also harder to become extremely powerful in Risen, also something toned down from Gothic. In Gothic 2, you started out as crap, much like in Risen, except by the mid game, you were killing orcs and shadow beasts left and right with sword or magic while in Risen, you still struggle against the lizardmen from beginning to end.
Overall, I’d give Risen a 7/10. The first 3/4s of the game are great, but the last bit was pretty crappy. I also agree with the lock-on system – it’s pretty bad. It could use some modern day conveniences – such as dialogue skipping and the like, but I found the game to be really enjoyable. It’s a niche game for a niche RPG market.
If you want a game that would appeal to what you said in the beginning of the review – Check out the Gothic Universe. It comes with all the Gothic games. Install Gothic 2 and Night of the Raven expansion, then a fan patch and you’re set to go. Gothic 2 will reward you for your daring exploration and questing. It’s just as hard, but the progression is far better as are the rewards. Plus you can’t get stuck working for a faction, you choose all of it. (Wizards are extremely powerful in Gothic and tons of fun, I recommend trying one out)
We like it that way und you like it the other way: nonstop hack and slash without knowing why, just rushing from one questmarker to the next. Why bother with a RPG game if you are too impatient to enjoy.
Good thing I watched this. No Cheese is no Buy for anything under 10$.
hey joe how come your still censoring part of your videos but allowed the word fuck 3 times in the review?Seems kind of retarded but good shit anyways
I do it on purpose. Its just something i’ve come to do. People hate it when i censor, others like it, I like both – so I said fuck it. Ill do both. It’ll keep ppl guessing and some might wonder why I do it.
Why do you Capitalize every Other word? It’s Really annoying And distracting, And you Can’t really Fault game-Makers for Overlooking small Details when You can’t Even write A paragraph.
Now there…why all the hatred? Sure the game probably sucks on Xbox and it is a quite “delicate” RPG genre that not everyone will like, just like its predecessors(Gothics), but isn’t that review a bit unfair?
Now don’t take me wrong i don’t mean that it’s unfair from a technical point of view, but it kinda goes against the objectivity a reviewer should review a game with. I believe that your frustration took over you and it resulted into making this review look more like a draft than a decent critique over the game. For example you pointed out some pretty random positive aspects of the game(such as hardcore herbalism,cooking, branch wielding) and completely missed out stuff like challenging battles(the wall push has been fixed, and you could always not use it if you wanted to play it fair just like you can or can not lets say…nuke boost in certain games), the simple yet practical crafting system(blacksmithing, alchemy) or the several paths you can take in game. On the other hand even the negative part was not convincing enough for a demanding gamer. For example not only was it unnecessary to look at your map while near an aggressive-moth hive just to prove that the map interface was lame but it also kinda insulted me as a mature gamer(i was like “for real…do i have subdue myself in believing half that crap?”) who has been supporting you all this time just because you made reviews from a gamers perspective unlike many magazines and game-sites.
As far as questing is concerned i find it hard to believe that dealing weed was an issue since drugs and other equally repulsive actions(mindless killing,prostitution, extremely chaotic moral choices etc,etc) tend to be ignored when encountered in some other games…maybe in the name of a more famous publisher/developer or because of intense advertising that tends to create a set opinion about a game even before its release.
Finally i would like to complain about Joe’s frustration, which distorted (in my opinion) the review’s content, being also affecting the comment responses in a matter that would be best described from what Björn said earlier “I do however respect your opinion on the game Joe but it seems from some of your comments towards us fans that you do not share this respect”. I ‘m not under any circumstances asking to be spoiled just for being a subscribed fan of the show that even bothered to check the full video at the site…nope none of this if that’s the impression you might get. I just hoped that Joe would be able to realize that this being a “Gothic school” game, it has a pretty mature fan community which supports and enjoys it, and i expected some respect towards those having a more positive opinion about the game.
To sum up, yes the Xbox version has a lot of issues(especially the graphics are unacceptable and downgraded compared to the pc version), the dust piles quest is lame…but then again it’s just a tiny part of the game(come to think of it i can name a pretty popular game that had me gathering and digging through turds for quest items quite a few times) and the combat glitch(now fixed) can lower the challenging level, yet i can’t accept half the review’s content as in-depth reasons to “jump of a cliff” or something. So i believe that as soon as the video keeps gamers away from the Xbox version, it serves the purpose that Joe had in mind when making it, but demolishing the game and placing it near or lower than G.I Joe and DragonAge awakening is too far.
Sooo..that’s it, i hope that some people will bother reading all of it and lets hope that in the future each game will be reviewed where it is supposed to be played.(Let’s leave the port versions to some 50-maned popular magazine which will be able to spare the manpower and time on them and keep the juice to independent shows, made from gamers for gamers, like this one)
WTF is all of this shit. You should summerize your feedback on 2 points.
1. I don’t like Joes Review and attitude.
2. I am a fan boy (of this shitty game trying to justify is content with a long boring comment).
He protects the angry army of wasting any money on shitty games.
It’s this kind of needless malice that pisses me off. The guy made a well-worded & reasonable point, there’s no reason to lash out at him like that.
“He protects the angry army.,.”
Jesus Christ, you sound like a cultist.
There’s no malice intendend is just a freakin comment. Not a cultist. its my point of view to someone trying to justify the content with little details of the game please! should’t be that long to try and make a point. “Well worded” OMG.
I like games some other people trash, like Spoony (thespoonyexperiment.com) on FF X and i dont give them a detail of why i like that game.
Everybody be calm.
You’re absolutely entitled to your opinion, but so is everyone else. No reason to bitch the guy out because you feel his post was “too long.” Bitch him out for something more reasonable, like terrible punctuation.
typical way of yours: it it does not fit into your black-white childish world, its not worth considering at all.
@KeeperOfTheBeards
I’m not sure you understand the point of the AngryJoeShow. If you would like an objective, well-written, and likely boring review of the game, please go to Ign.com or gamespot.com.
If you want to be entertained while getting a review from a guy named “Angry Joe” with his brutally honest opinions then come here. Did that clear this up for you?
I’m illustrating points, the moths attacking me was an example of the times wolves did the same when i wasnt recording gameplay.
Maybe YOUR biased and Un-objective view of the game makes you believe that my OPINION on this game is overly harsh. Think about that.
If you dont think that I should take into account how frustrating a game is then your definitely in the wrong place buddy.
Honestly i couldn’t be more disappointed from your comment. You clearly don’t give a shit about what i just said(and you don’t seem to comprehend what my point was)judging from your comment and you didn’t even slightly changed my opinion about the review being rushed. All i pointed out above was the fact that the review was of a pretty low quality compared to all the others, that there could have been a better choice of version(that’s of course debatable since it’s your choice) and that the Gothic franchise games can not be just evaluated as good or bad games but need a more professional touch.
I agree with you though that i am in the wrong place “buddy”, not because i would prefer a boring review but a decent one and moreover i hate being given two options only…you re either with me or against me(rings any bells?).
As for the “frustration” part..i didn’t realize that i should put up with a ton of bullshit as if you have your period.
Long story short…the review was of a much lower quality and content than any other Angry Joe reviews i have watched and honestly enjoyed. I pointed out what i thought was wrong about it(in case you give a fuck) not because i wanted to wrong you or lower your precious prestige but because i thought you would actually appreciate it and also complained that your attitude is dangerously close to trolling(especially if you paid any attention to the comment which appρroved of the review keeping players away from the xbox version) with a total lack of respect to anyone who actually bothered to make use of the forum the way it is meant to be used(debating, arguing,sharing opinions instead of ass kissin), but had different ideas on the subject.
Some maths btw…9×5=45, 45+1=46, 46/9=4.6
Whoever disagrees that much with my comment as to rate it with 1* pls respond with a comment just for good ol forum’s sake(i m curious), unless of course i already have my answer..”ahem”
Long story short you dont like the fact that I was bashing on Risen xbox 360 because you like Risen PC. I got it.
Listen, Unless I give every game a 7 or above people are always going to bitch about me being unfair to a particular game- hell they will STILL Bitch at the review being “unprofessional”.
Dude.
I’m not a fucking Professional Reviewer. I do whatever I want, when I want. If a game pisses me the fuck off i’m not going to worry about “OH NO what will the gothic RPG’s fanboys think if i point out a few of the games faults and focus on those in a 13 minute review because on the whole the game pissed me off.” You cant live your life like that.
Its very simple man. All my reviews are opinion based. You didnt like this one in particular because it goes AGAINST your opinion. I’ve gotten plenty of comments that this was my best review, or that this was the most entertaining review, etc.
I’ve given you time because I enjoy reading comments from fans. But to call me unprofessional for not liking this game, and focusing on things in the game that piss me off is down right stupid. Im not going to produce a video thats 1 hour long for each review. If i have less than 15 minutes I couldnt possibly include everything thats in this game (my review of this game unedited is actually 35 minutes long – in which i go in depth on some of the good aspects as well as point out other faults – and there are IN MY OPINION alot more FAULTS in this xbox 360 version than good points).
So when you edit your videos (which you havent had to do) within a time constraint you have to choose between whats more relevant, entertaining, and what will get the whole point across the best.
The point is that the xbox 360 version of this game fucking sucks. And from my video I’d say Mission Accomplished, from that sense this might be my best review. Get it now?
Why in Gods name would I show respect to a fan base? Thats not what this is about. You’d make a terrible reviewer if all you concerned yourself with was who’s “feelings you might hurt” and which people might take offense to you “not respecting their likes”.
God for someone who is as articulate and seemingly well-educated such as yourself you have no common sense.
I didn’t like this game. Period. Its my opinion. You make your own decisions dont you? or should I make all of them for you? Should all of my reviews echo YOUR personal thoughts? Do you know how impossible and conceded that sounds?
Nooo ffs, no, it’s not because i like the PC version, it’s because i found the review lacking content and just pointed that out. You don’t get the meaning at all and i m afraid you just don’t want to. Ok lets agree with you on something as i have already done in previous contents. Yes it was quite funny although in my opinion i have seen funnier ones(Arthur grail prank comes randomly in mind, not funnier video as a whole but funnier moments), but yet again it seemed “empty” and a bit rushed, always compared to your other videos as i keep on saying.
I m also not asking for a 7 on the game, in fact that being the xbox version i suppose it pretty much scored close to what it deserved(nobody wants to see a loved franchise get its face pwned by a bad port but truth hurts). Now when i referred to the game’s community i pretty much implied what was later smoothly advised by a commenter(maybe i should try a smooth approach too to avoid the flaming), that it would have been a good idea to have an overall knowledge about the series(instead of jumping directly to a poorly executed console version of what is unofficially the 4th part), not in order to rate it higher but maybe choose the PC version to review instead or at least refer to it at the end of the review(just a quick reference like “guys totally stay away from this one but you might wanna check out the PC versions of the series since they are meant to be played there the last 10 years”, no need to edit another 30 mins”winks”).-to avoid once again a flaming i must make it more clear that i do not demand you do that in order to make me happy, it was a thought i typed to maybe(that was a bigger maybe than i expected) help into making the review more accurate. And now i have to shield myself against another flame….no i don’t ask you to be a professional, since that’s what you figured i was trying to do, i am just making thoughts about a review that kinda let me down and am trying to figure out(even on the process, since new aspects of the matter are brought up and you clearly misunderstood or misinterpret quite a few parts of my comments) ways that could have made it better(not better its score, but its content). I don’t feel guilt for doing that and i am not displeased by the review for going against my opinion(did i mention that my opinion does not differ on the Xbox version? and that being the review’s subject you can say i don’t totally agree with the review but rather with some details i am trying to point out?-hmmm yes i think its written somewhere in the 2 comments above but probably not tooooo clearly). I just have the crazy idea that forums are for chatting, debating, arguing(as mentioned before) and i took this chance to actually post something after all this time watching the show, because for once i found something debatable. And since we ‘re talking about opinions, yes i am aware that your reviews are opinion based,(despite the fact you have been harsh yourself on games that deserved it to, despite you loved them-that showing professionalism,a thing respected despite your not being “professional”), but that doesn’t mean i can’t expect some sort of discussion over a game, stfu and post “thumbs up” instead.
More on the unprofessional part now(isn’t that an oxymoron?). I never said you were(neither asked for a well-written, boring review, i don’t expect one since i didn’t just start watching the show), what i did instead was refer to a lack of objectivity, which despite the fact the show’s based on opinion, still plays a vital role that puts limits to how much “personal opinion” a review can take before having the opposite effects of what you intend it to(keeping gamers away from shitholes or encouraging them to purchase a decent title). So no harm done with the specific kind of objectivity i was referring to i hope.
On the editing part now, i didn’t expect to get a 30-minute long review since the game’s pros and cons can be summarized in your given time. I just couldn’t help but wonder how come major problems of the title(i am about to refer to a problem both of the pc and xbox version-hurray!!-), or unique advantages(not gonna repeat em, just check some Gothic reviews) were not mentioned at all-I hope you will not use that part to say again that i expect to see MY personal thoughts imprinted on the review(really is that what i said?).
For example there was one major pile of bullshit in this game and it can wipe out the debatable map/quest tracker thingie(random choice). It is called “The End”, and it totally took away a lot of the fun i had up until then. To make it more specific, after sweating your ass off through all the game and after you manage to get all the pieces of the final EPIC armor you end up fighting the titan in a kinda platform based fight, and the worst part is that the armor only enables you to face the titan(plot speaking) but seemingly makes no difference from a stats perspective when you face him. Now that is what i call a minus, an-as you mentioned- huge game, can be rather annoying when you play through all of it to reach this horrible end game fight. Yet again i can not say it totally blew it as the first chapters can more than half way make up for it. Now then don’t you find my thoughts on the subject a bit justified? the only reason i can think of not mentioning that, instead of the unskipable dialogues lets say, is probably because you did not finish the game(which i don’t blame you for since the port seems awful).
Finally the fact you used the worst manners i have ever encountered in a forum(especially from a host),made personal comments about me not having a common sense(which in fact i do judging from several aspects of my life) and implied that i was expecting you to make my own decisions(like i m some sort of retard you can talk down to), targeting me as an individual instead of keeping the argument on the subject, did not only annoy me but also ruined the whole picture i had of the person doing the Angry Joe show. And to think that all it took was stating my opinion which unfortunately criticized you makes this a lot more bitter.
I will read any comment you might leave but pls don’t expect an answer, not only the review is getting kinda old but if it keeps on like this it won’t get anywhere since i can’t seem to persuade you that i was referring to what could be different and not what needed to be different. Thx for the responses and the votes cyas
OMG its getting worse everytime. Final comment.
Hey, Joe, ever play Gothic? Same developers (I believe) made this game. Gothic is quite old but it’s amusing that it seems they haven’t had any evolution of their games over the last decade. Gothic was an amazingly fun game cause it was one of the first with a rather huge open world, interesting characters, vast replayability and whatnot, but this seems like.. well ya. It seems they’ve been steadily degrading in quality and adding more quantity (quantity of world size, of quests, of talking, etc).. what a shame :\
Well I’ll start by saying that if not for some corp drama/copyrights this would normaly be titled “gothic 4″ and it is not hard to see the familiar “nameless hero” that was there in the 1-3 games of the series.The similarities are everywhere,both in good and the bad things.
I’ll agree to the good stuff Joe pointed out,and some of the bad ones,mainly the graphics and animation issues-character movement should have been improved from gothic 1,but the animations seem almost the same…About interface,map etc I really don’t know how the xbox port was,since I played it on pc-3 times completed,to see all possible outcomes/dialogues- usually the rule is that sutch games are way better on pc as ports are sloppy at best or significaly easier-see dragonage xbox combat for example- but in pc the interface was far from a hinderance,especialy if you had played the previous games.
As for the “no real epic feeling moments”…Really?..Yes you DO begin as a nobody in rugs,who can have his ass handed to him by a pair of wolves,but why is that a negative thingie?Do we have to be Chuck Norris in all rpgs?And the questlines in the start ARE very mundane since you try to gain the trust of the factions of the game world,working your way from the bottom,but from the middle and up things really turn around.If you look into it you will even see some quite epic “sideline” quest chains,something that other rpgs today lack-sure they are not Oblivion level but they are ways above D.A:O sidequests (the later ones mostly made me feel as if I was doing quests in wow..I blame E.A:p)As for the “weed” quest you mentioned as if it was a bad thing…well it’s part of a murder investigation chain if I remember well and that was in all pretty decent…and remember that you don’t play a knight in the shinning armor but rather the gothic “nameless” hero who is abit of a duce…Was it really THAT shocking to do?:P
The combat system isn’t that bad…yes the “stuck to the wall” glitch should have been fixxed before release…but otherwise it is a quite decent real-time system that keeps you focused-or you die.As for the difficulty,as Crogan said above,it is MEANT to be hard…Which especialy today is not a bad thing…
Bottomline…the xbox port dunno…but you just don’t play crpgs in a console….The pc version at least in my book,is deffo a 7/10 maybe a 6 counting some tecnical issues.It is good and plentyful content,worth the money you pay for it-unlike some other games of the genre today-a little hard if you are used to easymode stuff and different that most games in its style…but that doesn’t mean it is a “terrible game” or a game to “make you want to jump off a cliff….A gothic fan could give it a 9 or 8-that would be too much-
but it earns a 7-in Joe’s scale-,at least on the pc-where it is ment to be played.
Soz for length,looking forward to other comments/responses.
You probably figured it out but…
If you want to really apritiate this game you must first play Gothic then Gothic II. And those games are more for the story and combat then it is on loot.
P.S. I suck at writing.
Seems the opinion on this game are very black or white.. Although everyone seems to agree that the console port is regrettable. Most player reviews ive read have been either a 3 or lower or a 8 or higher. It would appear its a game thats simply not for everyone but very enjoyable for some. I havent played it myself but from what ive gathered i think i would probably enjoy it on a pc. It seems every genre of gaming is leaning more and more towards instant action and just because the god damn box office says that Avatar is the best movie ever made doesnt make it so (reffering to joes comment on how history will judge this game). Cinema has more or less established that the less we have to think and the less complex characters are the more we like it, that dont change the fact that there still is a community of people looking for something else. Not that i know anything about characters or story in this game but ive also heard a lot of my peers bashing this game for characters and story praising films like avatar for the same thing. I do however respect your opinion on the game Joe but it seems from some of your comments towards us fans that you do not share this respect.
RPG? *falls asleep*
I had fewer problems with the german PC version of the game but I can see why it might suck on the xbox. I guess the controls aren’t as good as they should be because I remember the melee combat system to be quite tactical, challanging but also well executed. The boring dialogs might be a result of a bad translation (I remembered the dialog to be pretty humouros even though the main story lacked a bit in comparison to the gothic games which PB developed earlier)
Lastly the game is meant to be hard. One step in the wrong direction and you’re dead. Thats an oldschool rpg mechanism thats mostly appreciated by very few players nowadays since most other sandbox games use scaling elements which I personally don’t like. So it’s a matter of taste. The graphics weren’t pretty on the pc as well – but on the other hand they are not the focus of my personal taste. I can’t agree with the rating remembering the game I have played but I can understand how a botched translation and a bad port can turn this game into a boring mess… in the end dialog is the most important point in any rpg.
I played this game when it was released and PC. Returned it to the shop.
Dude what went wrong with this s***? it’s not THAT difficult to do a decent game.
Sad to see Pirana Bytes bringing out something so poor, the Gothic series was decent…this thing doesn’t seem to be xD.
The Xbox version is probably so poor cause this is their first PC to Xbox360 port…but when the game is already weak chances are a port won’t go well.
You should just pop in Oblivion for a few minutes Joe so you can enjoy a really good RPG for a moment so you can get over this disaster.
Yeah , I played this on the PC, and its pretty terrible.
Am I the only one who sees similarities in the plot with the Gothic 2 expansion Night of the raven
(A Don lives in the swamp with his bandits, there are ruins , tombs and stone plates(tablets), there’s also a pirate story with burried treasure)?
Also the “Boss battle” in the end is probably the most unepic, unimaginative thing I have seen as far as boss battles go.
I guess the PC version is better , at least with better graphics and some of the bugs removed , but the quest tracker thing is just unforgivable.
Even if all those things are improved in the PC version, just don’t buy it.
Or if you’re really curios about it, wait a while till it’s very cheap or rent it, it isn’t worth the 40 bucks or 20 for that matter.
Great review Joe.
Now review FF XIII please i want to know how it rates before i bought it.
Already played and finished God Of War 3, planning on getting a xbox 360 to play Mass Effect 1 and 2.
New lighting? It was odd at first to see you under cool lights rather than the warm lights you had before. And since they were more towards the bottom it made me think you had the fridge open for some reason.
I bet this comment made no sense.
The note about everything seeming like prison fight, had me laughing a bit there Joe. From what has been said here, I doubt I will be purchasing this game at all. It had potential, but everything was just executed in the wrong fashion. Better luck next time I guess. I might just have my eye on Dragon Age as of now.
[...] See the article here: Risen (RPG) Xbox 360 Game Review | AngryJoeShow [...]
The fact there is an achievement called “Idiot” for dying 3 times or more by falling off cliffs is just..wow.
Yea I had no interest in this game and even LESS now. I have Negative interest! :O
Just like STOL ,which I also realized after a 10 day free trial, Risen seems like a big pile of “Meh”. I’ll stay away……far away. Thanks for the tip Joe.
Hey Angry Joe , what is the name of the song you use at the end of most of your videos.It sounds like metal and it says GOOOOOOOO this is the end of the line.
I d appreciate it
It’s a piranha bytes game, gothic type, you love it or you hate it. The story is good, the dungeons are really good in my opinion and the final armor kicks ass. So I loved it, and i’m waiting for Risen 2.
Sad to see that joe is a “gothic hater”, personally i really hate the fact of the poor xbox porting, that sucks.
Best word I think can describe this game, “Sloppy.” It’s just all around a sloppy effort from what I saw. The only reason I can logically think of as to why this game was produced is, maybe the developer had a bunch of left overs from a much better game and decided to dress them up a little bit, throw in some cheap programing, and ta-da! There you go, a cheaply made piece of cattle puke. Well Joe, to get over the trauma or dealing with that game ley me give you some humble advice; go play some more Battlefield BC2 and kill something, kill a lot of somethings…lol. Great review.
Amazing review Joe. Just like always, I agree with your scores even though I haven’t played it yet. I won’t either.
Peace!
Sound likes they did a horrible job on the 360 port.
JUST GIVE ME THE DAM NUMBER
Hi Joe! I see you’ve got quite a number of reviews on the site. Did you try to get your reviews on sites like gamerankings and Metacritic? I’m sure this will bring you a lot of views. According to Gamerankings guidelines, they require that you have 300 archived reviews and that you do at least 15 reviews a month, but from what I’ve seen they include fairly new websites like giantbomb.com which currently has only 4 editors and only published 267 reviews in the past two years since its launch. I would also suggest that you expand your written reviews by including parts from the script you use in the videos. Best of luck.
Thanks Alex! Ill look into it.
I agree. Game is catastrophe. I enjoy play first…hmmm….1hour , then 3 wolves come and my head was..omg are these epic wolves for finishing quests ?
So i started to run, and my run was finished with 5 wolves and 5-6 butterflies monsters…
Yea very “funny” game. NOT. GAME SUCKS !!
FINAL RATE 2/10
For once, I disagree with Joe 100%. I think this game is freaking awesome.
It feels so much like the Gothic series, which I loved.
Nice review as always. Plus, good choice in epic music, Guild Wars Music FTW!!!
i think its a pretty good game .. Like ya the first few hours are boring , but after u actually get into it later on its great! Also i have played both and in my opinion if ur gonna get this game get it for the pc. It is better on that, rather then the 360 because it was made for the pc. Then like a year after the game was rereleased onto the 360 .. Which in my thoughts was pointless, cuz of the shitier graphics, bugginess, and sometimes framrate problems. Now to end this off ill say ya its boring for the first like few hours but then it starts to get real good, and ya if anyone else is thinking of geting it.. try to find the pc version under atleast 40 bucks.
P.s. It is only a single player game and is pretty long, my first playthough was about 64 or 67hours(1 of those) and another thing is that in this game u will die alot ..like alot in the begining and it may frustrate u.
Lastly, if u do play this game i think its good to like play some of ur own music because it kinda makes the game a little less borig!
I want everyone out there to see these kind of comments. They admit the game is boring, that it crappy for the first 20+hours. Yet they still like it. Theres nothing wrong with that. But you have to report the truth when you are a reviewer.
I like some shitty game yes. I enjoyed Halo:ODST but it was a SHIT value, same with Dragon Age: Awakening.
You clearly really enjoy RPG’s just like I do (I Enjoyed myself for a few hours with Risen) but that doesnt mean that it deserves a Higher rating because im starved for a fresh RPG. History will judge this game and trust me it will be alot closer to my rating that your rating.
I’ve played Risen two times on PC (fighter and mage), and i liked a lot, it’s a waste that on xbox is bad. RPG must be played with a mouse and not with a damn joypad, FPS also, playing with a joypad is a pain in the ass!
I agree that FPS should only be played with a mouse and keyboard, but many great RPG’s like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger were on the SNES and NES.
Well, I havent played this game, and from what you have said I probably will never play it, but I was curious and went to other review sites, and the average is like a 6/10, just saying.
I agree with your review of this game. It looks like junk but hey the PC version is probably a hell of a lot better.
Its always important to remember that a lot of sites treat a 7 as average, so a 6/10 is generally below average and is equivalent to a 3 or 4/10 on Joe’s scale.
I was interested in the game but when the reviews came out last year and everybody kept saying the same thing, that its boring, I completely lost interest.
No I do have to sort of disagree with Joe on this review and that’s about the “hardcore” statement. I don’t feel that having to do everything yourself is hardcore, its boring and tedious. Collecting the components is one thing, that’s normally a by-product of fighting or looting, actual fun game mechanics. For me personally hardcore is having food as a diminishing necessity (Krondor: The Betrayal), endurance levels on equipment, party tactics (A mages ability working with a warriors ability to create a new and more powerful attack). Excessively tricky conversations without “get out clauses” (Baldurs Gate had a tavern which when you entered had a man who blamed heroes for the death of his son and if you didn’t talk him down he’d kick off and you’d have to kill him and lose a fair bit of reputation. The game didn’t have threaten or persuade options and didn’t mark out the best option. You had to read what was being said and react accordingly). Having to swap out weapons and not rely on an uber weapon. Baldur’s Gate 2 had some ridiculously powerful weapons but you’d have to swap between them as many enemies were weak to a certain element or in the case of trolls could only be killed by a certain weapon.
There are lots of hardcore RPG elements in games, picking berries and sweeping floors is not one of them.
Exactly. 5/10 is average on my scale, not the insane 7/10. Really it should be 5.5 is Average, but since I dont deal in decimal points (they are for sissy’s) I either round up or round down depending on my personal tilt.
People seem to forget that I played the XBOX 360 version. I gave it a 3/10 because that’s what it deserved. People want to forget that this version exists but im providing a service and making sure people DONT buy the Xbox 360 version.
However, Had this game not had all the technical issues, poor framrates, and laughable textures I might have given it a 4 or 5/10. But theres no way in hell with this story, these characters, and these kind of loot items that this game can achieve more than a 5 or 6/10 on the PC. Regardless of how flawless it runs.
This concole port isn’t just bad – it’s f*ing horrible!
I loved Gothic I and Gothic II… and this game is from the same developers, Piranha Bytes. They’re a company which grew big in making PC games.
Why they released a version on xbox too is what I don’t understand.
But to be fair: All games from Piranha Bytes are ABSOLUTLY NOTHING for the common gamer who wants to start a game and be entertained immediately. In Risen as in Gothic, you have to work for your entertainment. You have to figure out what you have to do… and that’s a thing a generic game like Oblivion hasn’t.
Gothic and Risen just feel more… naturally.
They both are filled with objects (literally stone after stone) and were not build in a editor like Oblivion.
Im glad you dont have to FORCE yourself to find the Enjoyment in Oblivion but thats just me.
And if your talking about having to figure out what to do next and earn levels and new abilites you can do that all the same in Oblivion so I dont know what the person sold you when you went to buy it. LoL.
I know it sounds wrong.
But I do not always enjoy a game which gives me everything for free and a reward for each and any of my doings. I like to explore as many things as possible. Oblivion seemed to me a bit too “clean”, like not harsh enough.
I love sandbox-type of games in which not everything is clear (I liked Red Faction-Guerrilla as well as GTA IV). And to be honest, it’s a awful console port nevertheless, and the pc version has the same design decisions. So if you like them – buy it. If not: Stay away.
By the way Joe, did you play Gothic or Gothic II?
I guess you won’t enjoy them. But they selled great here in Germany.
Piranha Bytes are famous for games like Risen. In Gothic I for example you could start the game without any quest or hint to do. Just ignore the guy with the introduction at the beginning and he will go back to his work so you can speak to him whenever you want. And still follow the main story line because of it’s unique design. I mean, there weren’t one or two or three “paths” to go, just one… and it was just “playing the game” by doing whatever you want.
I hope it’s clear now what I wanted to say.
PS: I respect your work and your final verdict, it’s clearly your opinion. But mine’s a little bit different here.
Please Joe review Metro 2033!!!. I really liked this game and I hope there will be a sequel. There’s a lot of achivments and an alternate ending also. Only bad point is that it’s too short for a game that is only a singleplayer. I’d give it a 8.5/10
The PC version is way superior. It has better graphics,the controls are decent and it reminds me gothic 1 and 2.
yep joe the pc version is indeed better
but i didn’t find the game borring the way i played it
it was a nice little story, of just a guy set in a medival era and who has a mystery to solve
I love Risen, and I think it’s one of the best RPGs to date along with Gothic 1, 2 and 3. I love how it is challenging, doesn’t have clear moral choices and doesn’t have any meters indicating whether or not you’re good or evil. I love it for how it doesn’t have a stupid fucked up Oblivion level scaling system nor any other retarted design choices that Oblivion is filled with. The dialoque and voice acting are mostly really good and the world is just perfectly designed.
What I would like to say about the review is that yes, the Xbox 360 version is horrible. PC version is a lot better technically and I have finished Risen 4 times and not encountered a single really bad bug. What comes to controls, they are great and very natural on PC version. And I don’t even have to mention the graphics, they are far superior to the xbox version.
There is one thing that really pisses me off with bad (good ones too I guess) Risen reviews. The quest tracker. Seriously, how hard it is to think for two seconds and actually listen to the directions of the NPCs? Quest trackers in RPGs usually push me away from them because they break immersion really hard. I hope Piranha Bytes keeps doing what they do best, great oldschool RPGs. Because atleast they seem to be trying to keep away from the fucked up Oblivion trend where everything is given to the player right away accompanied with cookies and milk.
Right, that went off to be a bit of a rant, but hey, so was the review!
what did you do vote your comment a 5 star? Im sorry to say it but your a minority most people would rather play oblivion or any other rpg rather then even touch the box it comes in
Sinathor is one of the “Apologists” I was talking about in the Video Review. They will do anything to blind themselves into liking this game. Thinkings is design is superior in every way. I mean there are people out there that like shit things, so it cant really be explained.
This guy lives in a fantasy world. “The quest tracker. Seriously, how hard it is to think for two seconds and actually listen to the directions of the NPCs? Quest trackers in RPGs usually push me away from them because they break immersion really hard.”
I’ll tell what breaks immersion more than anything else, the seriously boring combat system – block, attack, block, attack, put enemy up against wall, block, attack.
I dont want to have to fucking search a 30 mile radius around the island to find a location that should be clearly marked. Thats just retarded. If i wanted to do mudane shit like that i would go outside and do that myself in real life. This game has no exciting bits in it ever. Its the same tried cliches over and over and over. With no incentive to go on.
Why is it that when I earn Experience I have to also have Learning Points? Then spend these limited amount of points on stuff I can learn, if i run out Im too stupid to learn anything else. Not only that but every trainer DEMANDS i pay them gold in addition to the experience & the learning points even if im working for them or in their army.
NOW THATS BREAKING THE IMMERSION. Pull your head outta your ass and serve yourself a better designed game – your deserve it.
… No… no, no no no no NO!
This is not a good game, this is not worth your money, and all you blind apes saying that it is are deluded of good RPGs.
Seriously, What will it take before you realize it does NOT hurt you because it loves you.
Interface 101 less clicks, the better.
Combat 101 Must flow properly
Design 101 Stretch does not make for good render
Plot 101 HAVE ONE!
Characters 101 Unlike real life, Personality maters!
Programing 101 Play test!!!
Joe might call it boring, I call it a 60 dollar FRISBEE!
Hi Jo, im from Germany and this Game its from German Creators.
This Game isn´t Boring! I like it on the PC its great. The XBOX Version is Shit.
But another Question: Why hate Americans that Game so mutch? In Germany a hole Comunity love that Game, but in America everybody hate it.
the PC version is better…also boring…but it looks better
Joe, you might be a little to harsh (or the xbox version is really that bad
).
The PC Game is not that bad. I had almost no technical issues, the graphics is very nice, most of the quests were ok, although nothing memorable.
As a mage running backwards and throwing fireballs will get you out of any trouble
The game becomes indeed boring in the last 2 (or 3?) chapters…
It may not be the next Gothic but there are far worse games out there
I looked up some videos of the PC version of this game and they were WAY SUPERIOR on the graphics department. Also the hitching on the death blows was gone. You might wanna check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2PaduvpYPA
I HATE shitty console ports…so very much.
i remember my little brother buying this, i nearly slapped the fool as my shit game senses started tingling DX
The Graphics remind me of The Simpsons – Hit & Run on PC…
But that was 2003, and this is in 2010!
Very Poor…
Oh My God,they actualy have this crap on X-Box?The control is so ass,that i didnt thoink,that its possible to control with joystick.
Risen reminds me of two worlds… which is a terrible thing for this game. Two worlds is the rated the worst xbox 360 game, just google “bottom 10 xbox 360 games” and there will be a site claiming it. I would never buy shit like this again
Alas, another video game comes with great ideas poorly executed. Far too many games have fallen into this trap. A good survival game like that is hard to come by, and the fact that it moves on into a more “epic” quest storyline sounds great. However obviously it isn’t done well. That cave wall line graphics was horrible, and the background fading and re-appearing when you jumped from that ledge is just sloppy. I’m tempted to play it just to see a bit, but I think I’ll stay on the safer side of things for now. Thanks again Joe, and I feel so bad for this game.