Dave Halverson on Advent Rising Reviews

[Smoke]

Saw this over at Gaming-Age and thought it was interesting.

Have you ever seen an independent or small budget film where you could tell by the story and direction that the people behind it were geniuses in the making? Like Terminator, with its experimental effects and choppy stop motion… Advent is like that. The difference is that in Hollywood talents like these are showered with praise and given more money and resources to create their opus, where in gaming, select “press” see these instances as an opportunity to salt the wound; search for every last bug and put them under a microscope.

Does Advent slow down? Yes…Is Gideon dynamic to the environment…no. But as they said in one of Cameron’s many future opuses; “you have to look with better eyes than that”. Advent is a Halo scope game by a first time developer meant to immerse us in part one of a cinematic trilogy, much like Star Wars; another cobbled together first effort. On the whole the game is an experience no sci-fi fan should miss and in a proper environment would be critiqued for what it does right, over technical flaws inherent of time technology and a first time developer. This, right here, is why games like this are endangered and why our industry often veers in the wrong direction. As long as it’s easier and safer to put out cookie cutter flavor of the year games, we won’t see proper strides in gameplay. New ideas and franchise players such as this need support, not undue scrutiny.

Want me to go off on the technical snafus of GTA…Got an hour? But it’s a great game! Do you see these outlets doing that? No? Hmmm; I wonder why? Did anyone bag on Halo when Covenant troops glitched and ran into crevices like broken robots? Of course not…Or how about the trees in Halo 2…They’re square…and have no transition to the ground. I could have modeled them better. Anyone pick that apart? No; of course not, because it’s an awesome game. It was also made over three years on a titanic budget with a huge team and cutting edge tools, the same tools and treatment Donald Mustard and company now deserve to complete his trilogy. They should also recruit David Siller, one of the best producers in the country, if not the world, who is currently shopping for a new home. Only one of the main guys responsible for making the original Crash the game it was and creator of the first ever American made Capcom hit; Maximo. With Dave on the team, Advent is a 10…But that’s just my two cents.

We all scream for original games and innovation and here Glyphx and Majesco are delivering, and all certain outlets want to do is focus on what should be regarded as asides; things easily explained within the context of the development process. Well, enough. I said my piece. They are entitled to their opinion and their process. I just don’t agree with it. I don’t mean to throw stones. Lord knows I’ve scored some games high that many people weren’t so wild about…(P.N. 03, Voodoo Vince…) I just feel that in this case certain reviews have been overly critical in the scheme of things.
To Donald and everyone at Glyphx (and Tommy T. for a truly stunning score) I say hang in there and let the game buying public (who seem to love it) be your guide. I only hope the right message gets through so that we see you guys again real soon. Our cover will always be open for Advent Rising.

Full artcle here.

[A Black Falcon]

Never heard of this game, should I care?

[Great Rumbler]

I've heard of this game before, but it hasn't really gottan much press. I really should take a closer look at it.

[Smoke]

It's not what game he's talking about that I find interesting but the state of game reviews.

[A Black Falcon]

What do you mean?

[Smoke]

“you have to look with better eyes than that”

[Dark Jaguar]

My friend just got this game, and apparently it's an interesting mix of super powers and first person shooter. Apparently, humans are the most powerful beings in the universe (so what, does that mean all aliens are Kif Kroaker types?) and are worshipped as GODS. As my friend was telling me this, I was looking over and noticing not one but TWO people attempting to cook pieces of pizza in a toaster, struggling and conversing with each other on how to accomplish such a task. This leads me to believe that all other alien species must somehow be MORE idiotic than even we snarfhockers are. At any rate, humans have unlocked their own abilities at long last, which as you may imagine take a psychic bent, with things like being able to generate force fields, lift EVERYTHING in the room and toss it over a cliff, or stuff like that. I suppose it might even allow one to teleport at a certain point, but oh well.

At any rate, my friend really made a point of saying I should get the game, so I dunno, I suppose I'll at least try it out some time.

[Smoke]

That sounds like an interesting premise.

But what interested me was this:

Want me to go off on the technical snafus of GTA…Got an hour? But it’s a great game! Do you see these outlets doing that? No? Hmmm; I wonder why?

Why is it that a big name game like GTA gets a free pass when it comes to bugs but smaller games don't? Advertising money? Fanboyism?

[Great Rumbler]

GTA had a ton of bugs in it, but people never really talked about it. I'd say that advertising money had something to do with it.

[A Black Falcon]

Advertising money, fanboyism, both good reasons... it's a big game so they feel an obligation I guess to give it a "deserving" review... now, this doesn't always happen of course (games that are truly bad get bad scores, generally), but yeah, sometimes reviewers do seem to 'forget' the bad points of major titles.