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Advent Rising
North American Cover
Developer(s)	GlyphX Games
Publisher(s)	Majesco
Designer(s)	Donald Mustard Geremy Mustard
Writer(s)	Orson Scott Card Cameron Dayton
Composer(s)	Tommy Tallarico
Engine	Unreal Engine 2.0
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Xbox
Release date(s)	NA May 31, 2005 EU June 30, 2005
Genre(s)	Third-person action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T) PEGI: 12+ USK: 16+
Media	DVD-ROM
System requirements	Windows 2000/XP 2.0 GHz CPU 256MB RAM 5.5GB hard disk 128MB Radeon 9000 or GeForce 4MX graphics card DVD-ROM drive
Input methods	Xbox: Gamepad Windows: Keyboard and mouse, separate version for Novint Falcon

Advent Rising is a third-person, science fiction action-adventure video game, akin to a fast-paced action movie. It was developed by GlyphX Games and published by Majesco. The game was released on May 31, 2005 for Xbox and on August 9, 2005 for Microsoft Windows. The story of this game was created by Donald Mustard, and featured a script written by famed sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card and Cameron Dayton. The full orchestral soundtrack was done by Tommy Tallarico. As of September 14, 2006, Steam began offering Advent Rising for download as well as other games by Majesco. (Advent Rising on Steam) At release on Steam, it cost $14.95 USD.

Advent Rising was the first in a planned trilogy which also saw the development of a game that would take place alongside Advent Rising, called Advent Shadow for the PSP. However, the game's retail performance fell short of expectations. By the end of 2005, Majesco Entertainment had completely revised its business plan to focus towards handheld games and canceled plans for future Advent Rising games.

A five-issue spin-off comic book series was produced and ran from October 2005 to November 2006 (see Comics section below). Plans for novel tie-ins by Orson Scott Card never came to fruition.

In June 2006, Donald Mustard posted a statement on the website of his new venture, Chair Entertainment, stating that he "would be happy to finish the Advent series if the opportunity presented itself," but confirmed he does not currently hold the rights to do so.^[1]

In 2008, Novint is adding Novint Falcon support to this game, and will sell it as Ascension Reborn for the Novint Falcon only.^[2]

[edit] Plot

The game begins with Gideon Wyeth, the protagonist, escorting a group of human ambassadors to a meeting with an alien race called the Aurelians. At the meeting, the Aurelians warn the humans of a race of aliens called the Seekers, who seek to destroy all humanity. Shortly thereafter, the space station that they are on is attacked by the Seekers. Gideon manages to board an escape pod and lands on the planet Edumea below.

Gideon in combat with Seekers, wielding dual weapons and dodge-jumping.

On the planet, Gideon aids the Marines in their battle against the Seekers, but soon learns that the planet will shortly be destroyed by a meteor shower. The planet is evacuated, and Gideon accepts an invitation from the Aurelians to board their ship. There, he learns that, as a human, he has mystical powers. He begins training to master these powers while on the Aurelian ship.

As Gideon is training, the ship is attacked by the Seekers. Gideon and some of the Aurelians evacuate to the Seeker vessel, though it is on a crash course with the Aurelian homeworld. Gideon and the remaining Aurelians find the planet overrun by Seekers. After liberating the planet, they travel to the Galactic Council to seek their help in combating the Seeker assault on humanity.

When the Council calls the Seekers to explain themselves, a being teleports into the Council chambers claiming to be a “true” human. The being, a Koroem, claims that he ordered the Seekers to exterminate humanity because they were human “imposters”; he takes full responsibility for the human genocide.

A battle ensues after the Koroem slays one of the Aurelians. Ultimately, it is killed after Gideon uses a previously unknown mystical ability. This opens a portal that Gideon is dragged into. He finds himself on an ice planet, where a horned creature beckons Gideon to follow.

[edit] Characters

• Gideon Wyeth (voiced by Will Friedle) — The main character of the game. He is a member of one of the last human outposts.
• Ethan Wyeth — Gideon's hotshot older brother, a hero of the colony wars and pilot on the diplomatic mission of first contact with the Aurelians.
• Olivia Morgan (voiced by Vanessa Marshall) — Gideon's fiancé, a scientist currently assigned to space station Luriam.
• Paulsen - A marine gunner who accompanies Gideon through much of Bahr Han City.
• Marin Steel — A pilot and high-ranking military operative.
• Torn - Commander of the human forces in Bahr Han City. Torn believes that the Seekers are another species of the buggers seen in Ender's Game.
• Bud - A psychotic Marine with a bad temper, Bud attacks Gideon at the game's start shortly after a training match which he claims was rigged. Whether Gideon kills Bud or stuns him with a nearby stungun will affect how marines view him later in the game.
• Kelehm (voiced by Dwight Schultz) — A ninth-tier Garhgon (an Aurelian religious caste), he has trained himself in the telekinetic arts.
• Enorym Tenspur (voiced by Michael Bell) — Ally to Gideon and the most highly trained of the Aurelian elite fighters. Also a commander of the elite Felidic Warriors. Enorym leads an assault on a Seeker ship shortly after Gideon learns how to use his psychic powers.
• K'Chel — A Seeker Ambassador, K'Chel arrives on Aurelia and kills Kelehm. He escapes before Gideon can kill him and reappears in the council at the end of the game, but escapes during the battle with the Koroem.
• Daenos — One of Enorym's best warriors, Daenos assists Gideon in the assault on the ansible tower. At certain points, he provides insight into Aurelian society, mostly religion and their worship of humans. Daenos is killed after surviving the battle when the traitor Banath stabs him in the chest.
• Banath — Enorym's best and most passionate officer, Banath is one of the seeds of rebellion on Aurelia. After voicing disapproval at guarding Marin while Enorym, Daenos, Gideon, and Sarkin (another warrior) go off to battle, Banath helps stage a rebellion and kills Daenos. However, shortly afterward Gideon kills Banath in a short duel.
• Sevan — A council member on Aurelia, Sevan is the leader of the rebellion. Skeptical to even the existence of humans, Sevan does not revere them. He trades Marin to the Seekers in order to spare Aurelia and is nearly suffocated by Gideon.

[edit] Reception

Following its Xbox release, Advent Rising received mixed reviews from critics whose scores ranged from a high of 4.5 out of 5 (Gamepro) to a low of 5 out of 10 (EGM). Reviewer scores averaged at a 68 on Game Rankings and a 67 on Metacritic, while user scores averaged at 7.5. The most common complaints were the large number of bugs which caused a range of problems including freezing. Another common complaint regarded the difficulty in using the flick targeting system.

Advent Rising's visual design choice was noted by some, pointing out that the characters all appear fairly elongated, although it has been said that this was a deliberate stylistic choice.

Upon the release of the PC version of the game a month after the Xbox counterpart, Advent Rising was slightly better received, earning a 72 on Game Rankings, a 70 on Metacritic, and a 81 on Venting Gamer with user scores averaging at 82. Many reviewers felt that the month long delay had been put to good use as many of the glitches in the Xbox version had been fixed. Framerate was also improved, with slow downs becoming rarer.

An interesting side note is that a million dollars was offered in a contest via Xbox Live for the first player to find a hidden symbol. Unfortunately, Majesco was forced to cancel the contest when security issues with Xbox Live's global time syncing created an unfair playing field for competitors. Majesco offered as compensation to those players, copies of several of its games and an apology on its home page.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Soundtrack

The Advent Rising Soundtrack of the game was released on June 28, 2005, under record label Sumthing Else Music Works. The music was composed by Emmanuel Fratianni and Michael Richard Plowman,^[3] whilst the additional music and orchestrations were performed by Laurie Robinson and Tommy Tallarico.^[4]

[edit] Orson Scott Card's influence

The game's overall story was created by Donald and Geremy Mustard. The dialogue and screenplay, however, was written by Orson Scott Card and Cameron Dayton. Card's influences are noticeable in the terminology which has been carried over from Ender's Game. The terms "vids," "Buggers," and "ansible" are all references from his critically acclaimed novels (though the term ansible was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin, and was not actually added to the script by Card himself, but by Donald Mustard. See Card's comments on the matter). It is widely agreed upon that the story is the most celebrated feature of the game, with a cliffhanger ending meant to inspire interest in the future games in the series.

[edit] Comics

An avid comics fan, game creator Donald Mustard originally realized the story of Advent Rising in hand-drawn comic books. "With Advent, from day one, we conceived it initially as a comic book itself. Back when I was getting out of high school, we were laying the foundation for Advent. I drew the first several hours of what would ultimately become the game as a comic book," Mustard revealed in a 2005 interview.^[5]

The release of the Advent Rising game was supported by a promotional one-shot comic book produced by DC Comics. The comic was written by Lee Hammock and drawn by Billy Dallas Patton as a direct tie-in to the action of the game. It was inserted free of charge within a handful of comic books published by DC.

Another comic book, this time a series, grew out of the partnership between Majesco and 360ep, a young entertainment properties management concern founded by former Marvel Comics CEO Bill Jemas.

The new comic series, called "Advent Rising: Rock the Planet," was written by Rob Worley, with layouts by Arthur Dela Cruz, pencils by Cliff Richards, inks by Dennis Crisostomo, colors by Cris Delara, and letters by Simon Bowland. The comic was produced with oversight by Mustard and Jemas. This new series begins the franchise some ten years before the events of the game. It follows the adventures of Gideon, Ethan, and Olivia in their formative, teenage years. The first issue was published on October 26, 2005. The fifth and final issue was released on November 22, 2006.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Advent site
• Gamepro Review
• Advent Rising at Majesco - Screenshots, PC demo, and link to buy non-Steam digital download of full game
• Chair Entertainment Group
• IGN Xbox review
• Advent Rising at MobyGames
• Advent Rising at the Internet Movie Database