Advent Rising
Encyclopedia
Advent Rising is a third-person
, science fiction action-adventure
video game. 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 science fiction
writer
s 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 $9.99 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.
In 2008, Novint
is adding Novint Falcon support to this game, and will sell it as Ascension Reborn for the Novint Falcon only.
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 shows up and says, "Come with me, human. There is much to be done." and then beckons Gideon to follow.
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
.
, whilst the additional music and orchestrations were performed by Laurie Robinson and Tommy Tallarico
.
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). 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.
) to a low of 5 out of 10 (EGM
). Reviewer scores averaged at a 68 on both Game Rankings
and 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 Risings 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 slowdowns 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.
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.
Third-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
, science fiction action-adventure
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
video game. It was developed by GlyphX Games and published by Majesco. The game was released on May 31, 2005 for Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and on August 9, 2005 for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The story of this game was created by Donald Mustard, and featured a script written by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writer
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
s Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
and Cameron Dayton. The full orchestral soundtrack was done by Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico is an American video game music composer and musician. He is best known as the co-creator of the concert series Video Games Live...
. 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 $9.99 USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
.
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
Advent Shadow
Advent Shadow was a video game developed for the PlayStation Portable handheld and a side story of Advent Rising, however, the game was cancelled in January 2006....
for the PSP
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
. However, the game's retail performance fell short of expectations. By the end of 2005, Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment
Majesco Entertainment is a video game publisher founded in 1986.-History:Majesco first made a name as a reissuer of old titles that had been abandoned by their original publisher. By cutting the prices dramatically and, eventually, arranging the rights to self-manufacture games for both Nintendo...
had completely revised its business plan to focus towards handheld games and canceled plans for future Advent Rising games.
A five-issue spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
comic book
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
series was produced and ran from October 2005 to November 2006 (see Comics section below). Plans for novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
tie-ins by Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
never came to fruition.
In June 2006, Donald Mustard posted a statement on the website of his new venture, Chair Entertainment
Chair Entertainment
Chair Entertainment Group is an American video game developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah.-History:Chair Entertainment Group was formed in 2005 by Advent Rising creators, Donald and Geremy Mustard, CEO Ryan Holmes, and key members from the core design team behind Advent Rising. Soon after, Chair...
, 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.
In 2008, Novint
Novint
Novint Technologies, Inc. is a corporation incorporated in Delaware and based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Novint designs and builds haptic, or 3D touch, devices and software. Novint developed the Novint Falcon, the world's first consumer 3D touch device, which allows users to use...
is adding Novint Falcon support to this game, and will sell it as Ascension Reborn for the Novint Falcon only.
Story
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.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 shows up and says, "Come with me, human. There is much to be done." and then beckons Gideon to follow.
Characters
- Gideon Wyeth (voiced by Will FriedleWill FriedleWilliam Alan "Will" Friedle is an American actor, voice actor and comedian. He is best known for his comedic roles, most notably the underachieving elder brother Eric Matthews on the long-running TV sitcom Boy Meets World from 1993 to 2000...
) — 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 MarshallVanessa MarshallVanessa Marshall is an American actress, voice actress and model. She is the daughter of actress Joan Van Ark. She got into voice-over work after being discovered at a one woman show.-Films:* Bagboy! - Mrs...
) — 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 GameEnder's GameEnder's Game is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The book originated as the short story "Ender's Game", published in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Elaborating on characters and plot lines depicted in the novel, Card later wrote additional...
. - 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 SchultzDwight SchultzWilliam Dwight Schultz is an American stage, television, film actor, and voice artist. He is best known for his roles as Captain "Howling Mad" Murdock on the 1980s action show The A-Team, and as Reginald Barclay in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and the film Star Trek: First...
) — 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.
Development
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.The release of the Advent Rising game was supported by a promotional
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
one-shot comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
produced by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. 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
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
.
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 PlowmanMichael Richard Plowman
Michael Richard Plowman is an English composer and conductor.-External links:**...
, whilst the additional music and orchestrations were performed by Laurie Robinson and Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico is an American video game music composer and musician. He is best known as the co-creator of the concert series Video Games Live...
.
Orson Scott Card's influence
The game's overall story was created by Donald and Geremy Mustard. The dialog and screenplay, however, was written by Orson Scott CardOrson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
and Cameron Dayton. Card's influences are noticeable in the terminology
Terminology
Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that in specific contexts are given specific meanings, meanings that may deviate from the meaning the same words have in other contexts and in everyday language. The discipline Terminology studies among other...
which has been carried over from Ender's Game
Ender's Game
Ender's Game is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The book originated as the short story "Ender's Game", published in the August 1977 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. Elaborating on characters and plot lines depicted in the novel, Card later wrote additional...
. The terms "vids," "Buggers
Formics
The Formics, also known as Buggers, are a fictional insectoid alien species from the Ender's Game series of science fiction novels by Orson Scott Card.The term "Formic" is derived from formica, the Latin word for ant...
," and "ansible
Ansible
An ansible is a hypothetical machine capable of instantaneous or superluminal communication. Ansibles occur as plot devices in science fiction literature.- Origin :The word ansible was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin in her 1966 novel, Rocannon's World...
" are all references from his critically acclaimed novels (though the term ansible was coined by Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, notably in fantasy and science fiction...
, and was not actually added to the script by Card himself, but by Donald Mustard). 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.
Reception
Following its Xbox release, Advent Rising received mixed reviews from critics whose scores ranged from a high of 4.5 out of 5 (GameproGamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
) to a low of 5 out of 10 (EGM
EGM
EGM can stand for:* Electronic Gaming Monthly, an American video game magazine* Extraordinary General Meeting, a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders, or employees, which occurs at an irregular time...
). Reviewer scores averaged at a 68 on both Game Rankings
Game Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
and Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, 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 Risings 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 slowdowns 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.
Comics
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 ComicsMarvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
CEO Bill Jemas
Bill Jemas
Bill Jemas is an American media entrepreneur, writer and editor. He is a former vice president of Marvel Comics, and a founding partner at 360ep, a media management firm.-Early life:...
.
The new comic series, called "Advent Rising: Rock the Planet," was written by Rob Worley
Rob Worley
Rob Worley is an American writer and editor. He is a co-author of Advent Rising: Rock the Planet, a comic book prequel to the Advent Rising video game.-Biography:...
, with layouts by Arthur Dela Cruz, pencils by Cliff Richards
Cliff Richards
Cliff Richards is a comic book artist.-Biography:Richards is best known as the penciller of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer monthly series from Dark Horse Comics, as well as the artist on the Buffy limited series, Haunted...
, 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.
Unofficial Patches
A unofficial patch called Advent Revising for the game has been created to address a number of issues including subtitles, cinematic playback, cut content and various other fixes.External links
- 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 Revising unofficial patch