Advent Rising

Legendary science fiction author Orson Scott Card lends his mighty pen to this new action game.

If you?re a science fiction fan, you know the name Orson Scott Card. He?s written some of the most ?classic? of the modern science fiction classics, among them Ender?s Game, a story about a young boy genius who?s shipped off to battle school to train in a war against alien insectoids. If you haven?t read it yet, stop reading this, go to the library, and check it out?then come back, and prepare to be a lot more excited about Majesco?s newest game. This is the man who?s handling the story and screenplay.

Advent Rising is the first game in a planned trilogy of third-person action games, the first of which is set to come out in spring of 2004. The game centers around an alien race who have myths about divine beings with incomprehensible powers. As it turns out, the divine beings in question are actually homo sapiens?humans?and you play Gideon Wyeth, one of the first that the aliens encounter.

Unlike most other action games, Advent Rising starts you off with all the best weapons right from the get go. The game uses a Z-targeting lock-on system similar to the N64 and GameCube Legend of Zelda games, and allows you to pin down two different targets at the same time if you?re shooting with a gun in each hand.

So what exactly is it that will pull you along, you ask, if it isn?t the promise of bigger guns? As you play through the game, you discover your latent ?divine? powers that manifest themselves as certain Neo-like abilities: the ability to run on walls, knock people away with your mind, and telekinetic powers that let you lift up vehicles and enemies with your mind and fling them about like rag dolls. Your powers develop based on how frequently you use them (use guns a lot, you gradually become a better shot?pick up people with brain power, and you?ll gradually be able to hold them there longer), so your own play style naturally dictates what skills become honed. There are also eighteen or so vehicles to drive around and shoot people from, Halo-style, including what game designer Donald Mustard calls the ?biggest drivable vehicle in any game ever.?

As a gun-and-combat-heavy action game for the Xbox, Advent Rising seems like a no-brainer for multiplayer?the game definitely seems set up that way?but right now Majesco isn?t saying what?s in store. Advent Rising is only 6 months into development, with a target release of spring of 2004 for Xbox and PC. There are also plans for novels and a movie screenplay, meaning the Advent game trilogy will eventually be part of a sort of multimedia mini-onslaught. Stay tuned?there?s way more to come on this very promising title.

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