Risen Reviews
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First up is ZTGameDomain with a score of 6.0/10:
A strange dichotomy exists within Risen. Somehow within one game the developer managed to get nearly all the RPG details right and nearly all the technical elements wrong, leaving behind a broken yet promising shell. Dedicated WRPG players who enjoy open world style games will find plenty of stuff to like if they can push themselves past the games numerous faults, unfortunately most of them have probably already played the unquestionably superior PC version of the game. For casual fans of the genre there are already too many solid games on the system (and a lot more on the way) for me to recommend sinking the time into Risen.
Then we have Diehard GameFAN with a score of "Decent Game":
Risen is something of an archaic game in many ways. While it will please diehard action RPG fans or players who appreciate older PC gaming sensibilities, console gaming fans and casual gamers will more than likely want to rent this before they invest their money in it. The story is solid, the visuals and audio are serviceable, and the gameplay is varied and interesting in a lot of ways. There's plenty of depth to the game as well, and anyone who finds the game entertaining will enjoy the branching plot-lines enough to play through the game multiple times to see what the missions have to offer them. That said, the game isn't for everyone. Console gamers will be put off by the lack of any sort of functional guidance for mission objectives, as well as the adequate but unimpressive presentation. Further, casual gamers will find the game unfriendly, between the harsh penalties for exploration, the massive time ratio between (work done) and (impressive upgrades earned), the lack of an impressive hero and the ability to customize their avatar, and the general technical glitches. For someone with patience and a love of substance over style, Risen will satisfy the action RPG itch, but unless you're a diehard action RPG fan the negatives and often draconian design elements may be too much for you to deal with.
And, finally, Game Freaks 365 with a score of 7/10:
Risen is a decent game sporting some tried and true concepts that make RPGs the fun and time consuming genre that many of us love. That is, if you can look past the issues, Risen for the Xbox 360 is a decent game. You will encounter bugs and the controls are (iffy) at best. My main issue with Risen is that is feels like a PC game that has been downgraded to run on a console. Some games are better left in their original form, in Risen's case being on the PC. German developer Piranha Bites certainly has given itself an okay start at developing for the Xbox 360 as I am sure porting Risen was no small feat. I can only see improvement coming from them from now on. If you are willing to deal with the issues in Risen's Xbox 360 port, then you will no doubt derive some enjoyment from the RPG elements that lie beneath. If you are interested and Xbox 360 is your only way to play, give Risen a rental first.
