I've always loved a great RPG. It's a genre I can sink hours into-whether it be completing a large number of quests, to simply exploring the land by my own free will. Risen almost was a great RPG, but there are a few frustrating, and incredibly disappointing moments that prevent this from happening. The game follows a nameless individual who, after a shipwreck, has found himself washed up ashore on a remote island. When your character wanders inland, you will notice that the island is divided up into three factions: a monastery containing a band of spiritual men-not all, you soon find out, were voluntary members, a swamp run by the cruel Don Esteban, and the ...  Read the complete review

The first redeeming quality of this game is its price. I found it in second hand in a high street store for just under £5, and it seems that it is available fairly cheap in most places. Unfortunately as I bought Saw II at the same time, it was a while before I got around to giving Risen a try. You wake up on a beach with a female fellow human, seemingly having been victims of a shipwreck. Having a rather distracting toddler running round and also trying to play the game with his mummy, I missed most of the introductory titles, and was therefore fairly lost when gameplay began. It is not very well explained why you are where you are, and you are just asked to ...  Read the complete review

Risen is one of those strange under-the-radar games that really took me by surprise. I picked it up on a whim because I found it in the bargain bin, and to be honest it sat in my "to play" pile for a good while. Eventually though, I dropped the disc into my 360 and within a few hours I was completely and utterly hooked. I'll be honest though - Risen has its flaws. During the first hour or two I was thinking to myself that I was glad I'd picked this up so cheap, because the graphics are quite unimpressive, the combat is quite clunky, and animations and voice-acting leaves a bit to be desired. However, I somehow managed to look beyond all that, which ...  Read the complete review