Risen 2: Dark Waters - Complete Package - Playstation 3 (Special Edition)

GREAT PIRATE GAME!!! Nice skills. Wonderful soundtrack. Smooth combat (improved over 1st game). Neat enemies. Terrific - and fun! - quests. Great Graphics. Intriguing story. Likeable characters. Lots of items and lots of loot. Fun DLC. Pirate game!5 stars * * * * * !!!FANTASTIC!

Really like this game it moves at a slower pace but very enjoyable. But not for children due to content and language

Look, I've played some mediocre games in my day. And if a game has some redeeming qualities, I'm not above hacking my way through the unpolished parts to get to them. Two Worlds II, for example, was a little rough around the edges. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, and spent upwards of 40 hours fighting my way through to the end.Risen 2 takes the term "unpolished" to a whole new level. To the point where I'm only an hour in, and I'm ready to throw in the towel. Let me count the ways that this game is absolutely atrocious (so far)...1) The title screen for this game -- which, as near as I can determine, is set sometime around the 1600s -- features an image of a foreboding skull, along with a spinning CD (with a message about autosaving). Excellent art direction so far, fellas. You couldn't have changed that CD icon to something more period-appropriate? A treasure chest perhaps?2) All of the text in this game -- from the intro sequence to the character names to every bit of text in the menu -- is all in caps for no reason whatsoever. And it's italicized. And I'm pretty sure it's Times New Roman. It's almost as if no one who developed this game knows anything about design, because it's an eyesore.3) Despite being set in a tropical pirate setting, the graphics are dull and muddy.4) The voice acting is awful, as though the seemingly-disinterested actors were thinking to themselves the entire time, "I'm getting paid in cash for this, right?"5) While locked in a tense duel with some sand crabs or something at the start of the game, the camera inexplicably rotated 180 degrees, so that all I could see was the main character, flailing wildly with his sword. The creatures I was supposed to be fighting were located somewhere out of the frame.6) The cutscenes not only feature choppy graphics that look like they're from 2002, but also textures that appear and disappear randomly, clunky dialogue and a general sense that whoever "directed" these scenes has never actually interacted with another human.7) I have no idea where I'm supposed to be going, because the map is utterly useless. I managed to figure out how to get out of the outpost by simply talking to everyone, but now that I've hopped a ship and ended up in some other town, I foresee being completely lost at all times.In my short time with Risen 2, I can confidently say that it's the worst PS3 game I've ever played. I know that making games is not an easy task, but this is just an unfinished mess of a game that never should've been released. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I'll continue chipping away at it for a bit, just to see if there are any redeeming qualities, and I'll update this review accordingly if this game grows on me at all. But for the time being, this is just an absolute trainwreck.

ok my first ten minutes of the game seemed promising,however that was not the case. though the graphics might look good at firstthere's a terrible amount of Pop-In frame clipping and even slowdown.after you get through these grueling cutscenes,you are treated to being close to naked and supplies are so expensive as are skills, you are vulnerable to just about everything and everyone.you are sent by the inquisition to go and join a group of pirates run by a leader named steelbeard (how original) well before you ever get the chance you will be humiliated by fighting some crabs on the beach.they can lock you intounbreakable patterns where they can kill you without you ever being able to swing.combat is so clunky I barely know where to begin..blocking blows is spotty at best and your sword swings are painfully slow while enemies swing really fast by comparison and as such, you will die many frustrating and horribly needless deaths. the whole parry system could have been fun as well but instead turns out to be a chore (hold parry until enemy attacks then attack and repeat process over and over)sailing seemed like it might be a fun aspect of the game, againthey ruined this since you do not actually sail any ships, you merely give direction and voila! you're there. yet another flaw in what could have been a very good game.about the only good points are dynamic weather and the extremely colorful language they chose for this game (which most likely will offend some people)I had really high hopes but it's so broken I gave up after an hour of play so there's not much more for me to write except don't even bother with this game in the bargain bin because even then it's no bargain.Graphics: very good but marred by frequent framerate studder, horrible pop in and other issues too numerous to list.3 starsControls: awkward and clunky. animations are terribly stiff and awkward looking not natural at all, could have used another year of polish. one starSound: satisfactory, anthony hopkins (or a sound alike) delivers a good narrative but otherwise rather unremarkable 3 starsGameplay: stiff animations and a horrible framerate render this almost unplayable.the controls are horrible and the learning curve is really high. the skill trees are basic at best and even when you finally fill up a skill it seems to have little to no impact upon the gameplay. one starFun: it just isn't fun. fighting the camera, fighting overpowered enemies and having to spend more gold then you have on a single skill point make thisan exorcise in frustration and not even remotely fun. One StarOverall: a train wreck of an rpg that really had potential. sadly that potential was wasted as is any money spent on this game, even with the extra dlc (air tower and treasure isle) I doubt many will be patient enough to get that far. a two star game at best and the only reason for Two Stars is the graphics look really good (when there's no glitches pop up etc. also the dynamic day/night and weather effects looked great otherwise a title that should be avoided by all but the most hardcore gamers that can overlook serious mechanical flaws.