An American style RPG for those tired of the Japanese RPGs that dominate the xBox 360 line up.
Those of you that played Gothic on the PC in over the last 7 or so years, will know this game. It was originally called "Gothic 4 - Risen", but due to a legal dispute the name had to be changed to just "Risen".
History/Back-story - This follows 10 to 20 years after Gothic 3. The game when giving the back-story, just refers to Gothic 3 as "the last adventure" or "the last time you were in these lands".
You play a completely new character, which is normal for the series, who is traveling on a ship that sinks and you get washed ashore on an island with a fellow female passenger and some dead crew. There are storms that are over taking he mainland and you and the others on the ship were hoping to get away from the storms. While the island has it's usual amount of rain and small storms, it's nothing like what surrounds it.
SAVE OFTEN
Combat - Not only do you have to hit {duh}, but you also have to block your enemy's attacks. Add to this, your enemies won't just fight you head on, but they will run around you and attack you as they circle. The best thing to do is to back them into a wall and then beat the crap out of them. Of course, if they are way over your level they will just push you out of their way.
Classes - There are 3 classes; fighter/thief, warrior/some magic and mage. For the most part, the first 2 levels of any skill {except fighter/thief can't learn some types of magic}. Your class also depends on what armor group you will have access to later in the game. Your class will also determine where you are supposed go for your starter "town", but you can disregard that if you feel brave.
Karma {good, bad, or ugly} - Your actions do have a bearing on how various people treat you, but it's not too bad. By the time it really matters, you will have your own places to sleep and other traders to use. Even if you go te bad guy route at the beginning, you can still do good things the rest of the way through. You aren't locked into only bad quests and vice versa.
Money - Money is extremely rare until you no longer need money {last half of the last chapter}. You have to buy everything at full price, but the traders will only ever give 20% of the value unless you piss them off, in which case you will get less or they will refuse to do business with you. So be very cautious with your money.
Weapons - You can use any weapon you want in the game, when you get it. The game does limit you to a small selection of weapons in the 1st chapter and adds more in each new chapter. To use crossbows and bows, you need to buy/find arrows and bolts. Weapons and armor do not decay.
Armor - You get your castaway rags to start the game and then about 1/3rd the way through rest of the chapters you are allowed to buy better armor. With the exception of a soft leather helmet in a chest, there are no mobs armor pieces you get in the game.
XP - To get the most XP possible, always go back and talk to everyone involved in a quest and exhaust all possible lines of chat. You do have to be careful of what you say to them as you may piss them off and they will refuse to speak to you further, but this is rare.
Skills - I highly recommend maxing out the skills that allow you to make your own things; ie prospecting, smiting and alchemy as they can save you lots of money because you don't have to pay the high prices and make you tons of cash.
Overall - If the game was delayed and worked on for another 6 to 9 months, I this could have been a great game. Of course it in no way compares to the greatness of Fallout 3, nor could it due to it's design.
For the most part the story line is very good and the game has some famous actors doing the voices.
Overall, I'd have to give it a 5 out of 10. This mainly because I hate boss battles in RPGs that are nothing but retarded mini games and not combat based.
