You play the part of Captain Gideon Wyeth as he roams about the universe, trying to survive and seeking vengeance for the destruction of his world. Throughout his adventures you get to meet lots of interesting creatures and have the opportunity to blow them into little bitty pieces using everything from high tech pistols to rifles to rocket launchers, and eventually you will discover the legacy that humanity has lost sight of and will be able to wield amazingly destructive powers with your mind.

This is going to be a tough review to write because to say what I really want to say may spoil the surprise for you. I always hate it when my friends go and see a movie before me and then sit around and talk about it with me in the room ... So, beware that you don't learn more about the game than you want to.

There have been numerous games that I have played over the past couple of years that have cinematic aspects to them, and none of them come close to the immersiveness of Advent Rising. This is truly a book on wheels with a nitro booster that will send you reeling.

Advent Rising is not a game that has cinematics and cut scenes that pop up at key moments to enhance the game and story line. It is a movie for your Xbox that has moments of gameplay where you take control of the destiny of the main character. During those moments there is some very intense game play indeed.

The story so far ... Gideon is part of a diplomatic team that is going on a first contact mission to meet a newly discovered alien race called the Aurelians. During this first contact the Aurelians treat the Humans as some sort of divine royalty. But before they can even finish their first meeting they are interupted by a battle fleet of Seekers who followed the Aurelian ship and pretty much just want all Humans dead.

This is where the game starts - well, actually it's how the movie starts, then you get to have some game play to try to survive the initial attack.

Throughout the game/movie there will be various missions to complete, like finding and rescuing specific people - like your girlfriend Olivia - or going to shut off machines, or simply to survive and get to the other side of the room. One nice aspect of the game is that you can adjust the difficulty level mid-mission. So if you get stuck in a certain spot and just can't get through it, lighten up the difficulty. If you feel that you're not being challenged enough, just increase the difficulty. It makes for a more fun and rewarding game when you can actually get to the end.

There are numerous weapons at your disposal throughout the game: projectile weapons, energy weapons, rocket launchers and much, much more. You will find them just lying about all over the ground (well, after you kill the bad guys you will). You can carry up to two weapons at any time, and in fact can use them both simultaneously, one in each hand. Now that's some serious firepower at your fingertips.

Speaking of fingertips, you will also begin to develop some extraordinary abilities of the mind as you progress through the missions. Abilities like Telekinesis, a force shield, energy bolts, time shifting, etc. These abilities get more powerful the more you use them, so there is incentive to do so. By the way, to use the power requires that you have a free hand, which takes one of your weapon slots. As you progress you will find that the weapons that are available will pale in comparison to your new found powers.

Throughout the game you will have moments where you have allies around you who will help to take out the enemy. Where the enemy seems to come in unending waves, the "good guys" don't get replaced as they get shot stabbed and generally mutilated by the Seekers. There will also be times when you have a specific NPC running along with you; fortunately (for them) they seem to be generally immune to serious injury so you can at least rely on their being around for a while.

The game controls take a little time to get used to. Tapping the right joystick will target an enemy, pushing on the right joystick will turn you in that direction. At times the system seemed to get those two actions confused, and I suddenly found myself targeting something I didn't want to. Since you could only have two attacks at the ready, be it weapon or psychic power, it's important to have a clear understanding of how you select weapons and powers so that you can do it quickly in the middle of a firefight. So get lots of practice playing with the inventory system during the slow periods.

Part of the challenge of the game is to simply figure out where you need to go. Unlike most games that give you a beacon to follow or an arrow to point you in the right direction, or even a compass to show you which way is north, Advent Rising will give you an objective to, say, "go to the elevator." Beyond that simple statement its all up to you to figure out just where that elevator may be.

The music in the game is very ... celestial and adds greatly to the game to get you in the right mindset. Graphics quality is excellent and the detail is fantastic all through the game.

One last thing, be sure to sit and watch the credits and beyond. If you don't, you're going to miss a whopper of an epilogue - almost an entire level's worth of content. For those who missed it the first time around, go rent the game again, it's a LOT.

Overall Advent Rising was a pleasant surprise and was well worth the time spent playing it. Though a bit of a short game, it was a lot of fun and I very much enjoyed the story. I'm definitely looking forward to the next chapter.