I Am Alive (Xbox 360)

I Am Alive

Tested and reviewed based on the Xbox 360 version.
Review by Ben Nacca
(Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BenNacca )
XBL GT: Darkeyes1991 PSN ID: Darkeyes2k11

A lot of people complained that Alan Wake took so long to come out – so much so the game became a rumour to realism to pure speculation then next minute, some few years later, it is sitting on shelves waiting to be bought. Same cannot be said for I Am Alive – taking 6 years since first being announced and it doesn’t even get to hit the stores – instead it is squeezed into becoming an Xbox Live Arcade / PSN title and now we have to decide if it was worth the wait.

A brief overview then; the country has crumbled after “the event” and our hero, whose name is intertwined with the story so I won’t reveal it, is on a mission to go back to his hometown, Haventon – the last known whereabouts of his wife and daughter. Gameplay mechanics include climbing, shooting, scavenging for ammo and so on that you feel like Nathan Drake in a post-apocalyptic setting. This isn’t to say it isn’t a bad thing – ammunition is hard to find and a setting where a town has been ripped apart is an interesting concept. So why doesn’t it quite work?

Some features seem fantastic from first sight but drop a bit when you figure out how limiting the make the game. Even if you are out of bullets, the enemies don’t know that so when a bunch of people holding machetes want to carve you into slices, holding your weapon up and aiming at the them will keep them at bay. The downside? Well if you drop it, they continue to walk forward seeming to forget that you have warned them, you could just drop them with a bullet or two. If you carry on aiming at them and walk towards them, you can push them off a ledge or something to that effect but the fact you can march them 10 or 15 feet to an edge…seems a bit farfetched.

The characters and enemies are just that as well with no real result of their deaths – machetes and bullets pass through without much of an impact and it feels a bit lifeless – the whole Surprise Kills and Struggle Kills seem almost irrelevant and detract from the experience.

An interesting feature is the stamina bar – it plays a part in nearly everything but most importantly, climbing. Climbing is a massive part of I Am Alive and if you are running out of stamina while climbing, you will be panicking, wondering if you will make it. Unfortunately there are enough items you can use that will make that fear obsolete but occasionally the threat of death by falling is there.

The most times you will die though is with the controls – they work to some extent but the pistol can be pretty useless, the bow takes too long and the machete isn’t the best idea when against a few enemies. They aren’t slick enough to get the accuracy and falling to your death will occur more likely because the protagonist won’t go where you are telling him to go which can lead to frustration.

Visuals 6/10

They are nothing spectacular, even for an Arcade / PSN game which is a shame. It does use the post-apocalyptic palette rather well though and characters are believable for the most part.

Audio 6/10

Voice acting and music is average at best. Not much to say that is good or bad about it but the fact it never stands out and it never really annoys you either. Just bland, drab in the middle audio.

Gameplay 4/10

Promises so much and the ideas are all there, don’t get me wrong, this title could be a 10 out of 10 if it was just done right. With the time spent on this game, it is a wonder why most of the features an ideas only seem half implemented.

Delivery 7/10

A sizeable campaign for an arcade game with some intrigue on the story though events are annoyingly left unexplained. Maybe they will explain them in 6 years time with I Am Alive 2? I hope not. If beating the campaign is not enough, there is a survivor mode to make your purchase worth a little bit more worthwhile.

Summary 6.5/10

There are so many promising incentives for I Am Alive and this game could be a masterpiece – I can’t even say if more time was spent on it since they had 6 years – but the main problem is that it scratches the surface but never enjoys the innovative features it has. It is a shame as I Am Alive on first look seems intriguing, mysterious and exhilarating. Instead its tired, strained and unfortunately disappointing.

This review is the property of Ben Nacca and is for the sole use of www.lanraiders.co.uk, www.dailyecho.co.uk and www.ciao.co.uk. No copying to other websites or other mediums without written permission first.