Review: Alias (PS2)
First things first - Gamestyle puts one little question towards you: just how many action games based on a popular TV show/movie turned out to be worth your hard earned cash? We’re pretty sure you’ll plump for the exact same response to that question as us: a big fat zero.
The problem is each and every title - such as Alias - straps a high profile license on the back of a poor standard title in an attempt to extract funds from the misguided fans of the series. Unfortunately enough, Alias does little to dispel this theory, instead adding more ammo to the ‘hardcore’ minority that detest this sort of lazy cash-in.
“But where does Alias go wrong?” we hear you cry. Before heading down that path let's start with a run down of the game’s good points. Despite not being huge fans of the series, we’ve been reliably informed that the game captures the essence of the TV show with great aplomb. The game actually ties in with events towards the last few episodes of the second season of the show (again not being avid fans, we can’t really confirm this) - a step in the right direction for the genre. It gives the gamer a little more than just a contrived plot in a recognisable setting by creating the feeling of actively taking part in the events of the show.
Aesthetically speaking, Alias manages to both impress and disappoint in equal measures. Take the initial section of the very first level as an example. You (Sydney Bristow) find yourself in a bar at the bottom of a large hotel clad in a little silver waitress dress - so far so good. You sultrily make your way across the bar, catching the eye of virtually every male character, to complete your first mission objective. It’s a nice easy opening, which is incredibly easy on the eye. Unfortunately things don’t stay this good, either visually or gameplay wise, for very long. Not too long after this fairly impressive opening section you find yourself lumbering once again down the traditional corridors of the action genre.
Knowing the game inside out the critic in us can come to the fore and recognize that this opening sequence worked so well purely because of its lack of combat options. One of the very worst points of Alias, the combat honestly is some of the worst we’ve seen in any game. It tries to take the stealth route - emphasised by the fact that as soon as you stumble across an enemy you automatically assume the crouched down “stealth mode”. However; due to poorly implemented a.i. and clunky analogue controls the stealth route is one of which you’ll want to make very little use - a situation made even worse when you consider the alternative (more on that in a bit). The a.i. harkens back to the early days of the PS1 with guards that fail to spot a sneaking Sydney purely because she’s 20 yard away from their current position. However; these same guards find themselves in possession of super human vision at times allowing them to spot your small frame crouched behind a dimly lit box. Then there are the usual deficiencies, like their standing over the body of their fallen comrades refusing to react.
Alias itself is a fairly simplistic game. A decided lack of depth makes it possible to rattle through the entire game in a few nights’ sittings. Maybe realising this the developers decided to substitute the mess we find for an intuitive, interesting combat system in order to add some extra length to the game by way of frustration. You only have two attack buttons - normal and special attack. No, sadly enough special attack doesn’t consist of some fantastic fireball move flung at your enemies. It instead seems to consist of the exact same type of attack, but one which knocks off a bigger chunk of your opponent's health bar. The real bad news comes as you attempt to make your attack. Misjudge the distance between yourself and the enemy, or point ever so slightly off at a tangent from his direction and the following “combo” (which more importantly can't be halted) will land incredible damage on thin air alone. It’s such simple things as this, which could easily be sorted with a little more development time, that really drag Alias down into the murky depths of the below average game.
Despite the interesting ideas (implemented mostly by the good fortune of wanting to capture the feel of the television programme), we’re saddened to break the news to all those fans of Sydney Bristow that, taken purely on its gaming merits, Alias is stunningly average at best. At times it does manage to break above tedium with some interesting gadgets (though use of them never amounts to more than a click of button A and point B ), but equally often the game’s flaws are all too apparent. By all means if you’re a fan of the show then this title might be worth a rental to see if its juicy goodness is enough to satisfy your tastes; but for anyone else, steer well clear.
Rating: 5 / 10
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