I am Alive
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft:
Release date: 07/03/2012
Format: PS3/XBOX360/PC
I Am Alive is a game about survival, and perhaps the only game that does it right. Unbelievably scarce resources, a grim and dirty setting, and no hand holding.
The story is simple, subtle, and rather touching. Its nothing special, but nothing bad either. A man searches for his family in the apocalyptic setting, meeting a young girl in the process. Much of the game pans out as you protect her from harm, and search for her mother. Simple, but with a couple of touching moments.
The actual gameplay is what makes I Am Alive great! Think Uncharted if Drake was recovering from a stroke. Everything is a struggle. Climbing uses energy, and if you run out you'll fall off and die. Sometimes your energy limit with decrease, meaning you have to scavenge for food and water to recover. Bullets are near enough impossible to find. The most I ever had in the game was 4, which was only for a brief period. However, the only person who knows what supplies and ammo you have is you, which ties into the combat.
Across the course of the game you'll encounter other survivors, who may attack, ignore, or ask for your help. By helping them, you gain an extra retry. The game gives you 3 retries for each checkpoint on normal difficulty, but on hard mode, you start with 3, and that's you. To get more you need to either help people, or try not to die too often. Lose all checkpoints, and its back to the start of the level.
Publisher: Ubisoft:
Release date: 07/03/2012
Format: PS3/XBOX360/PC
I Am Alive is a game about survival, and perhaps the only game that does it right. Unbelievably scarce resources, a grim and dirty setting, and no hand holding.
The story is simple, subtle, and rather touching. Its nothing special, but nothing bad either. A man searches for his family in the apocalyptic setting, meeting a young girl in the process. Much of the game pans out as you protect her from harm, and search for her mother. Simple, but with a couple of touching moments.
The actual gameplay is what makes I Am Alive great! Think Uncharted if Drake was recovering from a stroke. Everything is a struggle. Climbing uses energy, and if you run out you'll fall off and die. Sometimes your energy limit with decrease, meaning you have to scavenge for food and water to recover. Bullets are near enough impossible to find. The most I ever had in the game was 4, which was only for a brief period. However, the only person who knows what supplies and ammo you have is you, which ties into the combat.
Across the course of the game you'll encounter other survivors, who may attack, ignore, or ask for your help. By helping them, you gain an extra retry. The game gives you 3 retries for each checkpoint on normal difficulty, but on hard mode, you start with 3, and that's you. To get more you need to either help people, or try not to die too often. Lose all checkpoints, and its back to the start of the level.
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When in combat, the game is less about skill and more about cunning. For example, you encounter 4 enemies, one armed with a gun. You only have one bullet. They tell you to freeze, the first approaches, and you slash him with a knife, then shoot the gun totting bandit.
You are now out of bullets, but the enemy doesn't know. So you can choose to hold them up, while listening to the pair squabble over whether or not you are bluffing. One thinks you are, the other doesn't, so by walking up to and pushing the first into a fire, or off an edge, means the other will surrender. The AI is extremely clever in these situations, and it can be very hard to work out what to do. At some points, I had no bullets, tried to bluff them only to be met with ridicule and a soon fatal knife attack.
The game has a few problems too. Its semi-open world, so you have a large area that can't all be explored. Between objectives you have the option to go off track, but with a thick dust draining your energy around the city, this always results in death. Therefore, it can become very frustrating when you get lost, as you will be punished with losing a retry. Some climbing sections can also frustrate as it isn't very clear where you should go.
Overall, I Am Alive offers an experience no other game can. Its gritty, unforgiving, and above all else, a true survival game.
Jack Gillespie 8/10
You are now out of bullets, but the enemy doesn't know. So you can choose to hold them up, while listening to the pair squabble over whether or not you are bluffing. One thinks you are, the other doesn't, so by walking up to and pushing the first into a fire, or off an edge, means the other will surrender. The AI is extremely clever in these situations, and it can be very hard to work out what to do. At some points, I had no bullets, tried to bluff them only to be met with ridicule and a soon fatal knife attack.
The game has a few problems too. Its semi-open world, so you have a large area that can't all be explored. Between objectives you have the option to go off track, but with a thick dust draining your energy around the city, this always results in death. Therefore, it can become very frustrating when you get lost, as you will be punished with losing a retry. Some climbing sections can also frustrate as it isn't very clear where you should go.
Overall, I Am Alive offers an experience no other game can. Its gritty, unforgiving, and above all else, a true survival game.
Jack Gillespie 8/10
