Alias

"An acceptable game focused from the entirely wrong perspective"

Let me make it clear since the beginning. As a stand-alone product this Alias game is a good addition to the stealth genre, with a very complex plot way above the average games of any genre that makes up for several technical problems of variable importance. It is only in relation to the TV series that this game appears flawed in its very core.

The game's plot revolves around Sydney Bristow, CIA agent extraordinaire, and her many antagonists –her cunning archenemy Arvin Sloane, the prone to loyalty-shifts Sark, and the aggressive Anna Espinosa. Sydney's friends and allies are all in the game as well: Vaughn, Dixon, Marshall and of course her father, Jack Bristow.

But there's really no point in explaining the game's plot in itself, since it works as just one more episode of the series -made intentionally so that it would seamlessly fit into the series' second season. That means none of the above characters are ever introduced properly, nor are we ever given a clear explanation of the reasons behind the character's actions. So fans of the series already aware of the general storyline will be able to place the game's plot where it belongs, while people not yet acquainted with the Alias universe will be forced to use their sheer instinct to discern who's supposed to be good and who's apparently a bad guy. For non-fans, playing this game will be exactly like watching one random episode, unless they choose to investigate a little on the Internet. An experience that only followers of the series can really enjoy... but as said earlier, only those followers will be able to see how the game's concept is entirely misunderstood.

Because technically, for example, Alias is nearly flawless. The graphics are solid and varied; all the characters look shockingly like their living counterparts, and the sceneries all manage to look good on their own and different from each other. The game takes us from the Hong Kong Embassy heavily featured in the first Alias episode, Truth Be Told, to Sark's casino in Montecarlo –also famous but this time because of the skimpy waitress uniform Jennifer Garner wore in that episode. Other sceneries include an asylum in Bucharest and a sordid nightclub in Rio de Janeiro. Each location has its own look and feel to it, as well as unique pieces of furniture or decoration: bars in the nightclub, a library in the embassy, statues and paintings in the museum, and so on. Apart from looking good, the graphics also work well –I think I've seen one or two cases of objects sticking through other objects, but overall graphic problems of any kind are exceptionally rare. The music is exactly that of the series, easily recognizable in tension or suspense scenes because, instead of throwing in a 60-instrument orchestra, the composers use only one or two string-instruments to enhance the atmosphere.

Gameplay-wise, things are different. The controls allow Sydney to perform all the stealthy maneuvers that have become standard nowadays: peeking around corners, crouching, pressing against walls, etc.; plus a few new tricks that, mind you, many stealth games would greatly benefit from having. I'm thinking mainly of the ability to open doors via reaching out from immediately next to (as opposed to in front of) them –thus avoiding to expose yourself to whoever might be in the next room. But useful skills are not always enough, and the CIA knows it. To help her in her stealthy missions, Sydney has access to several high-tech and mostly ficticious devices that interrupt laser beams or defuse surveillance cameras. Additionally, it is possible to toggle Thermal or Night Vision with the touch of a button –the latter mode also containing information like enemy locations and their state of awareness.

One of the main and many flaws of the gameplay is that, despite this heavy predisposition towards stealth, the game doesn't really feel stealthy. For example, there is no easy way of killing enemies without being noticed. It is entirely possible to quietly break their neck from behind, but to do so you have to approach them unnoticed; something hard to do in the countless situations where several enemies patrol the same area, even harder if we bear in mind that you have to walk very slowly to avoid being heard in the first place. While killing enemies quietly from behind is difficult, doing it from a distance is impossible to being with –there's no way of aiming manually, so enemies can only be shot at the chest; and since noisy machine guns holding exactly fifteen bullets are literally the only guns you'll find, silent and convenient headshots are just a fantasy in Alias.

So 9 out of every 10 times we'll find ourselves fighting two or three enemies at once because our carefully planned but poorly executed maneuvers failed. The combat system feels blocky and awkward; there are several combos available and dozens of in-game objects like broomsticks, vases or kitchen knives can be used as weapons, but invariably the safest, quickest and overall most efficient ways of dealing with enemies is just mashing an attack button. Admittedly I've never been the best action gamer in history, but when I keep having trouble pulling off a relatively simple disarm throw (R1 plus Square, by the way) even in the penultimate level of the game, I begin to suspect.

The fact that open combat is so awkward and just poor, and so frequent in a stealth game, is a very important flaw in Alias. But the game's most important flaw is that it shouldn't be a stealth game at all –hence my comment about it being focused from the entirely wrong perspective. Even though the TV series has its own daily dose of action, the core of the series is deception and disguise. The very title of the series makes reference to false identities, and nearly every episode features a character disguised as someone else to infiltrate some random place. That should be the core of the game –infiltrating places by speaking, dressing and acting like another person, not crawling through dirty corridors like a failed attempt at being Solid Snake.

Certain levels feature a few brief chances to hack computers, pick locks and change outfits, but they're so few and so brief that in the end are negligible altogether. They're forgettable when they ought to be the game's entire core; not only because it would be more loyal to the series, but because it would be much more original and enjoyable as a stand-alone game. As it stands it is an above-average stealth game directed very specifically at the show's audience that never ceases to be entertaining, but often leaves the player slightly irritated about the frequent fights, and always regretting the painstakingly obvious feel of wasted potential.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/05