Alex Rider: Stormbreaker

"Riders on the storm...."

It's not very often that I get to explicitly reference The Doors in a review, so you would think that this was a good sign. Unfortunately for Alex Rider: Stormbreaker the fun stops there, and with a screeching halt. This game is based off the 2006 movie of the same name. Like many video game products that are based off live action movies, the end result is more or less a small budget flop. Had more effort been put into the game's creation perhaps it would be able to stand on a more respectable pedestal. But for now it will remain in the countless pile of licensed games that failed to capture our interests, and were put out only to make sheer profit.

The game-play revolving around Alex Rider: Stormbreaker is for the most part, one of stealth element. You have gadgets to avoid detection as well as gadgets to get around level obstacles (Such as a yo-yo for swinging across gaps, a special pen for dazing your enemies momentarily). However, you can go through the entire game and never even bother with the stealth portion of things, seeing as how the guards aren't exactly intelligent and only pose a threat in large numbers, which doesn't happen too often actually. Usually you can run up to them, punch and kick them a few times, and that's all she wrote. The gadgets that you're given in the game aren't even necessary, such as the Smoke Bomb, which is only useful for large groups. While they are creative in design, their incorporation into this game feels awkward and out of place, the game relies on them too much.

You'll also find yourself repeating the same tasks over and over again. When it comes down to it, you're always trying to get a certain card key to open a certain door, repeat this about six times per level, with generic enemies tossed in, and bland level designs that do little but bore you, and you've got the basic premise of Alex Rider: Stormbreaker down to the letter my friend. The game attempts to make things more entertaining by tossing in chase scenes as well as "daring" escapes from large creatures, but even those get bland and repetitive, very much so in fact. Alex Rider: Stormbreaker boils down to simple old platforming techniques that fail to keep the player in the action.

The story line of Alex Rider: Stormbreaker is revolving around young Alex Rider's quest for revenge against those who murdered his uncle. The main antagonist of the game is a man named Darius Sayles. Alex infiltrates Sayles' Mansion in order to find out information on this "Stormbreaker" that is going to be distributed to several schools. While this is the basic premise of the game, the story is told through text scenes and images that are supposed to symbolize what is going on in a scene. Though I do not agree this is the best way to advance a game's plot, it can be pulled off. Unfortunately in this game it doesn't quite keep things moving along at a fast pace, nor does it help to keep you playing the game. It's a simple and hardly developed plot, but this is practically expected from this caliber of a game.

Graphically Alex Rider: Stormbreaker disappoints with it's 2D look and overly repetitive level designs and bland characters that all look too similar for comfort. Every level of the Mansion looks the same, so it is very easy to think "Wait a minute, haven't I already been in here before?" (Sometimes the answer will actually be yes, much to your dismay). The soundtrack to this game is your typical B-rated stealth action movie. The sound effects are far too alike to even be considered seriously taken. Each guard will make the same "ugh" sound when you knock them out, and every punch, kick, and throw will be no different than the other.

Alex Rider: Stormbreaker is a fairly short game. You'll put in about two and a half hours at the very least for the first time through, since the levels aren't too long, they're just repetitive in the tasks that you'll have to embark on. There isn't much replay value in store for the game, seeing as how there is no unlockable content at all, no extra stages or anything. Once you've beaten the game's main story mode, that is it. Some incentive to play through again would've been nice, but again, this is just a licensed game based off a live action movie, which itself was based off a book. So, one can't expect too much in terms of originality.

Only those who are fains of the Alex Rider series should probably pick this one up, but that's only if you're a true hardcore fan. For the rest of us, I say avoid this licensed mess as best you can, don't fall victim for a scam to get your hard earned dollars. There are better games out there that are not only much more interesting, but also much less better developed. So stay away unless you really want to play this game, you'll save yourself ten dollars and your sanity.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/07