Aeon Flux for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

Where most games based on movies fail, Aeon Flux succeeds. This is due, for the most part, to the fact that most titles released simultaneously with a Hollywood blockbuster counterpart are meager and weak; something cobbled together in a few months in order to generate profit. With Aeon Flux, it's clear that some actual work went into the title. Mixing elements of the old MTV cartoon series and the flashy upcoming motion picture, the game captures the sense of slick, flawless execution Aeon Flux is capable of. Borrowing gameplay elements from Metroid and Prince of Persia, Aeon Flux provides gamers with an entertaining experience, though still flawed.

It's difficult to precisely describe the plot of Aeon Flux since it's constantly hopping to different time periods. The game takes place in and around the city of Bregna, a walled city-state ruled by a panel of scientists. You assume the role of the sexy secret agent Aeon Flux and possess the uncanny ability to perform near-impossible acts. However, not even this fact remains constant. The game progresses in a level-by-level fashion. Each level is comprised of several mini-levels which are broken up by checkpoints. As you move from one level to another you'll notice your objectives are not always the same and sometimes you're not even the same person.

Just Like the TV Show, But Not Necessarily In a Good Way.

Though it can be seen how the game was trying to mimic the episodic nature of the defunct television show from the early 1990s, it doesn't really turn into a satisfying storyline. Each chapter takes place at different points in time and you'll have different allies in each segment. For instance, in some levels you'll be trying to kill Trevor Goodchild, Chairman of the Breen Council, and yet in others you play as his wife. Sometimes you're trying to protect the Monicans and incite the downfall of Bregna's leadership, and in others you're fighting alongside the Breen military to eliminate Monicans. Through all this, you'll see characters from previous chapters pop up again, but never in a manner that ties events together into a cohesive, continuous plot.

This type of plot structure doesn't work very well in a video game since you'll never be able to identify with Aeon. It's difficult to drop around ten or twelve hours of your time into a title where you don't care about the person you're playing as. Granted, the point of the Aeon Flux television show was to keep viewers at a distance from the character, emphasized strongly by how often she died. Even so, Aeon Flux the game doesn't stand up very well with similar types of chopped-up, episodic plotlines. The cinematics and in-game cut scenes don't help very much either. They give you rudimentary plot details and make your objectives clear, but never really explain the larger picture of what is happening around you. There are plenty of information capsules that you can pick up along the way which flesh out Bregna's details and technological research on things like phase transfer technology, rollers, and M-Fruit, but they never culminate in anything cohesive. Essentially, every level of the game feels like you're starting over again.

While the game doesn't implement its storyline effectively, it does offer players a huge array of moves and platforming options. In Aeon Flux, you'll be able to run on walls, run along ledges, hack into gun and rocket turrets, use a grappling hook to descend and ascend huge vertical distances, and performs a large variety of punches, kicks, block and fatality moves. Though the combat isn't quite as good as the platforming, it's still entertaining. You'll be able to perform punch and kick combos to build up a style meter and allow for stronger attacks. In addition, you'll get access to four different types of ammunition for your gun which, aside from the shockwave ammo, are really helpful in the later stages.

The problem with combat is enemy targeting. There isn't a button to lock onto enemies with your gun or melee attacks, it happens automatically. There also isn't a button to cycle between your targets. Instead, you're stuck with having to physically face whichever enemy you want to target. This isn't really an issue with solitary foes, but once three or more enemies are crowded around you, it's something that requires a greater degree of precision than what's present. For instance, you'll often want to use your magma rounds to blow off an enemy's shield so you can break some face. If the shield carrying enemy is in a group of four others, you'll have a lot of difficulty trying to use the proper ammunition on your intended target. Many times you'll run out of your preferred ammo just because you kept firing at the wrong enemy. This can be an even bigger problem against some of the larger, more difficult enemy types who basically require you to use ammo to kill them. A game shouldn't force you to alter your combat tactics to accommodate for a shortcoming with the targeting system, but that's how it is in Aeon Flux.

In the Future, Jumping is Just As Fun.

The platforming is much more fun than the combat and feels a lot like a Prince of Persia game. You'll be leaping across gaps in a ship hovering thousands of feet above a city, scaling towering structures that periodically crackle with deadly electricity, and clinging to all sorts of precarious perches. Aeon has a large array of acrobatic options such as wall jumping and vaulting over small ledges which is implemented very well into the platforming puzzles, forcing players to inventively combine techniques to get by. The varied platforming aspects even play a role in combat, allowing for many more avenues of attack than just punches and kicks, like pulling enemies off of ledges while you're hanging from the side.

One odd thing about the platforming, though it doesn't really take away from the satisfaction of the experience, is the fact that you can't reposition yourself once you hop onto a pole. All you can do is jump to another one or remain still. In connection with that, it's also at times difficult to position yourself for the next jump. This isn't necessarily a fault of the controls, but rather the camera, since sometimes it will swing to an awkward viewing angle making it unclear as to which way you should be pressing on the control stick in order to make the next leap.

In addition to the combat and platforming elements, there are also several puzzle sequences that were clearly influenced by Metroid's morph ball. In them, you climb inside, as you might guess, a ball. The balls are basically just transport devices with some light platforming and puzzle elements mixed in, but they're still a neat addition. There are other sequences where you'll remotely control a mini-ball. The sequence requires you to guide a ball along a treacherous path to reach a node at the other end. Along the way you'll need to collect battery power-ups to ensure your ball does not explode. You'll need to replay these fairly often to the point of frustration because of the mini-ball's loose controls. It's very easy for the mini-ball to slip off of ledges or miss a number of power-ups that extend your time limit.

Aeon Flux has graphics that in some cases will impress but in others confuse. The color palette chosen for the game is definitely questionable, consisting of burnt oranges and light blues in many parts. There is also a hefty amount of slowdown in some areas, especially when multiple enemies start to crowd around. Combine that with the erratic targeting system and you'll find combat with several foes becomes even more frustrating. The level architecture and your acrobatic animations are the most standout graphical features, and Aeon Flux has some of the best looking explosions of recent Xbox games. The sound isn't quite as good. Though explosions and gun effects have distinct effects and detonate with a sense of weight behind them, the rest of the soundtrack doesn't match up as well. The voices aren't particularly impressive, and Aeon's actual comments feel too limited. As you repeat the mini-ball puzzles over and over again, try not to get annoyed by Aeon's "roll out" comment as it's repeated every time.

On our way through we did notice a few bugs. Enemies seemed to have a highly irregular pattern of falling off of ledges when you kicked them. At points other enemies, when we killed them, would spin around in the air with their arm above their head like they were hanging from a rope. Even so, they didn't really detract from the gameplay experience. Though there's no multiplayer, you'll be able to replay any of the game's sequences with different outfits and other character models that you can unlock.

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