Alias for Xbox Reviews by Gamers

ABC's Alias, much like Fox's 24, is the type of show that's not easy to jump into halfway through the season. Heck, it's not even easy jumping in at the start of a season, because there's so much back story from previous years, new viewers are forced to try and catch up quickly. Despite the fact that Alias has seen only moderate ratings success (but some serious critical accolades), Acclaim decided to snatch up the license and make a go for it on Xbox and PS2. Television properties haven't had the best luck coming to game consoles (just look at Dark Angel), but have occasionally shined (say hello to Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Acclaim's Alias lands somewhere in the middle, a decent game that should please fans of the show, but isn't likely to inspire dreams of a long-running video game franchise.

Gameplay
I warn you, right off the bat, that those who've never seen the show will have a hard time following parts of the storyline or understanding the importance of events, items, or people throughout the course of the 10-hour adventure. You play as Sydney Bristow, a CIA agent who had previously worked for an evil organization known as SD-6 that falsely led her to believe she was working for a splinter cell of the CIA. Her dark nemesis, Arvin Sloane murdered her fiance and has continually showed a propensity for protecting Syndey (for reasons that become evident in Season Three of the TV show). Syndey's mother, a KGB agent who was long-believed dead, has recently returned and appeared to have been reformed. For a short period she was aiding Sydney and the CIA. Confusing? Yeah, there's a hell of a lot more going on than just that and those who don't know the show really will miss out on quite a bit.

The game's story, written by the series' creator J.J. Abrams, takes place near the end of the second season, between episodes 19 and 20. For show fans, Irina has just betrayed Jack (Sydney's CIA papa) and run off with Sloane, Francie has been murdered and replaced by an evil doppelganger, and Neil "Christian Slater" Caplan has just been saved by Sydney. Alias the videogame takes Sydney all over the world across nine missions hunting an old enemy, Anna Espinosa, who is in league with Sloane and Sark in the hunt for a mysterious Rambaldi artifact.

Many of the show's real cast reprise their roles in digital form, so the voices are authentic, except for Caplan who is voiced by neither Christian Slater nor Jack Nicholson. Because the real actors voice the game, many of their personality quirks shine through, particularly Marshall and his babbling nature. Though some of the faces are a little rough on the eyes, the overall feel of an Alias episode is maintained throughout. It may not be noticeable by someone who doesn't watch the show, but it should please Alias fans to see everything accurately depicted.

Spy Hard
Alias has a decent mixture of stealth and action, with Sydney having a nice range of moves allowing her to sneak around quietly or run and gun with equal effectiveness. You have some of the moves that have now become standard in stealth games. Sydney can press her back against walls and poke her head out to cap enemies (though there are no hit locations) or you can hit the Special Attack button to reach around a corner when an enemy approaches and perform a nice stealth kill. The small variety of stealth kills are sweet, with Sydney finding a variety of ways to snap an enemy's neck. Sydney can also move crates, shimmy along pipes, and has both heat and nightvision. Sound stealthily-good, I know, but unfortunately, this is not the second-coming of Solid Snake.

The list of stealth actions is pretty healthy and seem like a lot of what you'd need to make a good spy game, but none of it feels very polished. Sneaking seems a bit random as far as enemy's go, since they seem to never hear you approaching even if you run up to them, and at times hiding behind objects won't always keep an enemy from spotting you. Though you will have a chance to drag crates and other items, most of the time items you can drag serve no purpose in the level and are there, apparently, just as red herrings. And you can grab pipes and shimmy across, yes, but this is more a platforming function. On a rare occasion, you can use this method to hang onto a pipe and hide from enemies, but it's sort of pointless since stealth isn't required for the majority of the game. Fists of Fury
When caught on camera or spotted by a guard, Sydney will need to fight. Fighting offers an autolock system so you can stay targeted on an enemy. You can block, though you still tend to take damage, and you have two different buttons for attacks. There's the Quick Attack and Special Attack. That's it. Hit Quick Attack once and you may get a punch, hit it again and you may get a kick. Who knows, it's all seemingly random. The same goes for the Special Attack button, which generally offers kicks and punches as well, but can also perform leg sweeps and grabs if used in combination with the Block and Crouch buttons. If Syd is near a wall, for example, she may grab an enemy and throw them against a wall or if near a counter, she may slam their head down for a good whack. I say "may" because unlike most games that have very distinct button combos, Alias' are pretty much random.

This can make for some very cool fights where you sling out a dope little move, but it also can lead to some frustration when surrounded by four enemies and you can't force a specific type of attack or quickly attack to different sides of the surrounding baddies. My favorite is the ability to use any variety of weapons that seem to be everywhere, from pipes to broomsticks to mahcineguns. Just like EA's Buffy game, Alias has weapon degredation, so after a few whacks with a broomstick, the weapon break and become unusable. The machinegun operates the same way, because you can't ever reload it, so after using the 15 bullets, you'll discard it and need to find another one. That's a bit amateurish and it's questionable that Sydney goes into every mission without any guns, but hey, whatever.

The combat is fun, but a bit raw, like most of Alias. It's not that you will hate the battles, but all of this has been done so much better in a few dozen other titles. Buffy did it better and this is clearly a game that is trying to be like Buffy but with stealth. Those looking for a sophisticated action title will easily become frustrated, but if you just want to smack people around and have some fun, Alias can service you.

My big problem is that you really don't have to use stealth for 95% of the game. Should you set off alarms or be caught, the only penalty is that you must fight off the baddies in that room head-on and all at once. That's not too bad, because usually the combat is pretty easy, especially if you have a weapon or perform grabs on enemies to snatch weapons from them. I played the first two levels with stealth on my mind, to play them properly, as a good little spy. Then I decided to give running through levels a try. You know what? The levels took half the time and were actually easier. There are a few moments where running headfirst into a room can be bad as there are six baddies waiting for you, but most of the time, running like a fool works and that can't be what the developers intended.

Go Go Gadget Arms!
The television show is filled with interesting little gadgets and Alias the game is no different. Each mission offers up a variety of gadgets for Syd that can be access with the D-Pad. Among Syd's tools is a lockpick. Using the lockpick is sort of like playing Splinter Cell on "duh" mode. You are given a birds-eye view of the lock cylinder with highlighted sections showing the "locked" pins. To unlock, push the thumstick in the direction of the first pin (orange) and hit the Action button. The next pin turns orange and you must push in that direction and so on. Sound easy? Yeah, it is.

Cooler than that are some of the decryption mini-games. These work like Mastermind. You have four different letters, corresponding to buttons on the controller. Enter in three letters and you're told how many of in the correct position, but you aren't told which positions are correct. So enter ABC and you may be told "2 are correct." It's a matter of trial and error to figure which order everything goes in. It's kind of fun and gets quite stressful when, in later levels, you have to do it in under 30 seconds. Videogames for Dummies
If the lockpick sounded too easy to be appealing, then you may have a problem with Alias. This is a relatively easy game. Sure, you may die a few times in combat, but everything is spelled out for you at almost every turn. Don't know which item in your toolbelt to use? Access the toolbelt and the usable items are highlighted. Yes, it's that simple. The AI is also very basic with the ability to see with very narrow vision. They're quite easy to sneak up on.

Another helpful feature is the occasional split-screen view, that shows Syd on one-half of the screen and a nearby guard or camera in the other. This doesn't have any practical explanation, but it's basically an easy clue for gamers to see when a guards back is turned. Add on top of that "nightvision" which also shows every enemy in an area and how likely they are to spot you with a green, orange, or red reticle.

If you're gonna play Alias, it won't be for the challenge of beating the game, but for the experience of playing it. And if that's why you pick it up, then you sure as hell better be a fan, because this isn't a game that's readily accessible to the general public.

Graphics
Alias doesn't do anything new visually and offers a mixture of rendered and real-time cut-scenes for its cinemas. The animations are quick and fluid for the most part, and Sydney does have some very nice fighting moves, but one goon looks like the next and some of the facial recreations of the cast leave a lot to be desired. Sorry girls, but Michael Vartan looks like crap in this game.

The environments aren't bad, with the museum being the most interesting visually, but Alias never taps into the true power of current-gen consoles. None of it feels gritty, real, or alive. Not a bad-looking game (heck, I never once saw a spot of slowdown), but it just doesn't pop like a game needs to nowadays.

Sound
Voice-acting doesn't really get any better when you can assemble an entire cast to do the dutures. The dialogue is pretty fresh, though Marshall seems to be excessively nervous throughout the game, which can get a little grating. Michael Vartan, and Agent Vaughn, is perhaps the least natural of the bunch, but (sadly) he is more of a side-character throughout the adventure.

While the voice-acting is top-notch, the atmospheric sounds are almost non-existent. Sound effects and use of surround sound is incredibly basic. Where sound really helps players in some other notable stealth games, it won't do you a lick of good hear. I guess it doesn't really need to since the AI is very simplistic, so there's little worry for guards sneaking up on you. A good stealth game needs great sound and Alias doesn't have that.

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