PC: Alpha Prime

Ratings

Graphics:8.50 [Bar of Width 85]
Sound:8.00 [Bar of Width 80]
Gameplay:8.00 [Bar of Width 80]
Replays:6.50 [Bar of Width 65]

Our Take

Alpha Prime is the newest FPS from Idea Games and Black Element Software, the company behind the lesser known PC hit Shade: Wrath of Angels. The game puts the player into the shoes of Arnold, a former hubbardium miner convinced to go back to Alpha Prime by his colleagues Livia and Warren. Hubbardium is a key ingredient in space fuel, but can also be manipulated to be a powerful drug. And although the game has its flaws, Alpha Prime is a surprisingly engaging title thanks to a strong storyline and gameplay that requires more than just running and gunning.

There are quite a few cinematic cutscenes throughout the entirety of the game, but they can be skipped at any time if the player doesn't want to sit through them. Every cinematic uses the in-game graphics engine, which looks great. The majority of the story scenes actually contain some very interesting information, so players will actually be motivated to watch the majority of them. However, there are some quirks with the dialogue and subtitles. For one, the subtitles don't always match what the characters are saying, resulting in some interesting changes. In addition to this, some of the dialogue is a little too cheesy to begin with, which makes the story feel just a little B-Movie-ish throughout.

But while the dialogue may be a little cheesy, the voice acting within the title is surprisingly decent. All of the main characters in Alpha Prime are fairly well acted, although they have they have laughable moments (but this is mostly due to what they are saying, not how it is being said). The in-game music is fairly generic, falling somewhere in between your standard sci-fi musical arrangement and a more upbeat, techno themed track. As for the weapons, they sound relatively powerful, and it is clear that the developers wanted to get that nailed down.

The core gameplay of Alpha Prime involves mowing down enemies and flipping switches, but there are other unique touches that help to break things up. Throughout the game, players have the ability to hack cameras and other structures in order to survey the area, use vehicle loaders to move boxes out of the way, take over sentry guns, and unlock doors. Seeing as it is very easy to die by just trying to gun through a room, hacking becomes an almost essential part of the gameplay. Next, there is one segment late in the game where it is possible to drive a dune buggy type vehicle around the landscape to get to a new objective. This would be good, if the buggy didn't have some of the wonkiest physics ever. Not only does the buggy move way too fast, but it is hard to control and very easy to spin out of control, which makes that particular section frustrating. I appreciate that the developers were trying to break up the action, but in future titles vehicle control will need to be vastly improved.

While players will spend a good amount of time hacking, the primary objective is still to kill everything that moves. There isn't a lot of enemy variety, as gamers will really just fight various types of robots and humans. However, there are often other challenges introduced to keep the game from getting too repetitious, such as having to manage oxygen levels in outdoor areas during a firefight. Enemy AI is decent, and some of them will display brainpower by taking cover or running to get a better shot elsewhere. But on the other hand, other enemies will stand in the open waiting to get mowed down, or even get stuck running up stairs. Overall, the enemies in Alpha Prime are fairly intelligent, but still have their fair share of glitches.

Graphically the game looks great, and is very reminiscent of titles such as Doom 3. Most of the game will be spent in the military base, which is full of shiny textures and well rendered doorways. Unfortunately, many of the hallways in the base look alike and will cause the player to get lost at times. This takes away from the graphical appeal, but players who push on will find the outdoor areas to be huge and absolutely spectacular. Character models are well rendered, but sometimes have somewhat weird looking animations in cutscenes. Overall though, this is a great looking shooter that would have benefited from a little bit more interaction. While it is possible to pick up various objects (such as computers, chairs etc.), there isn't much use to this. It would've been nice if the developers had expanded on this idea a little bit more.

Casual FPS players will find Alpha Prime to be a relatively difficult game. This is because the weapons feel a little bit underpowered. The weapons are all of your standard variety (pistol, machine gun, shotgun etc.) but despite this, the enemies seem to take an unusually high amount of shots before they go down. Players will have access to a bullet time effect by taking hubbardium, but this item is a rare find and should be conserved for when it is an absolute necessity. In addition to this, the title also has fairly steep system requirements. While it doesn't require the newest technology, users with an average system will encounter some choppiness. But despite this, those who have the computers that can run the game well and who realize that they will have to be fairly conservative with ammo and use some strategy will have fun with Alpha Prime.

There is one main issue with Alpha Prime, and that is the absence of multiplayer. While the game will take most players a relatively long amount of time to complete, some sort of deathmatch or other online modes would've ensured that owners of the title wanted to keep playing it after they were done. The hacking sections of the game could work well in a versus mode, so hopefully Black Element will either implement it in a future patch or even work it into a new game in the future.

It may be a little rough around the edges, but Alpha Prime is still a solid sci-fi FPS. While the dialogue can be somewhat sketchy and there are various glitches throughout, Black Element Software has still crafted a title with a solid base. Thanks to a storyline that is more in depth than other titles in the genre and some solid gunplay, FPS fans should check this one out. Just be prepared for some steep system requirements and the occasional frustrating moment, and you'll find plenty to like about this title.

http://www.alpha-prime.com

Overall Rating: 7.75

Chris Dahlberg
May 28, 2007