Mmmm Jenny
Firstly let it be said that the game is incredibly faithful to the show. The cast are represented perfectly with well-modelled faces, mannerisms and the appropriate voices. The story seems to involve a few regular enemies, conspiracies and even a double cross or two. The game consists of a blend of stealth, fighting and gadgets. Good start.
However it soon becomes apparent that there are problems with the gameplay. It starts with the auto-stealth option. This means whenever there are enemies around Sydney automatically enters stealth mode. However whilst being harder to spot, stealth mode makes you walk incredibly slowly and thus is rather impractical unless you are literally steps away from your clueless foe. However thankfully there is the option to turn that feature off so that you can toggle it manually.
Enter the Alias
The fighting at first glance seems to have decent depth considering there are only 2 attack buttons and a block button. However at the end of the day there is no real strategy involved. Mash a few attack buttons or press 3 at the same time for a throw move. There are some nice touches like weapons breaking into smaller pieces, and situational moves like slamming people against a wall and giving them the clothesline treatment. Yet it never seems to move past that clumsy stage no matter how much you play it. The large variety of weapons scattered over the environments is cool, but is sometimes rather forced. Sure, I love the broom but I don't think it really belongs in the middle of a top-secret high tech laboratory.
The gadgets are generally well implemented but can really annoy. The Remote Modem allows you to hack into computers to download map data and information. However when you run it you need to guess a 3-letter combination every time. There are 4 letters assigned to buttons and you need to guess the correct order based on feedback telling you how many you guessed correctly. Now at first it seems more fun than watching it automatically hack but it becomes annoying after the nth time. It really is nothing remotely to do with real hacking at all. The lock picks are similar. You need to move the analogue stick around feeling the vibrations and try to zone in on the sweet spot to lock in the 2 or 3 bits needed to unlock the lock. Whilst interesting and fun, it is not something well suited to say a time limit. Yet of course the game puts you in a situation where you need to pick a lock and hack a computer in less than 45 seconds (it also takes 5-10 seconds for the computer hacking screen to come up). When the lock is generated randomly and needs to be unlocked in a specific order every time it becomes a boring case of trial and error gameplay with constant loading.
The worst problem the game probably has would be the lack of any real consequences as a result of your actions. Simply put: you can pretty much just fight your way through any situation in the game. There are exceptions of course, but they are in the minority. The sad thing however is that this really is for the best, as the stealth gameplay isn't gripping in the slightest.
Where is the X-Ray filter?
It isn't all bad though - there are some nice features to the game. The Night Vision and Extended Vision work rather well (see screenshots). The Night Vision acts as like heat vision and is pretty self-explanatory. The Extended Vision is like an onscreen radar of the enemy’s movements. It changes colour according to their awareness and the circles move and get larger as the enemy approaches. It works pretty well in most cases and is an interesting innovation.
As mentioned earlier the game retains the charm of the show very well. The graphics on the whole aren’t bad at all, but do tend to be a little bland at times and poorly aliased (pun intended). The voice acting is fantastic and really draws you into the story. There is actually some funny dialogue in there as well, which is a nice change of pace. Sydney's trademark costume changes are in as well, and you get to sport a whole range of looks, although only 1 special one and your default one for each mission. On a side note it must be mentioned that the actual character model for Sydney is a little strange. Whilst in the fighting she pulls off her girl power moves well, she just looks a bit chunky for a sexy spy and runs in a very manly fashion.
In closing Alias is up and down. The effort made to replicate the show must be commended and there are a fair few cool moments regardless of whether or not you are a fan. Yet as a whole the package is rather flawed, and each part of the gameplay has been done better elsewhere.
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