I Am Alive - Xbox 360

I Am Alive Review: Survival Done Right

Tim Turi — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:00:00 GMT

After switching studios and surviving development hellfires that have been burning since 2008, I Am Alive has lived up to its name. The game’s scale has been reduced from a retail release to a downloadable title, but that hasn’t held it back from becoming one of the most memorable survival games I’ve ever played. Days have passed since I completed it, but I’m still ruminating over every bullet spent, life saved, and decision made.

The story of I Am Alive follows an apocalyptic event that has left humanity in shambles. The unnamed protagonist is trying to return home, driven by the desire to reunite with his family. He chronicles his arduous quest in a camcorder, which players watch periodically to view the story from a different angle. Predictably, the reunion isn’t as easy as walking up to his front door. The tale succeeds in its simplicity, and the characters introduced throughout are nuanced and believable.

The standout feature in I Am Alive is interacting with bands of deranged survivors. I love the demanding crowd management of Batman: Arkham City, and I Am Alive delivers a similar experience in a more dire, realistic way. I became obsessed with deducing the best possible way to take down a group of armed bad guys as an underpowered everyman. Pulling off a surprise machete kill, bluffing with an empty gun, and kicking guys off roofs are all intense experiences. Checkpoint reloads are limited, making these suspenseful altercations even more rewarding when pulled off successfully.

You earn extra retries by helping other survivors. This usually involves mending the injured or performing good samaritan acts such as bringing a dust-choked elderly man his asthma inhaler. While the game isn’t a complete cake walk, I never found myself hard up for retries. The true rewards are the bits of story-expanding dialogue offered by thankful survivors that shed light on the ambiguous “Event” that left the world a dusty husk. What makes I Am Alive’s setting so convincing is how much is still left to interpretation.

When not vying for your life against degenerates or helping your fellow man, much of your time is spent climbing derelict buildings and exploring the city. The protagonist is a better climber than fighter, but getting around Haventon isn’t the effortless parkour talent show seen in other games. Scrambling along drain pipes, window ledges, and rebar feels a little loose, making it easy to accidentally miss your intended path. Complicating matters is a stamina meter that drains while climbing. Unless you have the necessary items to replenish your energy, you’re liable to fall to your death. Fortunately my paranoid, item-hoarding play style saved me from taking too many falls. I’ve rarely felt so rewarded for compulsively searching for every morsel and saving everything until the last possible second.

I Am Alive makes surviving in a broken world a gripping experience, but it has its flaws. Clipping through the ceiling or enemies getting stuck to the geometry aren’t game breaking, but they kill the mood. One frustrating glitch involved trekking across town to deliver food to a starving survivor, only to find the game wouldn’t let me help her despite having the fruit cocktail she so specifically requested. It’s also confounding that the player character scribbles down every detail of the city on his map, but never makes note of the locations of survivors. Finding your way is even more of a nuisance when enduring the thick haze created by dust storms. I understand the intended disorienting effect, but I would like to see the game I’m playing.

Good survival games have been hard to come by this console generation, but I Am Alive proves there is still new ground to break. The gray, oppressive atmosphere, constant struggle to find supplies, and combating wanton scavengers transports players to a world only experienced in harrowing novels like Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I Am Alive’s desperate scenarios and inventive gameplay should not be missed by masochistic gamers interested in entering a world of unrelenting dread.

Making Of I Am Alive Video Revealed

Matt Miller — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:15:00 GMT

Curious about the post-apocalyptic survival game coming to Xbox Live Arcade on March 7th? The developer's new video sheds light on how the project was crafted.

I Am Alive has had a number of ups and downs over the course of a long development period. The final game is finally headed for release in just a few days. The developer at Ubisoft Shanghai put together the following video to help highlight some of the game's cooler features, including the focus on crafting a realistic and believable disaster setting, strategic interactions with other survivors, and an unusual approach to platforming and traversal.

Ubisoft is busy hyping I Am Alive's presence in the Microsoft XBLA House Party promotion, with a release date on March 7. While that means there hasn't been a lot of talk about the PlayStation 3 version recently, Ubisoft tells Game Informer that the PSN version is still on the way, and we'll hear an announced release date sometime soon.

Are you willing to give I Am Alive a chance? Check out the video, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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Staying Alive In I Am Alive

Jim Reilly — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:06:00 GMT

Ubisoft released a new trailer today offering players tips on how to stay alive in the game's post-apocalyptic environment. The trailer takes players through some of the enemy situations they'll encounter and how to react. Killing everyone in sight doesn't appear to be the best answer all the time.

I Am Alive is scheduled to release somewhere between February 14 and March 15. You can read our latest impressions of the right here.

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Hands On With I Am Alive

Matt Bertz — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:57:00 GMT

When gamers explore post-apocalyptic settings, we're normally armed to the teeth with assault rifles, grenades, and stimpaks. Rare is the game that throws you into the chaotic aftermath of a worldwide catastrophe with no viable resources. Ubisoft's I Am Alive ventures off the beaten path by embracing the dreary realism of a fractured civilization.

Much like Cormac McCarthy's novel The Road or Gary Whitta's film The Book of Eli, the world of I Am Alive is desolate and barren, with few survivors inhabiting the devastated cities. Water and canned food are the most prized possessions those eking out a life in this cruel world could have. Weapons are few and far between; don't expect to come across ammunition caches or bandoleers. Developer Ubisoft Shanghai further drives home the bleakness of this reality with a muted color palette and a tense soundtrack.

My hands-on demo of the game begins with the main character returning to the outskirt of his hometown city of Haventon. He flew out east right before the catastrophe hit, and it has taken him a year to trek back. Though encounters with fellow survivors are rare, he holds out hope that his wife and young daughter are still alive. All he's managed to retain during his journey is a camcorder, a few batteries, a rope, and a handgun with an empty clip.

The once bustling city is in complete shambles. Making into the city center is tricky considering the one bridge into town has been torn and mangled by an earthquake. Getting to the other side won't be easy. I begin navigating the street full of abandoned cars and finally spot a ladder up the side of one of the bridge supports. It looks like I have to take the acrobat's way across the bridge.

As I start to navigate the twisted remains of the bridge, I realize this everyman doesn't have any Nathan Drake or Ezio Auditore genes in his makeup. He's a sure climber, but as I ascend each rung of the ladder, my stamina bar drops down slightly. If I drain the stamina bar completely, my health will start to diminish as well and I may plummet violently back down to earth. It's key to chart out a course before moving and to take any opportunity catch your breath and restore your stamina.

Halfway through climbing, jumping, and swinging through the mangled metal beams, I realize the next climbing segment isn't going to allow me to take it slow. My stamina drains completely before I have a chance to reach safety, and I'm forced to repeated pull the right trigger to make the character climb more quickly before the health meter drains completely. When I finally reach the ledge, I'm forced to use my last bottle of water and can of food to replenish my health.

Once I safely reach the other side and head into the sewers, I have my first run-in with another survivor. My presence perturbs this edgy character to the point that he draws a gun on me, which makes my decision to scoot quickly past him and continue my journey all the more decisive.

I emerge from the sewers a few blocks from the apartment. Another mentally disturbed survivor approaches me with a machete drawn. I instinctively raise my firearm to stop him in his tracks. He has no idea the gun isn't loaded, so while he stands with his hands raise I move in and clock him with the butt of the gun. As restitution for his act of aggressive, I steal his and find my first bullet in his pockets. This commodity will come in handy in this dangerous city.

Further ahead I encounter my first gang. This duo moves toward me with intent to injure, but stop in their tracks when I raise up my firearm. I try to pistol whip one of them. Before I can land the blow the other moves in and stabs me with his weapon when I'm exposed. With the situation spiraling out of control I decide now is a good time to use the bullet to even the odds. After the first guy hits the pavement with a bullet in his head I disarm the second guy.

With my health bar dangerously low, I thankfully come across a medkit. I don't hesitate to patch my wound, but I should have exercised restraint because right before I reach the apartment I walk past a mother pleading for help for her dying son. Had I not used the medkit, the Ubisoft Shanghai rep says I could have saved the boy. In doing so, the mother would have shared some vital information about the cataclysmic event and given me another replay token that would allow me to restart at a checkpoint if I succumb to the dangers of the city.

I finally reach my destination, and the apartment building is still standing. Unfortunately, there are no signs of life within the abode. I find a note on the mantle from the character's significant other. The letter says the wife and child were ushered off to the emergency shelter, but it's dated a year ago. It looks like the journey to find his loved ones is only beginning.

Ubisoft Shanghai says I Am Alive provides roughly six to eight hours of gameplay. Along the way players will encounter more dangerous platforming sequences, hostile survivors, and clues to what happened to the world and his family. My short demo of the game left me eager to jump back into the quest. Though the atmosphere is slightly reminiscent of survival horror games like Silent Hill, Ubisoft's steadfast commitment to presenting the aftermath realistically is something I haven't experienced in a video game before.

As one of the flagship titles of the Xbox Live Arcade House Party, I Am Alive is scheduled to release somewhere between February 14 and March 15. Look for the PSN version shortly thereafter.

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The Latest Trailer Offers Helpful Survivor Tips

Kyle Hilliard — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:25:29 GMT

I Am Alive is a game that disappeared for awhile, but the game has reemerged living up to its title. The latest trailer offers some details on how the game will play.

In the trailer, the lead character offers tips on how to stay alive in the ruined city by recording a message into a hand-held video camera. He cautions survivors to avoid the dust, climb to safety, carry a Silent Hill-esque map, and to pick up everything because you never know when it will be useful.

We're finally getting some insight into how the game will play. Click here for some more info on I Am Alive.

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Remember This One? This New Trailer May Refresh Your Memory

Jeff Cork — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 17:23:00 GMT

Days after the elusive game showed up on the ESRB's rating site, Ubisoft has released a new trailer for I Am Alive. The publisher says it will be available for download on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime this winter, making no mention of the previously announced PC version.

The game was officially announced at E3 back in 2008. “We know people have been waiting for this game to arrive, and we believe it’s going to be worth the wait,” says Adam Novickas, director of marketing at Ubisoft. “I Am Alive presents a unique take on the post-apocalyptic, survival genre by creating more complex and emotional situations for the player. Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network are the perfect platforms to leverage the mature and challenging experiences of the game.”

Players take on the role of a survivor after a massive earthquake tears his world apart. While he works to find his wife and daughter, Adam Collins has to navigate treacherous environments and his fellow survivors. As you can see in the trailer below, while Collins can use weapons, sometimes it's wisest to retreat. Ubisoft says that the game's combat system puts an emphasis on psychology, with some enemies retreating at the site of a gun – even if it's secretly unloaded. Players will also have to keep an eye on Collins' stamina and other valuable resources. It's clear that Ubisoft Shanghai is emphasizing the hero's humanity and at least flirting with the cold reality of being an everyman in a dangerous world.

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