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Preview:
I
Am Alive
Lewis Denby
shouts from the rooftops...
There's
been a lot of talk lately - and there will be more in this
very mag next month - about the reinvention of the 'survival
horror' genre. I Am Alive purifies the
survival, and showcases the true horror of natural disaster.
When, having been chased by a group of thugs in the
promotional video UbiSoft unveiled at last year's E3
convention, lead character Adam Collins is forced to hand
over a mere bottle of water, you know something's a
bit different here. This is survival in its truest,
most undiluted and visceral form. This is the horror
of real life. This is a little bit interesting.
In
development at Darkworks since 2005 but only unveiled last
summer, I Am Alive is a first-person
"survival-adventure" game, set in Chicago in the
midst of a horrific earthquake. Most of the city is
reduced to rubble, and only a lucky few have survived to await
a rescue. But, as day turns to night and night turns
back to day, the hopes of escaping the now-isolated city begin
to diminish. Where is everyone? Why is no
one coming to help?
So begins a week-long battle for survival and and the inevitable
search for a female friend, lost somewhere among the atrocious
wreckage of the once-great city. If the premise doesn't
feel overly fresh, it's because I Am Alive very
consciously borrows elements from various motion pictures and
television series of a similar ilk. But rarely has the
theme seen its way into videogames. The Fallout
franchise may have thrown us into a variety of
post-apocalyptic, destroyed cities, but I Am Alive
drops us into the thick of it, when the area's society is on
its way down, not its way back up.
"...challenges
our beliefs and morals..."
I
Am Alive paints a picture of a crumbling micro-society,
struggling both together and against itself, fighting to stay
alive by any means. In the vein of successful television
shows such as 'Lost', it shows us what happens when ordinary
people are forced into an extraordinary and frightening
situation. It promises to challenge our beliefs and
morals. It promises to shake up our preconceptions of
how to deal with such widespread chaos. It promises to
change the way we consider the 'rules' of videogames...
Even though the traditional survival horror genre is
synonymous with a terrible lack of resources, I Am Alive
looks set to take the concept to new extremes. For
starters, there's nowhere near enough fresh water to go
around, but you need to drink some every day in order to have
enough strength to carry on. And, in a city where fellow
citizens have turned against each other, you'll need to
protect yourself. But Chicago is a major advocate of the
banning of firearms, so there are hardly any around. As
such, you'll have to improvise, or do your absolute best to
avoid confrontation.
There are a few weapons to be found, though. Problem
is, there's barely any ammunition. You could scour
around for bullets, but if there were any to be found,
they're probably long gone. Still, who - with a barrel
pointed to their head - would run the risk of assuming your
gun isn't loaded? Only a few would be astute enough to
tell the difference. If you're not even in possession
of the empty shell of a firearm, try the distraction
method. Got a bottle of water on you? Chuck it
up the road, and watch your adversaries sprint after it like
a dog after a stick. You'll lose your water, granted,
but you'll be able to slide past unscathed.
That's what survival's all about. Minute-by-minute
decisions that keep you alive in that instant, combined with
careful planning of the time ahead. It's also about
fear, instinct and human emotion. While there's still
an abundance of details being kept under wraps at UbiSoft,
these are all concepts we can expect to feature heavily in I
Am Alive, and these alone create a very exciting
prospect indeed...
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