I Am Alive has some great ideas, but they're bogged down by a host of poor design choices.
The Bad: Terrible design choices bog down the experience; managing your stamina is annoying; climbing is boring; awful story has no idea where it wants to go; graphics in general aren't impressive.
As soon as you enter the title screen, a beautiful yet solemn piano piece does its best to introduce you to the atmosphere that "I Am Alive" attempts to convey to the player. However, that atmosphere is never realized. You definitely know what Ubisoft was trying to achieve with this game, but "I Am Alive" feels more like a proof of concept than a full-fledged action title. Let's start at the beginning. You play as a nameless protagonist in search of his wife and daughter in a small, ruined city, where gangs intent on surviving fill the dusty streets. Something only known as The Event has destroyed most of the known world, causing earthquakes, flooding and dust storms that make it hard to breath at lower altitudes. After a flight across the country and a year of walking, you finally arrive home; only to find your wife and daughter gone. You soon stumble upon a young girl named Mei who becomes reliant on your skills to survive. She becomes your main priority for the majority of the game.
"I Am Alive" tries to create an atmosphere of mystery and a sense of despair. The sense of despair can be seen throughout the environments you traverse. People call to you for help while you make your way through the blinding dust while groups of citizens hold guns up to your head in order to protect their stash. There are times when this atmosphere really does hit home. However there are many things that prohibit you from fully experiencing it…but we'll get to that later. Also, this sense of mystery regarding what happened during The Event, and what the protagonist did to become so alienated from his family really isn't that interesting. This is probably because the story simply loses itself from beginning to end. Needless to say, the ending of this game is simply not worth it. It feels rushed and frankly doesn't work.
"I Am Alive" attempts an open world type of setup. You're given objectives that are displayed on your rather small map, but you're kind of free to travel around the area. Why did I use the words, "kind of?" Because you're not going to want to stray off of the beaten path too much due to the dust that blankets nearly every area in the game. In order to fully explain this, I need to mention the stamina bar. Along with a non-regenerating health bar, you're given a stamina bar that governs everything you do besides walking. Running, climbing and hanging all exhaust this bar. Once it's exhausted, you're prompted to quickly tap the "R" button in order to stay alive. Finding solid ground will refill the bar rather quickly, but if you were forced to stay alive using the "R" button while performing an arduous task, then the overall capacity of the stamina bar will have decreased, giving you less stamina to work with. This of course, can be replenished with item use, but the stamina bar is an ever present nuisance that will attempt to thwart whatever activity you pursue.
Anyway, back to the dust. The majority of the city is covered in dust (sometimes the game refers to it as fog). While in dust, your vision is blurred (preventing you from seeing very far ahead of you) and your stamina slowly decreases. The only way to replenish your stamina bar is by climbing buildings or pipes to reach higher ground which, in turn, uses more stamina. This is how traversal in "I Am Alive" works most of the time. Sure, you'll be inside buildings and other areas free of this annoying dust, but in order to get to these destinations, you'll need to spend some time choking to death. It's not fun, and it limits exploration considerably. This, in turn, limited my connection to the world and the people in it. The game simply became about getting to my destination as fast and pain free as possible instead of exploring the town. Once I had beaten the game, I looked back at my map to see dozens of areas that I had yet to explore because I didn't want to have to constantly babysit my stamina meter through the thick dust. Of course, smart item use can help alleviate some of this trouble, but items in "I Am Alive" are few and far between.
Items, such as first aid kits and food cans, are rare delicacies in the world of "I Am Alive". Some of the smaller items (like soda cans that restore small amounts of stamina) are scattered on the streets, waiting for you to pick them up. Other, more valuable, items can be found in locations that are usually difficult to reach, such as a high ledge. Some items can be found around other survivors who usually risk their lives, as well as their ammo, to defend themselves and their food. There are some situations where fellow citizens will offer you some food out of the goodness of their hearts. However, there are times when you will be asked to provide your own resources for someone in need. A young woman may cry out for some food while an older man begs for a first aid kit after being trapped under the rubble of a crumbling building. You may also run into survivors who need your help to take out various thugs who may be holding them captive. There are plenty of opportunities to help out, and doing so gives you an extra "retry" (basically an extra life) should you fall to an enemy's gun or succumb to the forces of gravity.
There is one particular type of item that is almost a necessity in order to survive: ammo. Bullets are a rare and life-saving find in "I Am Alive," for they provide you with a way to dispatch your enemies quickly and efficiently. However, due to their scarcity, it's not always wise to shoot someone threatening you. You'll have to manage your ammo more carefully than any other game in recent memory, because if you're caught without a bullet when facing several thugs, then you'll have to bluff and pretend that you're pointing a loaded gun in their direction…which you can only do for so long before they start to catch on.
You'll begin to realize that most confrontations in "I Am Alive" play out the same way. First, you're threatened by two or more enemies. One will approach you while your character attempts to verbally calm the group. During this time, it's wise to take an inventory of each enemy's weapons. Once an enemy gets close enough, you're prompted to slit their throat before whipping out your gun on the remaining thugs. Anyone who has a gun will immediately attempt to shoot you down, so it's wise to take them out first if you have the ammo. The remaining thugs will then raise their hands in alarm once you've pointed the gun in their general direction, even if you have no ammo. You're also free to scrounge a bullet or two off of the dead thug's corpse if you're so inclined.
It's here where you can separate the leaders and the followers. Leaders of a particular group will often command you to, "point that gun somewhere else," or claim that, "If you were going to shoot, you would have done it by now." Leaders can also be distinguished by the way they move and point at you when being threatened with a gun. Killing off a leader will, at times, cause the followers to relinquish their weapons, allowing you to knock them out without a struggle. If you wait too long, your enemies will attempt to rush you. At any time, you can command someone to, "step back" while you're pointing your gun at them. This is most useful when you're presented with a high cliff or bonfire, allowing you to kick them off of large heights or burn them alive once they're cornered. Otherwise you can attempt an awkward "struggle kill," which forces you to mash on the right trigger in order to stab someone with your machete. The game eventually introduces armored enemies who march toward you regardless of what weapon you aim at them. In these situations, you're forced to enter a free-aim mode, allowing you to target unarmored parts of their bodies in order to take them out. You're also free to dawn their makeshift armor for yourself, allowing you a few extra hits before you go down.
There are a few problems with the system. Aiming your gun at a thug will cause them to raise their arms as they constantly plead for you to, "take it easy." However, lowering it for a second while you're still facing them will cause them to run at you…as if you never pointed that gun in the first place. Raising your gun at them again will cause them to stop as they shout, "He's got a gun!" It's a bit strange. In the same way, you can almost cheat the system once you get the bow and arrow. First, you can raise your gun to an enemy before yelling at them to, "back up." After getting some distance between you and them, you can quickly switch to your bow and arrow (which enemies don't exactly see as a threat for some reason) and take out one of the thugs before switching back to your pistol and repeating the process.
Even though it's somewhat flawed and rather predictable, the psychological combat in "I Am Alive" is generally entertaining, and will keep you engaged throughout the five hour campaign. Managing your ammo is a surprisingly tough thing to do when you're unexpectedly faced with multiple enemies who are all just begging to be shot in the face.
When you're not fighting off gangs of thugs, you'll usually be climbing buildings or other tall structures. The climbing aspect would be rather interesting if it weren't for the aforementioned stamina bar, which becomes annoying rather quickly. Now, I'm all for realism, but not when it bogs down the overall experience. You'll have to keep a close eye on the stamina whenever you're climbing or running, and constantly having to use resources when climbing is a pain. Simply put, climbing isn't really that fun.
When I first saw "I Am Alive," I was a bit disappointed in the overall presentation. Character's jaws were flabby when talking to each other and, at times, their mouths wouldn't even open at all when they attempted to speak. After playing through it, I'm still not very impressed. Character models look weird up close and buildings just look rather bland. There's also the thick fog which is a cheap attempt to keep you from seeing too much of the game at once. I will say that the animation is fairly well done in multiple climbing and combat scenarios, but the game just doesn't really look all that great overall.
Some of the music in "I Am Alive" is impressive, especially the opening piano piece. However, the stamina and health bars rear their ugly heads to totally ruin the sound design. Whenever your stamina bar starts to deplete, harsh strings get louder and louder as it slowly becomes empty. Remember when I said that your stamina bar's overall capacity can drop? Well, if it drops below a certain point (and it most likely will sooner or later) those strings, however loud they may be, will remain constant until you replenish your overall stamina with an item. This is a rather annoying design flaw and one that separated me from the atmosphere. The health bar is different. If you're health is low enough, every sound becomes muffled. There were one or two times when I was trying to listen to a conversation between characters but couldn't because everything was too muffled to hear and I lacked an item to restore my health. It's was a shame too, because I was missing out on some great dialogue. The script is generally well written in "I Am Alive," and the voice acting isn't too bad either.
Look, I'm all for games that deliver atmosphere and emotion, but this simply isn't one of them. Due to the combat system, the atmosphere does occasionally shine through, but I didn't have any connection to my character or the incredibly vague story that contained one of the worst endings that I've ever experienced in a video game. Personally, I think that you should save your money and wait for a price drop. When all is said and done, it's obvious that there are some great ideas here, but none of them are fully realized.