Lifeline is a new survival horror game from Konami. On the surface it looks like another standard survival horror title of similar quality to Extermination or Carrier, except for one major difference. In this game, you don’t have any direct control over your character. Instead of controlling your character directly, the main character "Rio" is controlled by your voice. Instead of playing as the main character, you play the role of a guest in a space station hotel who is separated from your girlfriend Naomi. As the game starts you find yourself locked in a control room of the space station unable to leave. You direct Rio through a control console and by speaking with her directly over USB headset. You direct her actions through voice commands and you assist her through the control console by activating panels, opening and closing doors, and other assorted actions. This is a great idea, but this game’s (like all games) quality is largely determined by how well the controls work. In this case, the control is mostly through the headset. While the idea of controlling a character through voice commands sounds neat, there are a few problems that plague gameplay. The biggest issue by far is that the voice recognition, the load-bearing pillar of support upon which this entire game concept is based, sucks. Often, the game will misunderstand you. This might be your fault, to be fair. I’ve played enough XBL to know that much to my surprise, nobody in this country knows how to speak properly. I know non-native English speakers who have better English comprehension than half of the people I chat with online. You might say “closet”, but in your southern drawl, valley girl speak, or thick Brooklyn accent it might come out as any number of things that even a real person might not understand. Now straight up recognition issues aside (of which you will find PLENTY!), vocabulary is also a problem. The game will try very hard to find the closest approximation to what you said to what it knows as commands. Should you use a word or phrase that it doesn’t recognize it will strain to associate it with something that it does know. As a result, you can get some pretty random results if you get creative with your phrasing (i.e. you ask Rio to look at something and she leaves the room instead). Adding to the confusion is the fact that it’s not always obvious what command Rio thought you might have said. Also, the voice commands aren’t always as intuitive as one might like. For example, if you want Rio to look at something, you need to address it by its proper name. However, it might not always be obvious what the proper name of the object is. For example, say there’s a bag on the table that you want Rio to examine. The bag might be referred to by "bag" as its proper name, but it might also be called "purse", "satchel", "reticule", etc. On the upshot, the game is capable of recognizing objects by other descriptors like color, material, or shape. If you see a green bag, you can ask Rio about the "green bag". She`ll ask in response "Do you mean this?" Afterwards, the proper name of the object will appear on the screen so that you can properly identify it. You can at that point repeat "check the (insert name here)." The only problem with this is that the game’s graphics are nothing special. The background are reasonably detailed, but sometimes it can be a real PITA just trying to figure out what the heck it is you are looking at so you can tell Rio to examine it. Another problem with the voice command system is that even when it’s working it gets repetitive fast. Individual commands are frequently broken down into micromanaged steps (i.e. walk to the back of the room, walk to the garbage can, examine the garbage can, open the garbage can, look inside the garbage can, get the thingy you just found in the garbage can), so much so that you’ll frequently get frustrated with Rio for not having half a brain to perform even the simplest tasks without having each bit explicitly spelled out for her. One thing you must resist the urge to do is speak to Rio like a normal person and not some sort of walking “Speak N’ Spell.” You’ll be tempted to do this because she speaks to you like a normal person, but you must NOT reply in kind. If you do, you’ll send her spiraling in an whirling of every increasingly frustrating responses. For example: You: Walk towards the bathroom. Rio: The bathroom? Okay. You: Run. Rio: (starts running) You: Go faster! Rio: Leave the room? Okay. You: NO, NOT THAT WAY! Rio: Use a health kit? Okay (eats one of her finite health kits while already at full health) You: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?! Rio: Stick my head in the toilet and flush? Alrigh! You: (throws the headset at the screen while clutching your chest with your right hand as your left arm goes numb…) GGGayygaygaagsppp….. Rio: Go play in traffic? Okay! Okay, so I got a little creative there at the end but just imagine how much fun combat is when you are yelling out every command in sets of three. That’s when the -real- battle begins, albeit with the misinterpretation monster rather than any of the critters Rio shoots at. Overall, this is a fun game for its gimmick. Aside from the voice recognition, there’s nothing to distinguish this title from any other mediocre survival horror title. Still, even a mediocre survival horror game can be pretty fun. For as frustrating as the voice recognition can be, it can also serve as a source of constant amusement. I highly recommend this game in a group environment with alcohol involved as it increases its amusement ten-fold. Probably not worth full price, but if you can pick it up cheap this is a hell of a lot better than Seaman. I give it high tilt-marks because it's one hell of an idea. -Byshop
Other Helpful Reviews for Operator's Side (PlayStation 2 the Best)
In my book this game was the best use of the USB mic to date. I know alot of games use the USB mic for certain aspects of the game but this is one of the only games I have seen or heard of to date that use the mic as the... Read Full Review
This game is revoluntary at the least. Instead of using a standard ps2 controler you use your voice. Thats right your voice. Its christmas eve and you and your girlfriend are at a party on a spacestation all of the suddo... Read Full Review
