One of the best television/movie to video game adaptations you will find. A must-own for fans of the series.

Let’s play the “if” the game for a moment. If Jennifer Garner were not so….delicious looking, maybe Alias wouldn’t have become a hit television series for ABC.

If, however, it became a video game anyway, how would something like that come about? Sam Fisher (Splinter Cell) stumbles into an English pub at 3:00am. There he meets a sad, but spirited starlet named Lara Croft (Tomb Raider).

She’s obviously upset at the mismanagement of her video game career and Sam’s a good listener. After several Lager and Limes they end up at a motel….and well you know the rest.

In the morning, Sam is gone to deal with Pandora Tomorrow, but he’s left Lara with a little gift – Alias. The game would be the love child resulting from their one night of passion, IF Alias were not a critically acclaimed television series.

In the real world though, Alias is the video game adaptation of the popular series that follows the twists and turns of CIA operative Sydney Bristow’s life.

Her stealth skills, martial arts expertise and high-tech gadgets help her navigate through some of the most impossible missions imaginable.

Acclaim has opted to try and capture the magic from the show and put it into a third person action-adventure reminiscent of Splinter Cell and Tomb Raider. You take on the role of Sydney Bristow as she stealthily battles her way through dangerous missions scattered around the world.

Graphically, this game is impressive. It’s not as glossy as Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, but it stands on its own merit. The character models, especially Syd’s, are very nice indeed. The background graphics and locales are creative, but you get the sense that the developers could have done even better with more time.

My favorite would have to be the museum, which is actually the second mission in the game. It’s filled with antiquities, fossils and most importantly, high tech security. The design is such that you feel like you are really in a museum filled with all of these artifacts.

The cut scenes that carry the story along are solid, and the developer did a fantastic job of re-creating the feel that you’re participating in an interactive version of the television show. The faces of the cast though, are a bit on the ghostly side. This is not surprising for an initial offering, and it really doesn’t detract from the overall experience.

In addition to slick graphics, the majority of the voiceovers are done by the actual actors/actresses of the television show. When you hear Marshall’s nervous banter, you’ll feel right at home.

Again, the immersion factor increases significantly when you are able to tap the real life talent to voice video games based on movies or television shows.

As we move through this review, the preeminent thought on your mind should be that Alias the game is intended to mirror Alias the series. The primary goal is to reach fans of the series, and if it so happens that the game brings in new viewers then that’s the icing on the cake.

Game play is interesting to say the lease. The title incorporates mechanics that includes martial arts, simple platforming and computer hacking.

Before the start of each mission you will receive your briefing that outlines the overall goal and the gadgets that you will need to accomplish the task. The missions themselves are quite long and require you to complete mini missions along the way.

For example, the first mission has you infiltrating a casino, hacking into a computer system, hitching a ride in the back of a truck, etc all in an effort to complete the overall objective. Anyone who has read my reviews knows that I am not going to give away too much plot, so I’ll leave it at that.

One unusual aspect of this game is that it is quite easy to complete. There are an inordinate amount of saves along the way. In fact, it’s rare that you’ll play more than five minutes and not encounter a save point.

BRAVO is what I say to Acclaim! One of most frequent complaints that I hear from gamers is that they can’t go through a game at their own pace. You will not have that problem with Alias. In addition, each time you save and restart, Sydney’s health gauge is at full capacity.

Sydney has an impressive array of moves and tools at her disposal. She has the ability to crouch into stealth mode much like Sam Fisher. This allows her to sneak under surveillance cameras, past gun turrets and upon unsuspecting enemies. Doing the latter will allow her to perform a “special” attack that will neutralize her foe in one quick movement.

If she has to face enemies head on, she can punch, kick, flip, throw and use a variety of weapons to aid her in a fight. These items range from frying pans to broken bottles, pipes and of course guns, lots of guns.

Other abilities include night vision, thermal vision, and the ability to change disguises to fit the situation. Add to that the ability to move crates for access to ventilation shafts and the ability to shimmy and climb on pipes.

The interesting and unique thing about this title is that for the most part, all of these elements work well. Normally, when games try to incorporate many different facets of game play, they fail to do anything worth while. It’s not perfect, but it does make for a fun game.

There a couple of rough spots though, and the most glaring is the camera. Although you have the ability to control the camera with the right analog stick, it’s not always at a full 360 degrees. This makes for awkward moments throughout the adventure and is really the worst part of the game.

The other rough spot is a matter of taste. The game tends to hold the player’s hand a bit too much throughout the experience. I never had to solve any difficult puzzles, and the gadget needed for the situation always seem to be highlighted in my inventory.

Like I said a few paragraphs ago, this game is targeted for the viewers primarily. Everything about the game really mirrors the television show, and in this case it’s fairly well done. I would personally like to see more challenge to draw in new fans, but as it stands, this game could easily be called Splinter Cell Lite (you know like Miller Lite?)

Of all television/film game adaptations that I have played the last few years, Alias is one of the top two or three. The game combines a little stealth, lots of action, terrific locales, and a well written story written by J.J. Abrams.

At the beginning of the review, we mentioned Lara Croft. This is what Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness should have been. Acclaim took a sexy female lead, gave her gadgets, fighting ability, intelligence and placed her in exciting missions.

For video game fans who love the Alias series, this is a must purchase. Fans of the action-stealth genre will be doing themselves a favor to at least rent this title and give it a chance. If you can overlook the easy difficulty and tricky camera, you might just find yourself a satisfying game experience.


Review by Michael Harris.