I Am Alive – Demo

New on PSN (it has been on Xbox for a few weeks) this week we had I Am Alive demo & full game. At nearly 2gb the demo took a few hours to download but I held out hope it would be worth it & used the time to play some Mass Effect 3.

I didn’t realise the full game was available to start with, I was just excited about the demo after reading a little about it in PlayStation magazine a few months back. The front cover picture captivated me, I couldn’t work out whether this was a real photograph or graphics. The image was amazing. Black & white shot of a young girl’s face, distraught & old beyond her years but a moving shot all the same.

In a washed out world you are told, through the eyes of what could be a found video camera, I’m not too sure, that it is about a year after The Event. You don’t know what actually happened but it was catastrophic, the world around you is dense white and grey and full of dust. In the video camera you see a man, Adam, telling you he has come looking for his wife & daughter.

The feeling of dread is quite real as from what you can see around you, there doesn’t seem to be much hope of finding anyone alive, let alone specific people. You are then taken to control Adam. In a typical role-playing/third person way you learn to climb and control your stamina levels. Piece by piece you’re told a little story about how he must get the apartment where his wife and young daughter were.

Following the map you find dead-ends and strangers lurking, apparently bullets are rare so you only get one. Use it wisely, not like me. Most people aren’t looking for a fight, although you do need to keep your wits about you. Some are looking for aid, which you may supply, if you have such a thing and also feel you want to.

You traipse around and eventually find the apartment and a little more information. I don’t want to spoil it, or the game, so I will leave the story part here.

I’ve played a few ‘scary’ games, Silent Hill for one, and they fill me with dread before they even start. This did the same but not so much in a jump-out and scare the bejesus out of me but more “I’m really scared I’m going to cry and be upset by this.” It has, for me at least, a creeping sense to it. You never know what’s round that dusty corner.

Technicalities are great, gameplay was easy enough to master and the tutorials were on hand whenever possible- although I do realize this may disappear in real game, once established you can handle yourself.

Graphics were okay. Not as good I was hoping from the article I read but I was soon sucked in and didn’t really care.

The next bit of good news? It’s only £12 on PSN and I think it fully, and I mean fully, deserves a bit more. I would have £20 for it. But don’t tell EA that please. I will be buying it first opportunity, even if I’m too scared to play it! Hey I have a birthday coming in, who knows ah!

I highly recommend playing the demo at least. See what you think.

Dizzy.

I Am Alive – No Really I Am!, 9.0 out of 10 based on 2 ratings