Alias is a game whose quality doesn't make it deserving of play by those who have no interest in the program.
User Rating: 6.8 | Alias PS2
Alias is a stealth action game that, while far from being outstanding, at least does a reasonably effective job of capturing the feel of the ABC show on which it is based. This is made possible in no small part by the participation of the show's principal cast, who all do a fine job in providing the voices for their characters here. The character models resemble the actors who play them with varying degrees of success, with Sydney bearing a strong resemblance to Jennifer Garner, Marshall looking and moving like a cross between actor Kevin Weisman and occasional Alias guest star Quentin Tarantino, and the tight-lipped mannerisms of actor Victor Garber being converted into a character model who seems to have difficulty opening his mouth at all. (Two characters in the game, Neil Caplan, who was played by guest star Christian Slater on the show, and Sydney's rival Anna Espinosa, who was played by Gina Torres, are not voiced by those actors here.) Other things that aid the game in emulating the show are the trademark Alias theme music, and those transitions in which the location is established by the name of the given city or country flying at the screen in that distinct Alias font. Throughout the game, Sydney will travel to locations all over the globe, where she'll invariably have to sneak past, or fight it out with, enemy thugs of all sorts, ranging from shiny-helmeted embassy workers to fanatical cultists wearing outfits and holding weapons that look like something out of Star Wars. Many of Sydney's movements seem modeled after those of Jennifer Garner on the show. She walks up and down stairs, for instance, in that distinct, methodical Sydney way, which initially seems like a nice touch but becomes silly when you're trying to run away from a legion of angry goons or chase an enemy agent through back alleys. On the show, Sydney hurries up or down stairs when she needs to, but not so here. Many of the fighting moves Sydney performs in the game will appear familiar to fans of the show as well, but fighting in the game is disappointingly clumsy. The absence of any option to lock Sydney on to a particular opponent means that you'll often find yourself kicking and punching the open air. Also, when enemies execute a throw on Sydney, there's a frustrating instant where you can't move her, as if she just stands there and lets the enemy toss her. Sydney can do more damage to opponents by using items she finds in the environment as weapons, or picking up guns off of fallen enemies. Just about every fight in the game can be won simply by wailing on the attack buttons, and there are no boss battles. Sure, Sydney might occasionally duke it out with characters like Sark or Anna, but these fights are really no different from the fights she has with the generic thugs she encounters throughout each level. While putting Sloane behind the controls of a giant attack robot or something wouldn't have fit into the tone or spirit of Alias, one can't help but feel that a few slightly more creative encounters that forced you to use your wits instead of just your button-mashing skills would have been welcome. The game encourages you to sneak past enemies, but this is easier said than done, because there's no clear indication of how visible you might be at any given time. The game often makes use of a split-screen presentation to aid you in sneaking past enemies...so often, in fact, that some might wonder if the developers thought they were making a game based on 24 instead...but while this is occasionally useful, it's not usually clear where you are in relation to the area being presented in the other screen. Still, on those occasions when you do sneak up on a guard unseen, you can take them out instantly with the use of a rather brutal neck-breaking move, which is undeniably satisfying. And even if you are spotted, it's usually not a disaster. Guards might be heard calling for backup over a radio, but this seems to have no effect, and guards in other rooms, or even at the other end of the same room, seem to have no awareness of the loud bursts of gunfire that just took out their comrades. Don't expect much in the way of logical, coordinated behavior from the bad guys in this game, because it doesn't exist. There are other things about the game that are illogical, as well, both from a technical standpoint (levels are interrupted frequently, and at strange times, for loading) and from a gameplay standpoint (why does Sydney start freezing to death in a particular outfit when the woman she just took it from seemed perfectly fine?). For another thing, should your game end, there is no option to simply continue or load your last save from the game over screen. You must first exit to the main menu and then load from there. And one or two objectives seem utterly pointless. For instance, at one point Sydney is told to take as many pictures as she can of various objects before a vault door closes, but it seems to have no bearing on the game whatsoever whether you manage to get pictures of two, one, or even none of the objects. Also, it is possible to get entirely stuck at the very end of the game through misuse of a certain gadget, so players are advised to use a couple of save slots. Individually, these are minor nuisances, but taken together, they are telling signs of a product that should have gone through a bit more quality assurance before hitting store shelves. Still, for all of these shortcomings, Alias fans may find the game rather engaging. For those who have been wondering what ever became of Sydney's rival, Anna Espinosa, the game answers that question. Supposedly, the game happens between episodes 19 and 20 of season two, but, given that the wife of Sydney's partner, Marcus Dixon, is killed at the end of episode 19, Dixon seems way too calm and collected here for that to be the case. But perhaps I nitpick. (I also don't think Arvin Sloane would ever go head to head with Sydney in an all-out brawl, but what are you gonna do?) Fans might debate about whether the game's plot is up to par, and a few elements might strike some as weak. For instance, although brainwashing and mind control have been plot devices on the show, the way they are handled here might seem a tad too silly. Nevertheless, like the plot of just about every episode of the show, the storyline here provides an excuse for Sydney to go on a globe-hopping adventure, this time in search of a Rambaldi artifact Sloane has and Anna wants, badly. If she gets it, she will use it to cause an environmental catastrophe on par with what's depicted in the trailers for the upcoming summer disaster film The Day After Tomorrow. What's more, the game's environments are well-designed and diverse, and Sydney's objectives evolve constantly over the course of each mission, keeping things fresh and compelling. Sydney is in constant contact with her CIA cohorts, and while they sometimes state the blatantly obvious, at other times they don't provide you with quite enough assistance, and there is no way for you to contact them for help a la Metal Gear. Still, while you may find yourself frustrated upon trying the occasional section for the seventh or eighth time, on the whole, the game is not all that challenging, and players will probably finish the game in anywhere between 8 to 15 hours, depending on whether they opt for a sneaky style or a run-and-gun approach. Alias is a game whose quality doesn't make it deserving of purchase or play by those who have no interest in the program. Fans of the show, however, are such a devoted bunch that many of them will likely want to play the game just to see what happens to agent Sydney Bristow and the other characters they've come to love. For people in this category, Alias is a good enough game to warrant a weekend rental. 
