A game that relies on so many tired clichées, yet still doesn't manage to do anything entertaining with them.
A mining operation focused on digging out the precious mineral Hubbardium suddenly goes silent. The rare alien mineral in question allows its user to wield immense power, but at the price of possibly falling under its influence. The evil megalomaniacal corporation that mines it (aptly named "The Corporation") sends in crack commandos to quickly quell the situation and cover up any security leaks. Before you know it you are stuck between soldiers with ominously glowing goggles and a slew of deranged miners that are still putting up a fight. Lastly there is a small gallery of one-dimensioned personalities who supply you with tasks and information to rail you through the levels. Oh, and a token betrayal lurks near the end of the game.
The plot will hardly leave anyone intrigued, and unfortunately this goes for the gameplay as well. This is a tired run and gun through corridors and rooms littered with movable objects that constantly get in your way. Duck behind a crate and suddenly you begin pushing yourself and the crate into the line of fire, try to pick up a grenade from a locker and the door swings back blocking your access to it and so on. There is never any question as to where to go next, all doors are locked except the one you need to move on through. Enemies cheat by being strategically placed and zeroing in on you as soon as you set foot in a new location, you'll start bleeding before you can even turn to face your foe.
To aid you is a compact but diverse enough inventory of common rifles encountered in every other FPS since the 1990s. Pistol, shotgun, machine gun, rocket launcher and so on. Except for the shotgun most weapons felt underpowered, especially the sniper rifle. Tossing grenades is usually one of the more satisfying actions in an FPS but here they were rather unpredictable to deploy. Overall the shooting elements were mostly a painfully repetitive chore. Then there is the token vehicle level. Many recent shooters attempt to break up the monotony a bit with some action packed driving around. Alpha Prime faithfully copies this concept by adding a planet rover with atrocious handling to allow you to tumble down ledges a plenty. Its use is limited to ferry you down a set path from point A to B. At a few places the road ahead is impassable, forcing you to abandon the car and walk across the obstacle only to find a similar buggy conveniently parked on the other side of the roadblock. Even more stupid is the fact that you cannot run over enemies with it. That's right; if you charge ahead full steam and slam into a rifleman the buggy and the guy will bounce off each other without further damage. The soldier then switches to melee mode and starts to pummel the hood with the butt of his rifle while you sit inside and mutter the same underwhelming ungghhs and aahhs you normally do when being shot at.
Graphically the game looks okay although nothing special. Looks are stylish but the concept lacks soul. Sound effects where also passable save for the game's cast that really did not convince in the delivery of their lines. Ultimately Alpha Prime will most likely become a minor distraction from your favourite game, and it would be hard to describe it as anything but a genuine waste of your time.