It's an interesting plot, but not a very well developed game.
The Story:
The story resembles Doom 3, in more than one respect, involving a human developed base formed on the planet Mars. Underground excavations are being conducted, until those in the facility discover an extraterrestrial artifact that unleashes a bunch of ghosts, turning those into mindless zombies, weird giant beasts that come out of the ceiling, and something else that I can't remember currently. Anyways a distress signal is sent from Mars to Earth, asking for no one to come here. Instead, the planet Earth decides to send a three man rescue team to find out what happened. Thus the lines, "Stay alone, stay alive" become important to the game, although I'm not necessarily sure why.
The plot twists aren't very shocking, but the overall premise is interesting.
9/10
The Graphics:
The graphics are rudimentary, pitiful, and retarded. Running looks like "quick" walking, most character models have rectangular heads, the backgrounds are much like the early Resident Evil for Playstation. The third person limited view point is interesting, if not a direct rip off of RE, but also like RE, it proves very, VERY inconvenient when running around that corner to see that one zombie sitting there waiting for you. Almost everything surrounding wise is pre-rendered, and movement seems extremely clunky. Unfortunately, the graphics make it very easy to run into an enemy, as you are occasionally dragged five feet into the arms of a zombie against your will.
5/10
The Sound:
The sound is muffled. Some things are interesting, such as the pop gun which absolutely has no use in the game. The voice acting is generic, which makes for some funny sounding pronunciation of certain English words. The tapes left behind by those that once inhabited the base are decent, in fact, dare I say it, interesting, but the music most of the time sucks. When you first enter the base, the echoes of the ghosts in the halls can be heard.... probably the only thing that is remotely good. I wasn't too disappointed by the theme song at the title screen either, but otherwise the sound is not impressive. 4/10
The Gameplay:
The gameplay is much like Resident Evil. You have your third person view, limited inventory, things that you start out with that have no use whatsoever, and the clunky attempts to escape from an enemy. This game doesn't feature an auto-aim, making precise shooting difficult at some points in the game. A nice, notable thing about aiming though is that you can move while aiming, instead of staying stationary. The zombies are difficult to get around, dropping your health and "brainwave" activity much lower than you need it to be. Once you get caught, it can be difficult to get away from the situation, especially when you have a task list giving you tons of options to do with seemingly random objects. These include opening a door. Apparently you can talk about what kind of lock it is. Why?
There is a sense of satire in the game, including you looking through computers, reading history of the base, the excavations, and listening to more tapes. The save system is cleverly disguised as a videogame on the computer, unfortunately the PS version not allowing you to play it. There is a funny commentary track under it however, not that funny, but interesting. Most doors around the building are locked. Most require a certain colored card key to open, usually found on a zombie, or a locker. This can be immediately difficult since I have trouble running back and forth. Now there are three characters you can play as and switch to at any time. It's like playing three different, but equally as boring and difficult games. When you do switch however, you'll want to make sure your last character is in some room without an enemy, because if one of the three die, the game is over. I almost forgot to mention in the story that a woman narrator explains how three will come, but only two will leave. I think it's okay to get one killed then. Yet no, the game wants you to do it the way it sees it. Your inventory is limited, you'll find the occasional locker, much like the chest from RE, around the base to dump most of your useless crap in, such as a deflated balloon, a weapon that you will never find ammo for, and satsumi, something that one member brought with them. It apparently tastes crappy as he described it.
To transport items to each other, you use vacuum tubes also found around the base, with around 5 enemies blocking it. Dodging is not easy in this, and if you are good at it, you should definently award yourself with an Xbox 360. You have truely mastered a decently crappy game. If any of the three members wind up in the same room at the same time, or even the same hallway at the same time, the game will end for some unknown reason. I don't really understand this. It's a little too much for a simple game.
5/10
Finally...
The game is different. The story can draw you in if you're into that kind of stuff, but the gameplay will slowly push you out. I remember being scared of this game, solely because it was so difficult to get away from a zombie. Now, it's just stupid and way too hard to beat with it's very glitchy gameplay. Is it worth it? Only if you're planning on not playing anymore games forever. This one will help you keep your promise.