A Review: Alpha Prime, PC 2007

Alpha Prime is a first-person shooter game from the Czech developer Black Element Software, the same company behind popular titles such as Day-Z and Arma. The game puts the player in the role of Arnold Weiss, a wizened and pessimistic mining prospector, as he goes on a mission to save his former friend at the behest of his former lover, Livia. Gameplay is mostly standard for the FPS genre and is one of those titles that is very much a case of 'what you see is what you get'. This game's script and story were written by a famous Czech author, Ondrej Neff, and run through the Enforce 2 engine. One of Black Element's proprietary game engines. Alpha Prime was initially released on Steam, and as of August 2011, it also became available on the cloud gaming service OnLive.

Despite the reviews and critics opinions, I liked this game for the most part and enjoyed the time I spent on it. The gameplay is steady and well-paced, with plenty of interesting and engaging firefights and a constant, steady stream of action. Control inputs and responses are good, and I found very few stability issues, though I did have a few issues with dumb AI get stuck in between level objects. The settings and environments looked good, and I liked the level layouts. They rewarded exploration but were clear and concise about what direction the player needed to take. I didn't like the driving segments and felt that they were only added to diversify play a little. The controls for the vehicles seemed too sensitive, and you couldn't go very far at all with them, meaning that it was often quicker to just hoof it. I liked the plot and thought that the story was well told through the cutscenes and character dialogues. I really enjoyed the end and felt that it left the door perfectly open for a sequel, though one never came as Black Element no longer exists as it did for Alpha Prime's development. The guns were well implemented and made sense in the settings and world, though I thought that some seemed more showy than actually useful. For me, this is one of those games that was very easy to get into and play and one that didn't drag on too long, with a full playthrough completed in around seven hours or so. The only frustrations were towards the late game, where even the slightest error was mercilessly punished and finding health and ammo was needlessly hard.

Visually, this was a pretty game for an FPS, with a nice mix of dark and gloomy levels and open, well-lit spaces. The shadow and lighting effects were solid, and the overall appearance of this game throughout was clean and solid. The enemy's motions and animations looked realistic and seemed to be on point. Weapons and ammo usage were good, with a nice amount of persistent bullet holes and spent casings left on a level as the player navigated towards the end. The explosion and fire details were perhaps a little bare, but still looked okay when viewed as a part of a whole rather than as a singular item. Blood spray and staining were nicely done and in a way that added to the game rather than heaping on an unnecessary gore factor. I liked the simple UI; it was clear and held all the needed information without being intrusive or overwhelming. I also thought that the chosen color scheme matched very well with the atmosphere of the game. Yeah, I thought that it was a pretty good-looking game, especially given the low system requirements it had.   

Overall, I liked this game and found myself enjoying my playthrough for the most part, with a story that kept me interested and engaged throughout.

6/10 – Good Fun!
Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ