30 Days of Gaming: Day 20

Day 20 - Under-Rated Games

This one is a toss up.  I'd have to say that I really feel that Alice: Madness Returns, Alpha Protocol and Dark Void all fall into this category.  I know they are all current-gen games, but really, they got shafted when they came out and are not nearly as bad as people seem to think.

Alice: Madness Returns is a sequel to a 10-year-old game by American McGee.  It's part platformer, part combo-heavy combat (a la God of War, Dante's Inferno, etc) and part head trip.  Friends who talked to me shortly after this came out know that I really feel that the reviews were unfair to the game.  To read some, you would think, “Oh, this is pretty good. Got a few flaws, but still...a solid 7 or 8” only to get to the score and see 5s and 6s.  While not bad, that certainly drove many away from the game.  The complaints also seem a bit unfair. “Combat is repetitive and the graphics are glitchy.”  Well, most combat in games (God of War notwithstanding) gets stale when there isn't a deep upgrade system.  Alice falls into that trap, sadly.  The graphics, on the other hand, I disagree with the reviews.  I saw none of the “ubiquitous glitches and screen tearing” reviewers found and thought that it looked pretty good.   Only the occasional mess-up with her hair and some very slight slowdown/loading at strange times.  Really, I feel that Alice deserved higher score and if you like those types of game it really should be given a chance.

Alice in the Vale of Tears

Taking on the Red Queen's minions

Alpha Protocol, oh you poor thing.  Billed as “Mass Effect, but with spies!” it suffered from long delays (one that came as the released date came and went with no word from Obsidion or publisher Sega about it), an overall sense that it needed a bit more polish and a protagonist that was half-baked.  It wasn't a well done action-shooter at all.  The game wasn't meant to be played like that, even though "choice" was the center of it all.  However, if the game was approached like a Splinter Cell (focus on stealth and takedowns, not firepower) it became a gem.  Great use of cover and timing to take out targets never became stale.  The story branched and twisted well, and even though Michael Thorton wasn't the best, he was likeable enough.  That's not to say he was a great protagonist.  Hell, Thorton's "quips" covered all three style choices (Professional, Suave, Aggressive; corresponding to spy archetypes like Bourne, Bond and Bauer) at random which meant that my professional spy occasionally said flippant things.  His supporting cast was awesome and the missions just got better with time.  The mechanics for hacking and lock picking were fantastic and tense.  I loved that you only had seconds to make conversation choices and you couldn't go back (like you can in Mass Effect).  My only major gripe was that pistols and stealth (my playing style choice) go out the window for the last mission in favor of all-out combat, which was difficult.  Pistols versus a helicopter is not a fun boss fight.  I still got through it, but it seemed as though the game was expecting you to be more combat oriented.  Still, this was a fun game to play through and if you are a fan of Splinter Cell, Alpha Protocol is one to check out for sure.

Alpha Protocol had some cool upgrades

Stealth was the way to go.  And it was awesome!

Ah, Dark Void.  This was a game with so much potential that was hamstrung by being unfinished.  The pedigree alone had me salivating: the team behind Crimson Skies (an amazingly fun flight/shooter) was making what looked like the Rocketeer with Nolan North as the star.  Combat that switched (rather smoothly in the end) between standard cover-based shooting (like Gears of War) to hovering vertical fights to full-on air combat, all while having a sci-fi/alternate history story?  Oh, it was bliss!  Flying around with a jet-pack attacking flying saucers was vintage Crimson Skies.  But being able to land on the tower you were fighting outside of, rush to cover and shoot aliens in a competent (but not stellar) shooter?  Then platform around the tower using the floors/ceilings as cover?  Oh, what a rush!  The failing of this game is that you can see the white-board the developers had up: The main plot points are laid out and make sense; the introduction of secondary characters and twists in the plot are all there.  Unfortunately, it seems like they were rushed to finish.  Characters and story ideas are introduced and then swiftly forgotten (“Oh her? Yeah, she's not been happy since the last man to use the rocket pack died. It's a sad tale I'll tell you sometime.” Never resolved.).  The entire last act seems so rushed that the ending actually took me by surprise.  And the game committed a sin in not letting me exact just revenge on a traitor, but showed that revenge in a swift cut-scene that had all the gravitas and enjoyment of a single crisp to go with a sub-par sandwich (Finally, I get to kill that snake! Oh, he's dead...and we've moved on with nary a word.  Huh.).  Dark Void had so much potential, and it seemed like the rush to put it out (and with the awful “To Be Continued” ending) caused it to lose something.  I loved it, but I felt that it was only part of the overall experience hinted at during the game.

Flying and transitioning to ground combat was smooth

How is this not awesome?!  Shame it didn't get more development time.