Almost Alive

Review

What is absolutely amazing about us humans, is our competitiveness to be the best at what we do. In most cases, that implies literally stepping over someone to move up the ladder, or simply removing anybody in front of us in order to take over the top job in our industry! Our race is very good at evolving, at the same time as destroying everything we have discovered and built, including ourselves. One day, you could wake up and find yourself in A.A +1 (Almost Alive day 1); the day after world governments had to launch nuclear missiles on their own countries in the hope of containing a biological agent that is spreading around the world like flies! This is a post-apocalyptic world full of mutants and crazy people who are almost alive!

Almost Alive is an RPG/action game developed and published by Emir Games where you play a character in a post-apocalyptic world.

As you launch a new game, you go through a very interesting, well-presented introduction, (narrated by someone with a deep voice) that outlays how the post-apocalyptic world came to be. The next step is to customize your character, which is the first great point in this game. You have several portraits to choose from; each of the images shows what type of person your character is (human or cyborg) and how old they are. After choosing how you look, your character is given a certain number of balance points which you can spend on traits and craziness. There are currently 50 out of a potential 56 traits, and 44 out of a potential 56 craziness icons, to choose from.  I am not too sure at this stage whether the remaining icons have to be unlocked, or whether they will become available in further updates. In any case, you have to choose three traits (eg. commandos, chef, doctor etc) and two craziness (eg. slow, hippy, insane etc). After selecting from these, your character will receive a few skills, in addition to skill points, which you will be able to use in the skills tree. Bear in mind that whatever you have chosen in the customization stage will affect your character within the gameplay.

The first map is pretty much a tutorial, which shows you how to use most of the interface; mostly movements, shooting, searching for loot and communicating with other characters in order to access quests. Then the fun begins (I kept being killed by the same crazy kamikaze in this map) until you die, when your character will then wake up in the second map.

The second map is where the game really starts. As you meet new people and speak with them (you’ll be given 3 to 4 answers to choose from), they’ll hand you quests to complete, which show up as a yellow exclamation mark on your map. The map will also show you where different groups (tribes) are located within it. There are plenty of weapons to collect, from handguns to grenade launchers, as well as new technologically-advanced warfare items, such as the plasma gun. Cool armour and body items to wear (sunglasses).  Stacks of foods, tools (lockpicks), medicine (medic bag), and other unconventional items to grab. Bear in mind that your inventory (backpack) will be limited at the start of the game. In the eventuality that you are critically injured, you can either use several of the health items, or head up to one of the friendly group camps where a doctor will heal your wounds. As you progress, if you access a bed within the map, make sure to take a nap, as that is the only way to save your game, as far as I can see.

The gameplay is pretty much a 2.5D isometric layout and full of action! All the characters, including yourself, are a greyish cartoon-style, with good animations. As you encounter enemies, the background music will change from an atmospheric style to a full hard rock track until you have eliminated all enemies within a specific area.  You can also destroy all the environments, which is a lot of fun!

Graphically the game looks pretty good and I really like the survival atmosphere created by the cool background soundtracks. In terms of the controls, I find them easy to use. There is plenty of content for an early access game and I can’t wait to see the final product. I did have a few crashes by using a resolution above 1920X1080; but that’s all so far.