I Am Alive

For other uses, see I Am Alive (disambiguation).
I Am Alive

Promotional poster
Developer(s) Darkworks
(2005–2008)
Ubisoft Shanghai
(2008–2011)
Publisher(s) Ubisoft
Composer(s) Jeff Broadbent
Platform(s) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows[1]
Release date(s)

Xbox Live Arcade
March 7, 2012
PlayStation Network

  • NA: April 3, 2012
  • EU: April 4, 2012[2]
  • AUS: April 4, 2012

Microsoft Windows
September 6, 2012[1]

Genre(s) Action-adventure, survival[3]
Mode(s) Single-player

I Am Alive is a survival[3][4][5] video game developed by Ubisoft Shanghai and published by Ubisoft. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting and focuses on facing the permanent insecurity of a dystopian, decaying and hazardous world, and humanity's darkest inclinations towards brutality and materialism. Originally under development by Darkworks from 2003 until 2007, Ubisoft Shanghai completed the title. It was released for Xbox 360 on March 7, 2012, for PlayStation 3 on April 3, 2012 in North America and April 4, 2012 in Europe[6] and also for Microsoft Windows on September 6, 2012.[1]

Plot

The game takes place one year after America has gone through a massive disaster known simply as "The Event," which included earthquakes that destroyed most cities. Due to the damage of the aftermath, many people are forced to go without resources. The government tries to help citizens, but their attempts are useless. Supplies become low and this causes citizens to become agitated, violent and bitter.

A male survivor (Carlo Mestroni) travels to his old home of the fictional city of Haventon, to rescue his wife Julie and daughter Mary. When he gets to his apartment, he finds they have left to get to safety and meanwhile video tapes his apology for not being there and says that he will do everything to find them. As he is leaving, the protagonist sees a small girl who he mistakes for his daughter and saves her from three hostile men. The girl, Mei (Angela Galuppo), is missing her mother and gives the protagonist a walkie-talkie with which he talks to Henry (Elias Toufexis), a friend of Mei. Henry asks him to bring Mei to him and he agrees. The protagonist and Mei travel out to Henry's apartment, but soon stop in a dilapidated mall to rest during a dust storm. The protagonist notices that Mei has a fever, so he goes to find a supply drop that the government landed for survivors and is able to recover medicine for Mei. The two leave the next day and arrive at Henry's place, where the protagonist finds out that Henry is disabled and cannot walk. The protagonist is then tasked of finding a radio for Henry and traverses through the deadly dust clouds and makes it to an old boat. After searching the boat and finding the radio, the protagonist makes it off and travels back to Henry.

The protagonist makes it back and Henry thanks him and finally trusts him as a friend. Henry also suspects that Mei's mother might be in a local hotel and pressures the protagonist into finding her for Mei. He gets to the hotel and fights through a large number of killers who have kidnapped, intimidated and hurt women to pressure them into performing sexual acts on the men. The protagonist finds Mei's mother, Linda (Jean Nicolai), and rescues her from the men. They both get back to Henry's place and Mei reunites with her mother. Linda is able to use the radio to get messages from a boat coming to Haventon to pick up survivors. This seems as their way out but they soon learn that the boat is not coming to shore because of the dust. Henry makes the plan of creating a beacon to bring in the boat by using fireworks. The protagonist takes some of Henry's fireworks and sets them off on a nearby rooftop, successfully making a beacon for the boat. Just after they set it up though, hunters attack and the protagonist is forced to fight them off but Henry is nowhere to be found after. The protagonist learns from helping an injured man that Henry was taken by the hunters, who they were hunting for, due to his knowledge of where the camps holding survivors are. Finally, the beacon attracts the boat and it arrives at the dock just in time.

In the end, Mei and Linda go aboard the boat but the protagonist decides to stay, hoping to find Henry and his family. Mei and Linda bid him farewell and he records his last tape and says that he will find Julie and Mary and try to rescue Henry, before it is shown that a woman, presumably Julie, or his daughter Mary several years later, has been watching all his videos and currently has all his gear. She cries after the video ends and it is left on a cliffhanger whether or not Henry - or the protagonist - survived.

Gameplay

Here, the protagonist is confronted by an armed survivor while navigating through the Haventon sewers.

The player controls the main character from a third person perspective during navigation, the camera switches to first-person when aiming and shooting. During encounters with hostile survivors, the player can use various tactics to stay alive, including sneaking to surprise enemies with a machete quick kill, performing stealth kills with a bow, or using bluff and intimidation e.g. pointing an empty gun at hostile non-player characters.

The game has an emphasis on climbing and exploration. The player will scale wrecked buildings and navigate hazardous areas. Every effort has a cost and, when engaging in physically demanding activities, such as climbing or jumping, it is critical to manage the main character's stamina for him to survive. By managing stamina skillfully players are rewarded by accessing hidden paths, resources and other survivors.

Gameplay also involves collecting hidden resources and supplies scattered throughout the city: water, food, batteries, gas, medicine, cigarettes, tools, climbing gear, weapons, and ammunition. Anything that the player can salvage from the destroyed city can be used to keep the main characters strong and healthy, or prove helpful in his quest by allowing him to rescue survivors. Retries can be collected throughout the game by helping or rescuing people, with optional side quests to complete.

Development

The game began development in 2003. The game was first rumored to be in development in July 2008, when it was known that Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond was working on a new game, which was announced at E3 2008, along with a trailer. It was later revealed that Raymond was not working on the game.[7] Development experienced various delays. The original developers, Darkworks, announced that it would not be working on it any longer due to a "mutual decision" and that the studio had other obligations, and that the game would be finished at Ubisoft Shanghai's studio.[8] On August 2009, various screenshots of an old build of the game were leaked onto the Internet.[9] An announcement from Ubisoft indicated a release window between Q2 April 2010– Q2 March 2011. These dates passed with no new information, until June 2011 when a notification was published at the Australian classification website which indicated a possible release in the late summer of 2011.[10]

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said at the start of 2010 that the studio was "totally re-engineering the product."[11] In May 2011, Ubisoft cancelled a number of games, but it was revealed that I Am Alive and another Ubisoft title Beyond Good & Evil 2 were not among them, with Ubisoft stating that the cancelled games were unannounced games.[12] On September 29, 2011, a new announcement trailer was released for the game with a release date of "this winter" at the end.[13] On January 23, 2012, the developers announced on Facebook that the game would be available for Xbox 360 on March 7, 2012.[14] On August 23, 2012, Ubisoft announced the PC version, which had been previously cancelled.[1]

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings(PS3) 71.58%[15]
(X360) 69.62%[16]
(PC) 66.00%[17]
Metacritic(PS3) 75/100[18]
(X360) 69/100[19]
(PC) 66/100[20]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Destructoid8.5/10[21]
Edge7/10[3]
Eurogamer8/10[22]
G42.5/5[23]
Game Informer8.5/10[24]
GameSpot8/10[25]
GamesRadar[26]
IGN4.5/10[27]
OXM (US)7.5/10[28]
TeamXbox7.7/10[29]
VideoGamer.com7/10[30]
UGOC-[31]

I Am Alive received mixed to positive reviews, with aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic assigning the PlayStation 3 version 71.58% and 75/100,[15][18] the Xbox 360 version 69.62% and 69/100[16][19] and the PC version 66.00% and 66/100.[17][20]

GameSpot gave it an 8 out of 10, commenting that "The few unrealistic elements are a stark contrast to the engrossing world and only lessen the experience."[25] Eurogamer also gave it an 8, commenting "What I Am Alive lacks in originality, though, it makes up for in execution," praising the tone and gameplay.[22] Several reviews praised the survival aspects of the game, commenting on the scarcity of resources and oppressive atmosphere.[3][22][32]

Conversely, IGN's review, 4.5 out of 10, cited outdated graphics and poor gameplay elements.[27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Walker, John (August 23, 2012). "Back From The Dead: I Am Alive Finally Coming To PC". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ Nichols, Scott (March 21, 2012). "'I Am Alive' dated for PSN in April". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "I Am Alive review". Edge (magazine). Future Publishing. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  4. ↑ Dale, Alex (March 6, 2012). "I Am Alive review: A new breed of survival horror?". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  5. ↑ Nguyen, Thierry (March 13, 2012). "I Am Alive Review for 360". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2012-12-05.
  6. ↑ "I Am Alive – The Official Website". Ubisoft Entertainment. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  7. ↑ Nelson, Randy (2009-01-06). "I Am Alive: I am first-person, I am not a Jade Raymond game". Joystiq. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  8. ↑ Magrino, Tom (2009-03-06). "I Am Alive moves to Ubi Shanghai". GameSpot. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  9. ↑ Nelson, Randy (2009-09-03). "Rumor: I Am Alive, but I may not look like these screens anymore". Joystiq. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  10. ↑ "Classification database: I AM ALIVE, Computer Games (Multi Platform)". 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
  11. ↑ Rose, Mike (2011-02-01). "Report: I Am Alive To Be Released As A Digital Download in 2011". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
  12. ↑ Watts, Steve (2011-05-12). "Ubisoft posts $74M net losses, cancels games". Shacknews. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  13. ↑ "I Am Alive Announcement Trailer". Machinima.com. 2011-09-29.
  14. ↑ "I Am Alive Facebook Developer Page". 2012-01-23.
  15. 1 2 "I Am Alive (PS3)". GameRankings. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  16. 1 2 "I Am Alive (X360)". GameRankings. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  17. 1 2 "I Am Alive (PC)". GameRankings. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  18. 1 2 "I Am Alive (PS3)". Metacritic. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  19. 1 2 "I Am Alive (X360)". Metacritic. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  20. 1 2 "I Am Alive (PC)". Metacritic. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  21. ↑ "Review: I Am Alive". Destructoid. Destructoid. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  22. 1 2 3 "I Am Alive review". Eurogamer. Eurogamer. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  23. ↑ Gaskill, Jake (2012-03-07). "I Am Alive Review for Xbox 360". G4. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  24. ↑ "I Am Alive Review: Survival Done Right – I Am Alive – Xbox 360". www.GameInformer.com. 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  25. 1 2 "I Am Alive". GameSpot.com. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  26. ↑ "I Am Alive review". GamesRadar. 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  27. 1 2 "I Am Alive – Xbox 360 – IGN". Xbox360.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  28. ↑ "Official XBOX Magazine | I Am Alive review". Oxmonline.com. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  29. ↑ "Review: I Am Alive". TeamXbox. TeamXbox. Retrieved March 18, 2012.
  30. ↑ "I Am Alive Review for Xbox 360". VideoGamer.com. 2012-03-06. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  31. ↑ Furfari, Paul (2012-03-06). "I Am Alive Review – I Am Alive". UGO.com. Retrieved 2012-03-19.
  32. ↑ "I Am Alive 360 review". Console Monster. Console Monster. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
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