Review for Left Alive. Game for PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 28/02/2019 The version for PC came out on 05/03/2019
There is no doubt that that of Front Mission is a decidedly mistreated saga. If once upon a time it could be defined as a quality and moderately successful franchise (even if poorly managed, as we have already explained in our Front Mission retrospective), in recent years it has undergone a reckless attempt at a "modern" relaunch through spin-offs. who took it away from its genre of origin making it sink even further. After the mediocre Front Mission Evolved it is now the turn of Left Alive, a title set in the same world as the main series, but which attempts a formula that takes the war to a more human dimension.
Despite the perplexities, the title that Square Enix has entrusted to the unknown Ilinx had nevertheless attracted our attention. Indeed, it is difficult to ignore the participation of personalities such as Yoji Shinkawa (character designer of the Metal Gear Solid and Zone of the Enders series), the director Toshifumi Nabeshima (former director of the very first Armored Core and then supervisor and producer of the sequels), the producer Shinji Hashimoto (who edited several historical productions of Square Enix), and the composer Hidenori Iwasaki (formerly author of the soundtracks of Front Mission 4 and 5).
With such talents to aid development, it was difficult to miss the shot, yet it did.
The game is set in the year 2127, therefore following the events of Front Mission 5: Scars of the War. Left Alive's world of the future is divided into supernations made up of economic aggregations from different countries. With such an advanced globalization, diplomatic relations between the powers are even more cautious, and open conflicts on a global scale have been overcome. However, this has only increased the so-called proxy wars, especially in those territories that still represent gray areas between the macro blocks. The game is set in the geographical area that today corresponds to Ukraine, and begins with the invasion of the Republic of Garmoniya in the city of Novo Slava, in the Republic of Ruthenia. In a few hours the city becomes a distressed battlefield filled with garmoniyan soldiers, tanks, drones and of course wanzer, the emblematic mechs of the Front Mission series. In this critical situation we will have to impersonate three protagonists who survived the attack, each with a more or less personal purpose that will push them to make their way through the enemy troops.
Although the main characters are not masterpieces of characterization, the game has the merit of giving us three perspectives on a story that deals with delicate and interesting themes related to war and its horrors. The real problem is that the plot remains confused until the end, the narration trudges for almost the entire duration of the game and fails to engage and thrill, also due to the too sporadic and not very incisive cutscenes between game sessions. Not even in the final stages it is fully understood where the plot wants to end up, and the player finds himself with an ending that does not explain many, too many things.
It is possible to optionally help some survivors of Novo Slava to slightly modify the ending, and by talking to them we can discover additional details of the plot, but (as we will explain later) the game does not do much to encourage us to undertake these missions. In some cutscenes it is also possible to make dialogue choices that will have effects later on, but you almost never feel the pressure of an important stake, nor the desire to restart the game just to make different choices.
The purpose of the protagonists we impersonate in rotation is to move within some macro areas of Novo Slava trying to reach certain positions to continue in the story. Considering that we are in a war zone manned by enemy troops, the stealth component is naturally the focus of the gameplay, also because charging the opponents head down and being identified often has the understandable effect of being targeted by all the units in the vicinity, bringing us in seconds to Game Over. It is therefore necessary to advance with caution without being detected by soldiers and drones, limiting the clashes to a minimum. Unfortunately right the stealth mechanics were built loosely. The first disappointment comes when we realize that, despite our alter egos should have military training on their shoulders, it is not possible to stealthily eliminate an enemy soldier by coming behind him; the most silent solution available is to hit him several times with a blunt weapon, trying to shoot him down quickly without giving him a way to alarm the others. Which is not to be taken for granted, given that the movements and collisions leave a lot to be desired. The imprecision of the controls seems to be regurgitated directly from the titles of the 90s, and will make itself felt especially in the passages from normal movement to squatting behind covers and vice versa, making it difficult to move easily and even less to face the shootings that we will sometimes be forced to.
The AI of the enemies is something extremely fluctuating and inconsistent. It is possible to find yourself in absurd situations such as running behind a soldier or passing him a handful of meters away without being seen, but also being inexplicably discovered behind a cover, and once the alarm goes off, discover that all the soldiers in the vicinity they instantly learn our position by starting to shoot everything at us.
Unfortunately, even in the level design Left Alive shows a guilty inadequacy. Although the environments are fairly large, there is very little room for the player's creativity. Very few buildings can be explored, verticality is scarcely exploited, but even worse in many cases it is clear that the levels have been structured with barriers and barriers of enemies in order to push the player to find a certain ideal path to continue, instead of putting him in a position to continue choosing from more possibilities. This results in frustrating trial & error sessions that are not very stimulating. In this it does not help the fact that the various missions in which the game is divided are all set in the same few macro areas in which we will be taken repeatedly with a different objective and disposition of the enemies.
Scattered around the locations it is possible to find raw materials to use in a crafting system to assemble healing items, bombs, traps and so on. Objects undoubtedly useful considering that the ammunition for the weapons that we will find will be scarce, and that in any case during the game it will be inevitable to survive firefights against waves of soldiers. Too bad that their management is cumbersome and really inconvenient to use in the excitement of fights.
Even in shootings we are always accompanied by a feeling of clumsiness and inconsistency. The aiming system is imprecise, the hitboxes too, and it all results in frustrating firefights in which soldiers often take more bullets than is reasonable (we happened to take down some after 3 or 4 headshots), and it is unnerving also because they keep firing at us like if nothing had happened despite being riddled with bullets.
There will be some occasions when we will be able to pilot a wanzer, and in these situations the gameplay will radically change into a more arcade shooter in which we will be able to mow down entire troops of enemy soldiers and face other wanzers by dodging their attacks and unleashing the deadly equipped weapons. The fights aboard the mechs could disappoint for their extreme essentiality of mechanics, but perhaps thanks to this simplicity they also know how to entertain, allowing us to unload the tension accumulated in the hours of concentrated infiltration.
In addition to continuing the story, we will be able to undertake secondary missions to rescue survivors who are stranded in Novo Slava. These assignments are totally optional, but getting civilians to safety will have some impact on the story as well. What would actually be an interesting aspect of the game, however, is totally disassembled by the poor artificial intelligence of the characters. In fact, these will just run on a predetermined path towards a refuge in the game map, without any attention or regard for the situation around them; they are therefore very capable of meeting enemy soldiers without any hesitation if we were not there to stop them, and to do so we must also be very close to them. This clumsiness will make progress through the enemy ranks even more difficult, and will often force us to use our resources to resolve the situation, resources already normally precious to complete the main missions. Saving the survivors therefore turns out to be more of a nuisance than an exciting challenge, and after a while it is natural to ignore them and move on.
Ultimately, Left Alive's gameplay has valid insights and an effective setting in making us feel pressured in the middle of an oppressive environment in which to move with great caution, but in the execution it shows more defects than merits. The game is difficult for the wrong reasons, too often linked to the limitations and distortions of the game itself rather than being demanding towards the player's skills. It may appeal to those who do not mind the kind of difficulty of other times that the player required patient trial & error sessions.
Even on the technical side, unfortunately Left Alive fails to surprise. The developers used the Orochi 4 graphics engine and Yebis special effects (used by titles like Final Fantasy XV, Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, and Bloodborne) by Silicon Studio. At a glance the visual aspect has a certain style and is pleasant, especially for the atmosphere of the settings. For sure the touch of Yoji Shinkawa it is noted, but it is not enough. The problems become more evident when you get closer and you notice low resolution textures, polygonal models certainly not elaborated and roughly animated; even in the cutscenes the characters are really not very expressive. While the visuals are fairly basic, the frame rate takes more of a hiccup when the on-screen action gets particularly agitated.
The soundtrack of Hidenori Iwasaki in itself it is good, even if not very rich, but it is absolutely not enhanced by the game itself. Most of the time we will play without musical accompaniment, and on the occasions when we will be discovered the same backing track will play assiduously, which after dozens of times will be more annoying than anything else. Even the voice of the AI of our digital device is unbearable, which every time we approach an enemy will repeat “Caution, the enemy is approaching” continuously, leading us to nervous exhaustion. Other songs surround non-interactive scenes which unfortunately are not so exciting as to lend themselves to exaltation. A more than discreet composition work which, however, ends up not being incisive.
On paper Left Alive proposes a concept that, even without necessarily being original, is at least interesting. However, this potential collapses under the weight of a superficial and anachronistic execution. With a poorly balanced game design, a difficult control system and more exhausting than engaging gameplay mechanics, the title developed by Ilinx shows more problems than positive sides, and a decent story and an interesting setting are not enough to lift it from mediocrity. Left Alive satisfies neither stealth lovers nor Front Mission fans. We really hope Square Enix learns its lesson and desists from misusing a franchise that deserves so much more.
► Left Alive is an Action-type game developed by ilinx Square Enix and published by Square Enix for PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 28/02/2019 The version for PC came out on 05/03/2019
