Gaming Target - Xbox: Run Like Hell

Written by Nick Doukas on September 17, 2003

Full Review: UmЕyeaЕas fast as you can. To the storeЕ for a better gameЕ

Run Like Hell is a game in the now famous Уsurvival horrorФ mold. Unfortunately, it's a very insipid example of said genre. It's not completely terrible, but it struggles with the most basic of gameplay concepts and bites liberally from every Sci-Fi/Horror convention in recent memory; including Aliens, Resident Evil, and Event Horizon. Great influences to be sure, unfortunately RLH does a poor job molding those influences into a decent game.

Run Like Hell places you into the role of Nick Connor, a decorated war veteran who's recently been assigned to a desolate mining station in deep space. As Nick and his partner Amanda return from a routine mission, they find nearly everyone on the station either dead or dying, wiped out by a vicious and cunning alien race. After a tutorial/prologue level, the game begins. It's clear that you'll need to find survivors, discover why the creatures are on the station, and of courseЕ.wipe them all out.

You'll control Nick using the left analog stick, with camera movement mapped to the right. The A button is used to activate doors or devices, pick-up objects, and fire (in combat mode). The right trigger toggles the target lock, and holding the right trigger and pumping the Y button will activate a melee attack. Nick's HUD shows the currently equipped weapon and ammo level, as well as his health and armor status. Unfortunately the controls feel extremely clunky, and most of the basic movements are unwieldy and awkward. The camera is particularly weak, and ceases to function properly in enclosed areas (which make up most of the game). Even when it is working, it doesn't move smoothly or intuitively in any way. Fighting the controls will become a familiar aggravation throughout the course of the game.

The game throws lots of enemies at you during each encounter; mostly of the insect-type variety you'd imagine would inhabit a game that's influenced by Alien and The Thing. Combat is pretty simplistic, mostly consisting of locking down in a corner and blowing away auto-targeted creeps until they stop spawning and the area is clean. Besides the under-whelming battles, this title is chock full of lame mini-games, overly lengthy cut-scenes, and simplistic Уhunt and fetchФ quests. The mini-games are little more than button mashing distractions, and the entire product has an unfinished feel to it, despite its lengthy development cycle. With the high quality of titles like Splinter Cell, Brute Force and even sleeper hits like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the weak and clichщd fare that RLH offers is simply outclassed by a country mile. There's just no reason for this kind of mediocrity, and most players won't care to waste their valuable gaming time with this one.

The weapons are your standard assortment of projectile and energy, and it mostly won't matter what you use since there's nothing remarkable about any one of them. The atmosphere of the station is appropriately dark, but the graphics are lackluster, and the sound is nothing to write home about. The music is just as pedestrian, and the game does nothing to take advantage of the 5.1 surround sound. The voice talent is exceptional, and includes Lance Henriksen, Kate Mulgrew, Clancy Brown, Brad Dourif and Michael Ironside. Too bad these talented actors are utterly wasted here. Guys, call your agents and gently explain to them that they need to learn more about what kind of games to involve you in. Hint: This one was a poor choice.

For the Xbox version, the developers have added an additional level, several fresh rooms and a few new creatures. Live subscribers will also be able to download a couple of new mini-games and new skins for some of the charactersЕ..but they most likely won't want to. It's just more average (or below average) fare that does nothing to enhance the value of this title. In the end it just isn't a very good game, regardless of the added extras.