Graphics: Alpha Prime does many things right, but for every one, there’s a glaring mistake that makes you forget what you were excited about in the first place. The interior appears generic compared to most of today’s shooters, although some of the visuals made me give pause due to efficient shadowing, particles and solid level design. The character models look as though they want to do their job correctly, but fall short because of rigid animation and faces only a mother could love. I encountered a few bugs in texturing and more than a few outside the base, where poor terrain generation left me stuck fast or falling over ledges like Wile E. Coyote. Alpha Prime does is visually comparable to the Doom 3 engine, expect without the trapdoor haunted house feel and blood soaked demons.

Interface: The interface does its job with clean, navigable menus showing ammo, health and bullet time levels. The problem with all of this cleanliness is that there’s no pizzazz to draw your attention. This makes it tough to notice the quadrants of your screen blinking because of incoming fire or that you’re on death’s door or out of ammo. It’s all there, plain as day, just a little out of sight or a little too small.

Gameplay: Alpha Prime‘s ten stages can be completed in a little less than six hours, five if you’re Rambo. Gunplay is fun for the most part, but could have benefited from some trails coming off incoming fire as a secondary indicator of direction. This made it difficult to gain any advantage from the bullet time feature because you have no idea where to run to safety; things just slow down a bit. Hacking opportunities are amusing and unfortunately underused, as I discovered only a few doors, a handful of cameras and two loader activities throughout the entire game.

The vehicle must also be mentioned, as it’s impossible to control. Steering either responds too well or not at all, and there’s a definite lag between full stop and acceleration that made dodging security systems difficult. I was really looking forward to traversing some asteroid landscapes, yet most of the time, I just found myself praying that I didn’t fall off a ledge.

Sound FX: The actors in Alpha Prime do little to sell the situation, save one cast member, Bruce, who plays his part better than most do in big budget games. Aside from that, the delivery doesn’t match what’s going on, leaving potential deadly situations flat and un-emotive. Soldiers tended to repeat themselves quite often and ambient noises don’t make sense with the environment most of the time, leading to clicks and whirs where nothing clicky ever existed. The sounds of battle fare no better, although the shotgun caused a pleasant boom from my subwoofer that begged repeating. The comm-link flitted in and out as if it was poorly mixed, so one sentence would be clear as a bell and the next sounded 100 miles away. Overall, this is the most uneven aspect of the game, and it broke my immersion factor more than once.

Music: The first track is a jumble of sporadic instrument hits that fit unevenly across the game as a whole. From there on, it’s more or less a good idea to turn it off altogether so you can hear the garrison of corporate troops heading your way before they hear you.

Intelligence: Waging battle against the corporation soldiers can be fun, as they take cover and occasionally give way so other troops can enter the room, quickly flooding your safe zone and blocking all routes of escape. The hubbardium addicts fare worse, though, and can be taken out before they even fire a shot. Winners don’t use drugs, I guess! The final (and only) boss battle is a rout, no matter which way you put it. The objective is blatant and the enemy stumbles directly into the line of fire within the first 30 seconds, making the whole ordeal rather anticlimactic.

Difficulty: This is relative to what one would consider difficult because the hardest part about Alpha Prime isn’t the game itself, it’s how the game treats you. Guns go through ammo like water, health drains magically and since there’s no way to tell who’s immediately shooting at you, instant death is just a step away even on the easiest difficulty. Yet those who search around will find plenty of health stations, med kits and spare ammo lying about. Save often, not just at every safe zone.

Overall: Alpha Prime was built on a budget and it shows. It’s not an outright bad game because there are some redeeming, although sparse, elements to consider. The graphics are visually pleasing and the story has merit, but there’s just a few key things missing. Perhaps next time, Black Element will have the cash to make something that stands out from the pack.