I Am Alive

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I Am Alive

Developer(s):	Ubisoft Shanghai
Publisher(s):	Ubisoft
Platform(s):	Digital download
Release date(s):	March 7, 2012 (Xbox Live Arcade) April 4, 2012 (US: PlayStation Network) April 3, 2012 (EU: PlayStation Network) September 13, 2012 (PC)
Rating(s):	PEGI: 16 ESRB: M
[Source]

I Am Alive is a 2012 post-apocalyptic video game developed by Ubisoft Shanghai and published by Ubisoft. The game focuses on facing the permanent insecurity of a now decaying and hazardous world, and humanity's darkest inclinations. It was scheduled to be released on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft Windows in 2010, but was released on March 7, 2012 on Playstation Network and Xbox Live Arcade only. It later received a PC port on September 13, 2012.

Synopsis

The game takes place in the fictional town of Haventon about a year after The Event, a series of earthquakes and ash clouds that brought the world to ruin. After a long journey toward home, The Protagonist returns to Haventon to reunite with his wife and daughter. After making his way to his family's apartment, he discovers a note dating back a couple days after The Event began, stating that his wife and daughter fled to a survival shelter in the city.

Summary

I Am Alive is set 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.

The story of I Am Alive is told In medias res. The Protagonist (Carlo Mestroni), a character who is never referenced by name, has presumably arrived to his destination. His wife, Julie, is surrounded by his possessions: His backpack, Machete, a doll, and camera. When she begins the video, the Protagonist has begun chronicling his journey back to Haventon.

When the Protagonist reaches their apartment, he finds his wife and daughter left a year before his arrival 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 with finding a radio for Henry and traverses through the deadly dust clouds and makes it to an old ship. After searching the ship 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 to be 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, gang members attack and the protagonist manages to fight them off, but Henry is nowhere to be found. The Protagonist learns from helping an injured man that Henry was taken by the gang members 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 board 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. The video ends and Julie begins to cry after the video ends. The ending of the game suggests Henry was never found and the Protagonist died in his efforts to find Julie and Mary.

Chapters

I Am Alive is separated into twenty one levels, desginated as "chapters". All titles presented below are the official names of each level^[1]

Chapter 1: Return
Chapter 2: Home Sweet Home
Chapter 3: Shelter
Chapter 4: Dust
Chapter 5: Skyscraper
Chapter 6: Mei, Part 1
Chapter 7: Mei, Part 2
Chapter 8: Line 4
Chapter 9: Henry's
Chapter 10: Radio Haventon
Chapter 11: Radio Haventon, Part 2

Chapter 12: Radio Below
Chapter 13: Henry's, Part 2
Chapter 14: Strangers
Chapter 15: Blue Hotel
Chapter 16: Line 2
Chapter 17: Reunion
Chapter 18: Morning
Chapter 19: Fireworks
Chapter 20: Perilous Streets
Chapter 21: The Pier

Characters

The "Protagonist" - A man searching for his wife and daughter the ruins of his hometown.
Mei - A little girl separated from her mother. She befriends the Protagonist after he rescues her from a group of thugs looking to hurt her.
Henry - A ex-firemen and dispatcher. He looks after Mei and her mother, Linda.
Linda - A former nurse and the mother of Mei. She is kidnapped by a group of thugs and taken a hotel where women are forced into prostitution.

Gameplay

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 using bluff and intimidation e.g. pointing an empty gun at hostile non-playable characters, sneaking to surprise enemies with a machete quick kill, or performing stealth kills with a bow.

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, 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 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.^[2] 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.^[3] On August 2009, various screenshots of an old build of the game were leaked onto the Internet.^[4] 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.^[5]

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said at the start of 2010 that the studio was "totally re-engineering the product."^[6] Elias Toufexis is reported to have a major role in the game, playing a character known as Henry. 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.^[7] On September 29, 2011, a new announcement trailer was released for the game with a release date of "this winter" at the end.^[8] On January 23, 2012, the developers announced on Facebook that the game would be available for Xbox 360 on March 7, 2012.^[9]

Reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the game received an average score of 72, based on 45 reviews, indicating "mixed to average reviews".^[10] At GameRankings, the game received an aggregated score of 73.81%, based on 26 reviews.^[11]

GameSpot gave it an 8, complaining that "The few unrealistic elements are a stark contrast to the engrossing world and only lessen the experience." Eurogamer gave it an 8, commenting "What I Am Alive lacks in originality, though, it makes up for in execution.", praising the tone and gameplay. Several reviews praised the survival aspects of the game, commenting on the scarcity of resources and oppressive atmosphere.^[12] IGN gave a negative review, giving it a 4.5, citing outdated graphics and poor gameplay elements.

The game itself received fame on the Xbox Marketplace, as it placed 1st on the Top Ten Most Wanted Downloadable Content chart for March.