Home | News | Reviews | Previews | Hardware

The Fifth Element: The Perfect Compliment
Company: Activision

The graphics in The Fifth Element maintain the integrity of the actual movie pretty well. In fact, if you missed the movie, play the game. There are so many scenes from the movie that are included as cinematics in the game that you can catch up with those who have seen it already. The characters look very realistic, with the obvious exception in Leeloo?s physique (she has bigger breasts in the game than in real life). Otherwise, the characters are all dead ringers. My favorite has to be Ruby Rod. I don?t know if he will be a playable character in the game or not, but he appears to direct you choosing a character to play, and he is fabulous... complete with his signature squeal, and his cane, of course. The sound quality is also very good. It tends to get moody at times, but Activision has captured The Fifth Element "feel" very well.

The Fifth Element is a 3rd-person view adventure game, similar to Tomb Raider. You begin the game as Korben Dallas, attempting to escape through the city. Each level has a specific mission attached to it which must be completed. Korben has a gun, but his enemies are better equipped, with much better firepower. I hope that as the game progresses, you can power up your weapons, but that is not evident in the early stages of the game. The second level allows you to play as Leeloo. She has no weapons other than her martial arts skill. She?s a good fighter, but it seems that she gets stunned when she?s hit really hard. I found myself shouting at her to get up and fight at certain times. You will encounter many puzzles along the way, some of which are pretty tough, and a multitude of wacky characters - just like in the movie. In the NYC level, Korben?s trapped in the police station and you must find him. When Leeloo finds the surveillance camera room, she can walk up to the monitors and activate different cameras. One of them shows Korben, who then waves at you from his cell. That?s a nice touch.

The Fifth Element is actually kind of tough to master. Korben?s not so bad, because he has a gun... but Leeloo?s moves take some practice, especially when fighting those damn police robots. I mentioned the puzzles above... some of them are kind of maddening. You feel like you are running in circles at times... because you are (Hint: Pay attention to where you?ve been previously). But, the game does provide a good time, especially if you enjoyed the movie.

Korben?s moves include shooting, jumping and climbing. Leeloo can do a variety of kicks, punches and combos. She can also climb, crawl and hang from the ceiling. She requires these moves for some of the traps she?ll encounter.


-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins

This site best viewed in Internet Explorer 6 or higher or Firefox.