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Run Like Hell
Score: 89%
ESRB: Mature
Publisher: Interplay
Developer: Digital Mayhem
Media: DVD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Survival Horror

Graphics & Sound:
Run Like Hell's graphics are exactly what you'd picture in a dark and dismal spacecraft environment. The entire game takes place on a ship that houses scientists and military alike, and as such, the areas are just what you'd imagine... at first. As you run through the craft and explore, you'll come across nice touches like arcade games in the recreation room (playable, of course!), art work on the walls, etc. There's some nice attention to detail here. As the game progresses and ship becomes more and more overrun with the alien life-forms that you'll be fighting, the ship takes on a much more eerie atmosphere.

Character design is good and the enemies are appropriately alien in nature. I really liked the alien race names as I thought they were rather clever and things will make perfect sense as you come to the conclusion of the game. As things move along, alien enemies get far more creepy. I'll not blow any plot twists for you here, but when you see them, you'll know what I mean... The characters not only look good, but the voiceovers are excellent with such heavy-hitters are Lance Henriksen (Millennium) and Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek) lending their pipes to this project. Needless to say, the character acting was fantastic and I never found myself thinking it was cheesy.

Last, but certainly not least, is the soundtrack. Background music was perfectly fitted to the scene at hand, with appropriately intense music during chase and battle scenes and more mellow, yet creepy tunes playing in the background as you explore. In addition, Breaking Benjamin has some hard-hitting, rockin' tunes on the soundtrack and they would kick in at just the right moment. Watch MTV for the Breaking Benjamin video, Polyamorous and you'll be treated to some cut scenes from the game. They kick ass.


Gameplay:
Run Like Hell is a chilling survival horror story of one man's fight against an alien race dead set on consuming everyone on board his ship, and perhaps more... Sgt. Nick Conner's world is ripped apart one day as he returns to the ship from an exploratory jaunt one day to find the place torn up and no one in sight. Of course, his first thought is to find his beloved fiance, Samantha. Fortunately for Nick, he comes across a few friends and they band together to find survivors and battle the evil menace that has destroyed life as they know it. Unfortunately for Nick and company, this group is a formidable enemy.

These guys look like a cross between something from the movie Alien and the hunters from Resident Evil. Not good, not good indeed. They are smart and learn as they go, picking up bits and pieces of the human culture and intelligence as well as those of the other alien cultures on board. This makes them a tough breed to battle. Slowly, as the game progresses, a biological goo begins to literally take over the ship and changes the areas you’ll be trekking around in, making things more difficult. RLH is a fairly typical survival horror game in that you are being chased by enemies and fighting for your life. The difference is that in this game, there are times when you must run. There simply isn't enough health and ammo on board to kill everything. Speaking of health items, you'll be getting BAWLS energy drinks, among other things, out of vending machines to replenish your health. Since I've had BAWLS drinks in the past and they really do give you that boost of energy when you need it, I thought it was one of the cooler product cross-promotions I've seen in a game yet. It actually made sense. 'Grab your BAWLS and run! Slogans don't get any better than that. Plus, one of the more crafty characters sports a Boblbee backpack, which is very cool as well. Neat stuff.

In addition to just the standard 'evade, run around and solve puzzles' gameplay of survival horrors, Run Like Hell also throws in a few mini-games to keep you entertained. As I mentioned earlier, the old school videogames in the rec room are playable and these actually prepare you for speed mini-games you'll have to complete to progress in the game and solve certain puzzles. There are also computer terminals placed around the ship that have 'exercises' you can do as well. Then of course, there are some chase type mini-games that were cool as well. Hey, how can you not love a game that lets you play as a robot at some points? You'll also need to switch to some of the other characters to accomplish tasks, so this keeps things fresh.


Difficulty:
Hard. Ridiculously hard. Too hard. Run Like Hell is a great game, but the game is just too hard. Some of the bosses are damn near impossible. I must admit that after trying dozens of times to beat a certain enemy, unsuccessfully, I finally gave in and searched the web for a code. I ended up using a CodeBreaker code for unlimited health and finally beat the guy. Let me tell you this. Since I was already a good ways into the game, I kept the health code activated and played the game through to the end. Even with unlimited health, this game gave me a healthy amount of challenge and wasn't easily beaten. With unlimited health!!! The difficulty level is off the scales and this is a bad thing. This is why the game lost points, and it's pretty much the only reason the game lost points. It's a shame, really. Those people without a CodeBreaker or Game Shark may become very discouraged as there aren't any other codes available (or weren't when I last checked).

Game Mechanics:
Run Like Hell controls like a cross between an action/adventure and survival horror, which is basically what it is. There's an auto-target feature, which comes in handy when you are running for your life. You'll have a map that will help you figure out where you need to go, however I found it a little difficult to scroll around within the map. A log keeps track of all the notes you've come across and all of the missions you are working on, so that's a good point of reference. By pressing R3, you can reload your gun rather than going into the menu to do this, but this often caused me to switch weapons accidentally - usually to a crappy weapon. Ugh.

Overall, Run Like Hell is a beautifully done game with an engrossing storyline that will have you wanting to play through to the end to see what's going to happen. As I said, it's too hard, but I am hoping they'll tone down the difficulty in the sequel. There is going to be a sequel, right Interplay?


-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins

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