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0 In a world where the truth is out there, Onitron Studios brings us Alterity Experience. This is a chance to experience what it will be like in the middle of an alien invasion. Time to find those crop circles and take this title for a spin. Best move the laptop to the basement and fashion myself a tinfoil hat.
Alterity Experience – Purple Haze, or Purple Ama(i)ze?
Gameplay
I start my adventure in Alterity Experience in an office looking at computer screen and a purple corn on the cob. I must admit that it is a pretty strange beginning, but I get the feeling that nothing about my experience is going to be not strange. It turns out that the missus and the kids have gone to watch a film leaving me on my own to investigate the purple glow. After a brief tutorial about how the buttons and sticks work I can wander around and start exploring my surroundings. There are certificates on the wall, paintings, dodgy statues and a couple of locked doors. I do love a locked door as it means there is a puzzle to solve. In the case of Alterity Experience, it’s just a case of finding a key. Once I found the key I could investigate more. I soon realise that I am in a house surrounded by a purple light that is trying to get in. Luck be had, I have an electronic device to shut the shutters that cover every door and window.
As I explored my house, basically just looking for keys and codes, it struck me that I probably should know my way around my own home a little better. It seemed odd to explore my house, and even odder that I seem to not have a better system for keeping keys in a findable place. I could run, walk or crawl around the house to make sure that every nook and cranny was thoroughly investigated.
Alterity Experience probably started out as a grand idea of adventure and intrigue, but unfortunately the words grand and adventure seem to be an exaggeration. My experience was short and dull. Find keys, unlock doors, find codes, activate things. Essentially it’s a scavenger hunt in a restricted environment. There are action activated events so time is not a factor in sections of the game. The aliens left me alone for large periods of time before I found an object to activate the next section. I wondered at one point if it would be best to just hide in the garage until the others came home. I was not allowed to run away from the house, the warning was clear that death awaited.
What is good?
The movement of my character around the house was very smooth. The running was at a sensible pace and maneuverability remained excellent. The environment is realistic and there is a feeling of being in a large house. The corridors are suitably large to not get stuck whilst moving around. I have played too many games that really restrict movement, but not Alterity Experience. When the aliens are breaking in, there is a sense of fear.
What’s not so good?
The plot is loose at best, it seems to be based around the game play rather than playing through the plot. There is one puzzle that would take two attempts at most to solve. The house is too big for the amount that there is to do. I understand that the alien break ins require a larger area, especially when trying to complete the game without closing the shutters with the electronic device. Basically either the area that I was in needed to make the game more compact or there needed to be more to do. The lighting in the house is very low. I’m all for energy saving, but this is ridiculous, the children must have screwed up eyes if this is as bright as the house gets with all the lights on. Why not make everything that should open actually open. I found drawers that opened and drawers that didn’t cupboards were a blanket ‘no’ as well. The game is action based and not time based, I accidentally did something at the beginning that meant the game would not progress at all, in fact I couldn’t even get out of my seat. Actions are not available until others have happened. It’s all a bit of a mess to be honest.
Graphics & Audio
Alterity Experience has a lot of blank space. For a lived in house it has a very minimalist feel, especially with there being 2 children there. To lose stuff in this house is quite the feat in itself. What is there resembles what it is supposed to be. Look a little close and you will find flaws, but aliens are invading your house so I wouldn’t advise that. There is a lot of repetition within the furniture you come across, so I can only assume that they all really liked the same things. I think the fairest way to describe the graphics is that they don’t let the game down. Also it would be fair to say that they don’t really enhance either.
The audio seems to fit well with the rest of the game. It’s not the best. The alarm is fairly adrenaline infusing though, so that is a good thing. The costand wooden footsteps whether on wood or not is a little confusing. The second rate voice acting seamlessly fills the cut-scenes without any real emotion conviction. The ominous and predictable rumblings that constantly come out of the speakers are very curious and confusing at the same time.
Longevity
Alterity Experience seems to be a one hit wonder. The items that you need to find will appear in different places each time you play. They will always be in the same room though. One play through was enough for me, I never actually completed the last puzzle because I kept on dying before how to solve it was worked out. There seems to be an element of luck about the ending.
Final Thoughts
In a nutshell Alterity Experience is a short game with a poor ending. There is no real conclusion and no questions are answered about the actual theme of the game. Just find things and move on. I can imagine the concept at the point of idea was better than the finished product, but I feel very much like I had ordered from Wish. Aside from the sense of fear created when the aliens are trying to break in, movement and comfortably large space in which to move around, Alterity Experience comes up short in all other departments. I am awarding Alterity Experience a Thumb Culture bronze award because I can see the potential, although I would have rather had an Alternative Experience. Time to go and watch Signs to remember how alien invasions are done properly.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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