Alive
Alive, developed and published by General Entertainment Co., Ltd. in 1998.
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Player's Review
Nothing on the box cover to describe the game so Google Ai says:-
"Alive is a 1998 Japan-exclusive, Full Motion Video (FMV) action-adventure game by General Entertainment. Set in 2020, you play as 20-year-old Atsuko Kawada, who is framed for murder and terrorism. Hunted by the police and secret agents, she must uncover a conspiracy regarding her boyfriend's underground resistance network and a mysterious pair of earrings."
A high quality FMV action adventure which appears to had a reasonable budget spent on it making the final result more like a movie. The only issue with it (at least for me) is that the game is narrated in Japanese with no localised subtitles (not uncommon for a Japanese only release) so I have no idea what is go on other than waiting for the right time to shoot or press a function button. Other than than the fmv quick time events there is a PDA where you can look at information and items collected. You can also save your game at certain points when the pda icon is flashing. Again this is all in Japanese so I still don't know what is going on. Oddly enough English is used when showing text on screens the bad guys are using. Because you can choose between three decisions to tackle an area, there are multiple video routes to take depending on those choices so there is some replay value if you want to see them all.
Most of the game you just watch but at certain points you get to take control and execute some quick time events like shooting an attacker. Some points can be quite difficult as the actions have to be executed almost instantly but not to early. The driving section in particular was challenging and you would need to memorise the sequence to get through. Some sections can be be long between save game opportunities just to add to the pain. At many points you will get to use the PDA to check news items and examine id cards of the fallen potentially unlocking more info. because I cant rad it, I don't know if any of it effects the gameplay. You also get to occasionally select some dialogue when talking to your contact. At a couple of points you need to break a door code to get out of a room. These are done through arcade mini games which are fairly simple although you do need to avoid enemies which will drain your code breaking time.
The longplay initially plays right through to the bad ending. After this I show unlocking the secret data (use security card on each of the character IDs - must have read all info on each) that allows progress to the good ending. Completing the game unlocks Theatre Mode. I show all the info screens as the opportunity appears which can slow the pace of the video. There are many ways to die in the game by failing a button sequence. Many of them are similar and it would be a mammoth task to capture them all so I have just tagged a few on to the end.
Overall, this is a well produced fmv game that unfortunately didn't leave Japan so it's hard for many of us to enjoy it's story, but its still simple enough to play through if you like quicktime event driven fmv games. As noted some sections are overly challenge due to the split seconds you have to execute some events. Video compression used is good and allows for quite a lot of video per game cd although it's worth noting that it is not fullscreen.
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:10 Manual
00:04:17 Game CD1
00:37:42 Game CD2
01:35:28 Game CD3
02:03:24 Bad Ending
02:14:55 Good Ending
02:48:06 Credits
02:52:17 Some Deaths
"Alive is a 1998 Japan-exclusive, Full Motion Video (FMV) action-adventure game by General Entertainment. Set in 2020, you play as 20-year-old Atsuko Kawada, who is framed for murder and terrorism. Hunted by the police and secret agents, she must uncover a conspiracy regarding her boyfriend's underground resistance network and a mysterious pair of earrings."
A high quality FMV action adventure which appears to had a reasonable budget spent on it making the final result more like a movie. The only issue with it (at least for me) is that the game is narrated in Japanese with no localised subtitles (not uncommon for a Japanese only release) so I have no idea what is go on other than waiting for the right time to shoot or press a function button. Other than than the fmv quick time events there is a PDA where you can look at information and items collected. You can also save your game at certain points when the pda icon is flashing. Again this is all in Japanese so I still don't know what is going on. Oddly enough English is used when showing text on screens the bad guys are using. Because you can choose between three decisions to tackle an area, there are multiple video routes to take depending on those choices so there is some replay value if you want to see them all.
Most of the game you just watch but at certain points you get to take control and execute some quick time events like shooting an attacker. Some points can be quite difficult as the actions have to be executed almost instantly but not to early. The driving section in particular was challenging and you would need to memorise the sequence to get through. Some sections can be be long between save game opportunities just to add to the pain. At many points you will get to use the PDA to check news items and examine id cards of the fallen potentially unlocking more info. because I cant rad it, I don't know if any of it effects the gameplay. You also get to occasionally select some dialogue when talking to your contact. At a couple of points you need to break a door code to get out of a room. These are done through arcade mini games which are fairly simple although you do need to avoid enemies which will drain your code breaking time.
The longplay initially plays right through to the bad ending. After this I show unlocking the secret data (use security card on each of the character IDs - must have read all info on each) that allows progress to the good ending. Completing the game unlocks Theatre Mode. I show all the info screens as the opportunity appears which can slow the pace of the video. There are many ways to die in the game by failing a button sequence. Many of them are similar and it would be a mammoth task to capture them all so I have just tagged a few on to the end.
Overall, this is a well produced fmv game that unfortunately didn't leave Japan so it's hard for many of us to enjoy it's story, but its still simple enough to play through if you like quicktime event driven fmv games. As noted some sections are overly challenge due to the split seconds you have to execute some events. Video compression used is good and allows for quite a lot of video per game cd although it's worth noting that it is not fullscreen.
00:00:00 Intro
00:02:10 Manual
00:04:17 Game CD1
00:37:42 Game CD2
01:35:28 Game CD3
02:03:24 Bad Ending
02:14:55 Good Ending
02:48:06 Credits
02:52:17 Some Deaths
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