Left Alive is, to put it bluntly, not a good game. Countless contrivances, bugs, questionable level designs and balance decisions, and system-level issues make for an extremely rough experience. If one adjusts their expectations accordingly, however, it might offer some modicum of satisfaction at points.
Our editors hand-pick these games based on a broad criteria: similar games that cater to the same player base, or games that share similar themes, gameplay mechanics, or artistic styles.
Any good they might have had are quickly swallowed up by a plethora of issues. The desperate or the gullible may find a glimmer of fun hidden somewhere in the pit.How we score: The Destructoid reviews...
I usually enjoy games of this genre but Left Alive just falls short in almost every department. The storyline consists of some interesting ideas such as the inclusion of Wanzers and other high-tech weapons in a war that takes place in the distant future...
Perhaps the worst part is that you can see there’s something here, ideas that have some real potential but never even come close to being realised. The Wanzer combat is genuinely rad, but that’s it. Everything else comes with a heavy caveat; be it how underpowered you feel, the awkward movement, the inconsistent bullet impacts, the ugly environments… the list goes on. There’s almost no joy to be found in playing Left Alive, only bitter disappointment.
I enjoy high-tension military thrillers and stealth games, but Left Alive falls flat in every way that it attempts to stand out. Its story of surviving a technologically advanced invasion has some interesting ideas but is delivered with limp dialogue...
Left Alive is as close to as abysmal a delivery as you can get without denoting it as some utter failure through-and-through, primarily due to the most minuscule of good intentions and half-baked ideas that litter its mostly generic and uninspired game world. But with so many narrative, technical and gameplay issues that pop up at almost every turn — all wound up within some of the worst third-person stealth mechanics imaginable — Left Alive is both a horridly-conceived experience and a fundamentally unenjoyable product to even attempt to immerse one’s self in.
In concept, Left Alive could have had the potential to bring about the revival of Front Mission and fill the void left by the absence of Metal Gear at the same time, but none of its elements click to become a cohesive...
Square Enix's Left Alive takes us back to the Front Mission universe. Unfortunately, numerous issues hold it back that it might as well be left for dead.
With it's broken combat, fiddly controls and barely-working stealth, Left Alive is probably one of hardest games you'll ever play, but not in a good or fair way. The idea was sound but it needs an overhaul to make all of the systems work the way we...
Left Alive is, to put it bluntly, not a good game. Countless contrivances, bugs, questionable level designs and balance decisions, and system-level issues make for an extremely rough experience. If one adjusts their expectations accordingly, however, it might offer some modicum of satisfaction at points.
Maybe, by the time this hits the bargain basket it feels destined for, some of those rough edges might have been smoothed out, and if so over time it could well go on to become a cult classic. Right now, though, those flashes of inspiration can't hide what's a resoundingly mediocre game, an exercise in pure frustration and a complete misuse of the Front Mission licence. Still, I'm glad it exists.