Alter Echo is entertaining

One of the main problems of video games these days is that there isn't enough original or new material. Games come with new and better graphics or sound or faster or smarter computer applications, but the games are just variations on the tried and true. More often games look to known labels or brands to draw consumers rather than having new ideas or game styles.

THQ and Outrage Games have tackled this problem with an innovative game for the Xbox, Alter Echo ($49.99). While the name isn't descriptive to the in-store consumer, the title fits when you've spent some time inside the game. But getting gamers to try this odd adventure might be another challenge.

The setting is a distant world as Nevin, wearing a shape-shifting suit made of "EchoPlast" a powerful morphing substance that happens to be what the very planet (controlled by an evil bad guy, of course) is made of. Aiding Nevin is an intelligence inside the planet who made the suit and its abilities to combat the baddy -- The Grandmaster Shaper who can shape the world's plast -- by the mysterious, benevolent voice.

Nevin can fight evil and its minions in sword form, stealth form and gun form. Each looks different, moves differently and has different attacks to dispatch the echo-plast spawned drones who attack Nevin with nefarious combinations of swords, guns and fisticuffs. Nevin can occasionally stop time and is aided by two human friends who appear occasionally as the three try to escape the planet.

As in other fighting games, the use of button combinations increases attack power, takes a high degree of skill and is a fun feature of the game. Because the drones adapt to attacks, frantic button-mashing will not get a player far.

However, the unique aspects of the game lie more with the need to morph Nevin between his three forms to perform noncombat tasks, puzzle-solving and the game inside the game once time has stopped.

Here a player must navigate a maze with a directional pad to an ever-quickening beat. Miss a beat and Nevin's stop-time points have been wasted and Nevin's enemies remain unhurt. A player who fails to master the stop-time feature will not progress.

Each level takes Nevin to different alien geographic locations on the planet, some high above the ground and others far below it. Nevin even gets opportunities to shape the world to fit his own needs on occasion, and each level features an ultra-powerful boss that Nevin must defeat. All of this one-player game is a good time, but at times it gets overly frustrating.

Players cannot save the game at will and are at the mercy of the level. Sometimes the game saves after an easy task, while other times, after dying during a particularly nasty challenge, Nevin will be forced to play a long string of mostly mundane events just to get back to the challenge and die again. It is not difficult to imagine players giving up altogether at points in the game rather than being forced to play long stretches again.

Overall, Alter Echo is a solid game that is quite entertaining when at its best. Its top feature is its uniqueness, while its biggest drawback is sometimes-frustrating play. Those looking for something original may find a game to love, but mostly this is a rental-first title.

E-MAIL: lc@desnews.com

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