Left Alive

Left Alive's mix of inconsistent stealth and aggravatingly unbalanced action make it a complete chore to play, and it runs terribly to boot.

This third-person stealth action game is better left alone.

This unlikely Front Mission spin-off's occasional charm can't make up for its seriously broken fundamentals.

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.

Left Alive categorically fails at everything it sets out to accomplish. Wonky and unreliable AI makes engaging in stealth a frustrating chore, poor gunplay leads to numerous misplaced shots whizzing past the bullet-sponge enemies, and an unfair difficulty means you'll need to repeat those enraging moments over and over again. This game could have filled a gaping hole in the market, but instead it needs to be taken round back and put out of its misery. This is a truly miserable experience for even the most die-hard supporters of the genre.

In this way, I would argue Left Alive is the purest survival game ever: if you can play to the end, you can survive anything.

If you were hoping you'd get a taste of what could have been, remember that gas station burrito thing? Don't bother – this will only give you stomach troubles.

Even with its exhaustive, laundry list of issues, it's telling when a broken game of this magnitude still manages to rustle up some semblance of potential.

Left Alive should have stayed on paper for more months. The chances of success were high, unfortunate game mechanics and controls are dragging the game deeply into the pit.

Left Alive promises stealth gameplay much like Metal Gear Solid, but it fails to deliver because of broken AI, weak storyline, and poor graphics.