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You are Peter Delacoeur, professional thief, and the men who would have your head after your most recent job have been blown away by unearthly creatures. When surviving means going toe-to-toe with some gnarly space baddies, you’re introduced to Frank. Or Agent J, as you’ll come to know him, and a life of anonymity as the Men in Black’s newest recruit.

Men In Black: Alien Crisis

Publisher: Activision
Developer: FUN Labs
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii
Released: May 22, 2012
ESRB: Teen

Alien Crisis is a shooter. The team behind the successful Cabela’s Big Game Hunter series, FUN Labs, brings the MIB into the new generation of gaming, but throws it back to an arcade style. The only game being hunted here are the many extraterrestrials you’ll be bringing down and taking in. The isn’t much of a run-and-gun-like feel of control like in a Gears of War, which is okay, because this is more a game for big MIB fans rather than veteran shooter fans. You’ll take cover and avoid firing on civilians as you’re guided through the rails, not unlike Area 51 or Time Crisis. The game can really stack the deck against you if you aren’t careful. Shooting a human can cause more aliens to attack, and often the number of enemies on screen can become overwhelming, especially given the slight sluggishness of the game’s aiming speed.

Weapons become available while running through the story, starting you out with the good old Noisy Cricket, and eventually giving you the heavy armed plasma canons. Though there’s no online play, there is co-op, and V.R. Challenges that put you against the clock. Hotseat became my favorite of the challenges as friends and I passed around the controller outdoing each other’s scores.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxRDZc4JC_c

When you’re not blowing ET’s head off, the game opens up a bit and allows you to explore some areas to look for clues and interview witnesses. This portion of the experience I felt was a real missed opportunity to give the player a chance to really discover something, but it feels more like a chore than a challenge.

Character animations are grossly under par for what you expect from your Xbox 360 or PS3, but it’s almost made up for by the great voice work and dialog. I would have preferred a Will Smith soundtrack, but the music suffices.

I really wasn’t expecting much from Men in Black: Alien Crisis, but it pleasantly surprised me. The story and characters are interesting, and the gameplay is fun. The only thing Activision did wrong was marking this game at full price. If you ever loved MIB, this is a title you can enjoy, but not one you’ll care to add to your collection.

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Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net