Interview: Alias revealed!

Alias is the trashy yet terrific TV show that casts the deliriously hot Jennifer Garner as grad student and after-hours CIA agent Sydney Bristow.

Acclaim is set to release a videogame version of the eminently watchable show imminently, so we caught up with Acclaim Cheltenham's creative director Nick Harper, who told us exactly what we could expect from the title...

What's the storyline to the game? Does it follow any particular episode of the series?

Harper: Because Alias is shown all over the world at different times we had to make a game with a story that would make sense in Europe and America. Because of that we set the game sometime near the end of season 2.

For those that know Alias, this means Sydney (the start of the show) is a full-time operative for the CIA and SD-6 is no more, but Arvin Sloane (the bad guy!) is still lurking around and up to no good.

The game itself is like a lost episode of the show - we worked really closely with the creators of the TV show (they wrote all the dialogue for the game) to use characters from season one and introduce new characters.

Of course, because the TV show is weekly, the character written for the game (Dr Caplan) has already appeared in the US show, but terrestrial viewers in the UK will hopefully see him in the game first!

With the use of stealth and gadgetry we'd guess you could liken this title to Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell - but what spin does Alias offer on those titles?

Harper: It's interesting because, while there is a lot of stealth in Alias, the game is much more action-orientated that MGS or Splinter Cell. Sydney has hundreds of combat moves so the player can often take out the enemies rather than having to avoid them like you do in MGS or Splinter Cell.

Having said that, there are times where stealth is definitely the best option - we tried to keep a variety of gameplay so players feel they have the freedom of choice when approaching the missions - they can sneak around and avoid being spotted if they want or take a far more aggressive stance at the risk of alerting more guards - and more firepower of course.

I'd say on the whole, though, we're not trying to make Alias as hardcore an experience as the other stealth games on the market - that was never our intention.

What kind of combat are we talking about? Do you learn new techniques as the game progresses, and are there any novel moves we should know about?

Harper: We based the combat around the techniques used by Sydney in the TV show, which basically means close-quarter dirty combat (kicks in the privates and so on!) combined with improvised moves based on weapon usage and the scenery.

For example, if Sydney is punching a bad guy close to a desk she can slam his face into the desk corner, or if there's a nearby item that can be used as a weapon (a broomstick, frying pan, candlestick, chair leg, etc.) the player can grab those and hit the guards - when Syd is carrying weapons she has a completely different set of combat moves, but everything is tied in to a simple interface to avoid confusion for the player.

We want the player to feel cool when they play this game. Regarding a learning curve, we wanted inexperienced players to enjoy the game as much as more dedicated players, so we introduced a timing system on the combat. While you can hit the buttons to produce some great-looking combat moves, if you learn the timing of stringing together combos the end result is a more powerful attack that does more damage.

Can you tell us about some of the gadget and disguise elements?

Harper: The TV show is called Alias so obviously a lot of the time Syd is in disguise and the same goes for the game. The costumes in the game were actually designed by the costume designer for the TV show so hopefully fans of the show will like the authenticity.

Syd has to use various costumes to infiltrate the different locations in the game - in the first mission for example, Syd is wearing a saucy cocktail waitress outfit to sneak into a private casino.

Once inside, the outfit becomes redundant so the player can change back into Syd's all-purpose stealth suit. The benefits of the stealth suit are that Syd never suffers in cold temperatures (a flimsy cocktail waitress outfit isn't so warm, for example), it's harder for the bad guys to see and it offers slightly more protection for the player.

The costumes reflect the situation, so in the embassy Syd enters disguised as a party-goer, for example.

The gadgets in the game are all based around those seen in the TV show, and we also made up some of our own. Alias has a gadget geek called Marshall and he provides Syd with all the gadgets she can use, along with a quirky explanation of how to use them (Kevin Weisman, who plays Marshall, did all the voice acting and he likes to improvise!).

Examples of gadgets are the razor prism, which Syd can splice into CCTV cameras enabling the player to see what the camera sees, the laser beam interrupter, which can be attached to a laser beam array to block the beams, an EMP gun which can temporarily affect electrical equipment such as TVs, radios and of course CCTV cameras, a sound booster that enables the player to record and playback sound samples and many more!

Can you tell us about some of the locations and scenarios we can expect?

Harper: The game is set over huge six missions spanning the globe. The first mission takes place in a glamorous casino in Monte Carlo, leading to infiltration of a museum in Saudi Arabia. Then there's a mission in a Hong Kong Embassy (complete with party goers and of course the secret underground lab!).

Other missions are not so pretty - we have an asylum in Bucharest (full of patients desperate to escape!), a nightclub in Rio de Janeiro and an underground bunker in Russia. The script writers went out of their way to send Sydney all over the place in the game, linking each mission with twists and plot-turns just like the show.

Can you explain what you mean when you refer to the "unique camera direction" in the game?

Harper: We wanted to capture the tension and excitement of the TV show and also provide the player with clues as to where the bad guys are. In a TV show this is usually done by quick camera cuts and in a game the traditional route is to use an on-screen map. We wanted to try something different for Alias that solved both those requirements so we invented the split-screen camera.

At certain points in the game the main screen will shrink in size and a second screen will slide on. The player continues controlling the main screen but the second screen shows something useful, such as guards approaching, or the view of a security camera, or what's on the other side of a door, and so on.

The end result means the style of the TV show is captured without interrupting the game flow and the player is fed the information to enable them to work out a strategy for progress.

We understand the game script has been co-written by the TV show's writers, and the voice-characterisations are provided by the stars of the show, right?

Harper: Yes that's right. All the main cast lent their voices to the game - we have Jennifer Garner playing Sydney; Michael Vartan plays Vaughn, Syd's handler (in one mission Vaughn is a controllable character as well); Kevin Weisman plays Marshall (Syd's technical support guy).

Ron Rifkin plays Sloane (the bad guy!); Victor Garber plays Jack Bristow (Sydney's father - Victor Garber was also the bloke who built The Titanic in the film, by the way!); Carl Lumbly plays Dixon (Sydney's CIA partner); and David Anders plays the evil Sark. As well as the main cast we have brought back Anna Espinosa, Sydney's nemesis from season one.

The creators of the TV show were really supportive in making the game - we flew over to LA and visited the set of the show and met JJ Abrams (the creator of Alias) and Jesse Alexander (executive producer).

From there we had a great relationship with the Alias team where we worked closely to make a game that suited the TV show and where the TV show was heading and also fitted the mission designs we had. The script was written by the script-writers of the show for authenticity.

On top of that Michael Giaccino, the composer for the TV show, wrote the music for the game. We hope that fans of the show will feel they're really playing an episode of Alias, and with top Hollywood talent penning the script for the show even if you've never heard of Alias we still think there's a great story to be experienced!

Obviously the game is going to appeal to fans of the TV series, but what else, aside from, y'know, Jennifer Garner in a leather catsuit, does Alias offer that other gamers should be frothing at the mouth about?

Harper: Well we've mentioned the combat and improvised weaponry, and the split-screens, and the gadgets, and the storyline - I think it's really a sum of all the parts that makes Alias so exciting. If you take any one element on its own the team has achieved a lot, but when you see it all together it's a great experience and I think everyone has their favourite bit.

From Sydney using a broom to spread a bad guys legs and then take out the family jewels; to kicking a drinks machine, grabbing a can and lobbing it at a car to set off the alarm to attract the guards; to following Sark around dingy corridors hoping he won't see you while you watch his reactions in the split-screen.

To bravely running into a firefight, disarming a guard and then shooting him and his friends with the remaining ammo; to lock-picking handcuffs when tied with Marshall to a nuclear bomb before hacking the computer to disarm it before it blows everyone sky high - it's the TV show and more in a game! We hope you like it!

Alias is released on PS2 and Xbox on April 9, with a PC version to follow in May.