n Lifeline: A Voice Action Adventure, players don't just punch buttons to guide Rio, the heroine, through the game's dangers. Like the operators back on the ships in The Matrix, the player actually talks to Rio, directing her into and out of danger while trying to solve the mystery of the tragedies that have overwhelmed the setting, the world's first luxury hotel in space. Rio is a waitress in the hotel, and the player takes the role of a guest who is getting to spend Christmas in space with his girlfriend, Naomi, because he won a contest. After the holiday party is attacked by monsters, the player's character wakes to find himself locked in the station's control room, his girlfriend missing and Rio the only person with whom he can interact.
After the setup, the game consists of Rio searching through the broken station for something of her own and also looking for Naomi. The player opens locks and operates panels for Rio while watching the action through security cameras. The player not only tells Rio where to go and what to do when she gets there, he also tells her when to shoot, where to shoot and even where to look before shooting. When searching, the player issues commands like "Go to table" and "Check second dispenser from left." During combat, the player gives commands like "Left eye, shoot," and "Dodge right." At certain times, the player can call for a consultation, which will let Rio answer some of the bigger, more nagging questions about the plot.
In the game, there are lots of monsters to fight and almost as many puzzles to solve, as well as five bosses to overcome, several interactions with other survivors, and four encounters where all Rio can do is run for her life. Rio starts out in a waitress outfit with a big handgun, but about a third of the way through trades them for an armored body suit and an assault rifle with a grenade launcher.
Fun but frustrating voice technology
Someday—hopefully soon—technology is going to catch up with desire, and there is going to be a voice recognition program that will actually be able to understand what people tell it. Such a program should have profound effects on nearly every part of people's lives, and it is going to make for some great games. Lifeline hints at how great some of those games might be, but it doesn't manage to be great itself simply because it is too frustrating.
For how frustrating Lifeline can be, take combat as an example. Unlike the characters the operators helped in The Matrix, Rio is complete dependent on the player to direct her. If attacked from behind, she won't even turn around unless told to. If a monster lands on her, she won't throw it off, despite the damage it is causing, unless told to. And monsters will land on her, because about 30 percent of the time Rio will misunderstand or ignore the command she is given. This percentage actually rises as the game goes along, because one of the "rewards" for good searching is finding more combat maneuver commands, the majority of which aren't actually helpful (although auto-fire is a must-have) and simply give her more things to mis-hear by giving her more to listen for.
Just as the voice recognition is the game's greatest frustration, it is also its greatest strength. There is actual immersion that goes on while playing the game. During the quiet times and sometimes during the searches, when Rio is mostly understanding what is said to her, players do feel as if they really are helping a smart, pretty young woman who is in the midst of a terrible situation. This feeling of white knighthood wouldn't be as strong if players were clicking through dialogue trees instead of actually talking to their damsel.
Besides its immersion, Lifeline also has to be praised for its cutscenes and for its relative frequency of save points. There is a lot of video included in the game and all of it is sharp, well voiced and well animated. Just as welcome, there are only three places in the game where too much happens between chances to save, a vast improvement over most survival horror games.
All the way through, I had Lifeline picked as an A to A- game, because I was getting up each day looking forward to playing it and was very interested in seeing how it came out. That grade got knocked down to a B because of the final boss battle, which cannot be won unless Rio moves correctly when told right or left, something she managed for me far too seldom.
— Eric
Back to the top.
