Aeon Flux
Was resurrecting Aeon Flux a good idea this time?
Tags: Aeon Flux Categories: Reviews, Xbox Reviews
Posted by David Hinkle on Jan 13th, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Aeon Flux (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Action | No | ||
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Unless you’ve seen MTV’s Liquid Television, a program back in the channel’s better days that showcased animation and helped spawn the early nineties sensation Beavis and Butthead, then you’ve seen the countless trailers for the film starring Charlize Theron and thought this was an original action film worthy of your time. While this writer has yet to see the film (and more than likely will not) the original Aeon Flux that featured the abnormally masculine heroine kill without mercy, have sex, and at the end of every episode, die, was groundbreaking in its depictions of violent, gruesome mortality and fetish-based sex.
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That’s not what this game about, sadly, as it takes the film and phones in a sub-par game that is ridiculous in its story and action. Most games that go with over-the-top, unrealistic action can accomplish a fairly believable, fun time throughout. Aeon Flux is marred by a faulty camera, what seems an essential piece these days for a third-person action game, as well as some basic, lifeless combat. This isn’t to say that the game doesn’t have its high points, but the bad outweighs the good in the long run.
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Aeon Flux revolves around a future society that where the last remnants of disastrous disease are holed up in a Big Brother-like utopian society state called Bregna. It’s here that a council of scientists and its leader Trevor Goodchild reside over the remnants of the human race. Sex literally kills, and while that fact alone and Aeon’s struggle against her hatred for all Trevor stands for and, yet, lust for him at the same time, these strong plot points are never played out in the game. Sometimes you’re helping Trevor, sometimes you’re working with an underground resistance aimed at toppling his regime. Overall, the game just doesn’t know where it wants to go and starting the game off with Aeon entering a fashion show, well, just shows how seriously the material is taken.
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The game’s engine, which was developed by Terminal Reality, is a variation of the one used in Bloodrayne. Upon reading that, I’m sure many a mouth have begun to salivate, but where Bloodrayne innovated, Aeon Flux only manages to tread water as the game takes players from point A to point B, battling a couple enemies, solving a simple puzzle, then taking them on to point C. The game’s levels, although inspired and futuristic, making them very cool to look at, aren’t very conducive to a fun game as the player runs the gauntlet of enemies and puzzles before them rather easily.
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The combat showcases some very cool moves, but ultimately is more flash than substance. Aeon has both weak and hard attacks, which you can string together for combos, but ultimately lack a whole amount of diversity, allowing the player to just about have seen them all within the first 3 levels. The game’s emphasis on acrobatics allows for some cool use of the many guns in the games, most notably rappelling upside down and letting loose with dual uzis, but these don’t have the impact on the game they should, leaving the fisticuffs for taking out the trash.
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Visually the game has a lot of style and uses bright neon accents and futuristic architecture to craft some really bright and visually-appealling levels. The enemies are also varied and watching Aeon slap them silly and snap their necks with grace is fun for awhile. The game never shows a bit of slowdown, additionally. Charlize Theron is accurately modeled as Aeon and even voices her in the game, although lacking any kind of emotional punch.
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Aeon Flux takes some good visual cues from the source material, but ultimately phones it in when it comes to everything else. Some of the acrobatics Aeon showcases are inspired, but the lack of variety makes the novelty short-lived. It’s understandable that Terminal Reality and Majesco had to focus more on the film, and this reviewer will probably never know if the game’s story resembles what the movie has in store (let’s hope not), but it’s just a shame to see what was such a great property demoted to such mediocrity.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+ Graphics + Acrobatics are cool |
6.2 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
- Camera gets stuck a lot - Story is absurd |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| For those of us who've seen Aeon at her best, the game should be avoided. For everyone else, it's a fun rental. | |
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Tags: Aeon Flux
Posted by David Hinkle on Jan 13th, 2006 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
