Lifeline (2004)

A game that embraced the challenge of innovation and uncharted territory in game design, and in all aspects of what is truly important to interactive storytelling it succeeded. Bringing voice controlled gameplay into the sci-fi horror space of the PS2 library, Lifeline provides an immersive and enjoyable video game experience. You might have heard naysayers detailing their difficulties with getting the main character, Rio, to understand their commands. But this is so often the remarks of those that spent the majority of their play time screaming and yelling incoherently into the microphone, without realizing the limitations of 2004 technology. If you speak with a clear voice and with a normal pace, she has an incredibly high rate of successfully understanding your commands. Due in great part to Kristen Miller's superb voice acting performance, you will come to love your time spent with this excellently designed character. For the gamers whose preferences align with those of the game designers from the PS2 era, Lifeline is a shining example of the unfiltered artistic direction and creativity that was characteristic of that time.

Lifeline's voice action is its biggest strength and weakness. Lifeline's combat is absolutely awful - the voice commands are not good enough for real time combat, even for the time, and Rio's AI is unaware of all but the most obvious enemies in front of her - you'll lose lots of health over the course of the game just trying to tell her where the enemies beside or behind her are. It's not an exaggeration to say that at times, Lifeline offers some of the worst gameplay on PS2, even by 2004's standards. Other blunders include the absence of subtitles - a crime in an audio-driven game. Yet the microphone draws you in and builds a real connection with Rio - it makes you build a connection with her that feels much more engaging than text or a button could offer. Furthermore, the music has some really good tracks, the visual design is generally good and the story has some surprisingly good moments that I was not expecting. There's a very enjoyable and unique game here that is hindered by not just technological but design flaws that are just too difficult to overlook in its PS2 state. If the voice input was perfected, the combat was fixed and some basic quality of life improvements were added in an updated release, this game could be as high as an 8/10 for me. But at the end of the day, Lifeline is a very good game trapped in an unforgivable cage.