I Am Alive is a survival horror^[7][3][8][9] video game developed by Ubisoft Shanghai and published by Ubisoft. The game focuses on facing the permanent insecurity of a now decaying and hazardous world, and humanity's darkest inclinations. Originally under development by Darkworks from 2008 until 2010, Ubisoft Shanghai completed the title. It was released for Xbox Live Arcade on March 7, 2012 and was released on the PlayStation Network on April 3, 2012 in North America and April 4, 2012 in Europe.^[10]

Plot[link]

The game takes place one year after America has gone through a massive disaster known simply as 'The Event', which included earthquakes that destroyed most cities and areas. Due to the damage of the aftermath, many people are forced to go without resources. The government tries to help citizens, but their attempts are small and useless since they are not able to complete much as hazardous dust clouds have paralyzed the city. Supplies become low and this causes citizens to become agitated, violent and bitter and turn them to savage hunters.

A male survivor (who is never named in the game) travels to his old home of the fictional city Haventon, to rescue his wife Julie and daughter Mary. When he gets to his old apartment though, he finds they have left to get to safety and meanwhile video tapes his apology for not being there and says that he will do everything to find them. As he is leaving, the protagonist sees a small girl who he mistakes for his daughter and saves her from three hostile men. The girl, Mei, is missing her mother and gives the protagonist a walkie-talkie in which he talks to Henry, a friend of Mei. Henry asks him to bring Mei to him and he agrees. The protagonist and Mei travel out to Henry's apartment, but soon stop in a dilapidated mall to rest during a dust storm. The protagonist notices that Mei is having a fever, so he goes to find a supply drop that the government landed for survivors and is able to recover medicine for Mei. The two leave the next day and arrive at Henry's place and see that Henry is disabled and cannot walk. The protagonist is then tasked of finding a radio for Henry and traverses through the deadly dust clouds and makes it to an old boat. After searching the boat and finding the radio, the protagonist makes it off and travels back to Henry.

The protagonist makes it back and Henry thanks him and finally trusts him as a friend. Henry also suspects that Mei's mother might be in a local hotel and pressures the protagonist into finding her for Mei. He gets to the hotel and fights through a large number of killers who have kidnapped, intimidated and hurt women to pressure them into performing sexual acts on the men. The protagonist finds Mei's mother, Linda, and rescues her from the men. They both get back to Henry's place and Mei reunites with her mother. Linda is able to use the radio to get messages from a boat coming to Haventon to pick up survivors. This seems as their way out but they soon learn that the boat is not coming to shore because of the dust. Henry makes the plan of creating a beacon to bring in the boat by using fireworks. The protagonist takes some of Henry's fireworks and sets them off on a nearby rooftop, successfully making a beacon for the boat. Just after they set it up though, hunters attack and the protagonist is forced to fight them off but Henry is nowhere to be found after. Finally, the beacon attracts the boat and it arrives at the dock just in time.

In the end, Mei and Linda go aboard the boat but the protagonist decides to stay, hoping to find Henry and his family. Mei and Linda bid him farewell and he records his last tape and says that he will find Julie and Mary and try to rescue Henry, before it is shown that Julie has been watching all his videos and currently has all his gear as well. She cries after the video ends and it is left on a cliffhanger whether or not the protagonist or Henry survived.

Gameplay[link]

The player controls the main character from a third person perspective during navigation, the camera switches to first-person when aiming and shooting. During encounters with hostile survivors, the player can use various tactics to stay alive, including sneaking to surprise enemies with a machete quick kill, performing stealth kills with a bow, or using bluff and intimidation e.g. pointing an empty gun at hostile non-playable characters.

The game has an emphasis on climbing and exploration. The player will scale wrecked buildings and navigate hazardous areas. Every effort has a cost and, when engaging in physically demanding activities, such as climbing or jumping, it is critical to manage the main character's stamina for him to survive. By managing stamina skillfully players are rewarded by accessing hidden paths, resources and other survivors.

Gameplay also involves collecting hidden resources and supplies scattered throughout the city: water, food, batteries, gas, medicine, cigarettes, tools, climbing gear, weapons, and ammunition. Anything that the player can salvage from the destroyed city can be used to keep the main characters strong and healthy, or prove helpful in his quest by allowing him to rescue survivors. Retries can be collected throughout the game by helping or rescuing people, with optional side quests to complete.

Development[link]

The game was first rumored to be in development in July 2008, when it was known that Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond was working on a new game, which was announced at E3 2008, along with a trailer. It was later revealed that Raymond was not working on the game.^[11] Development experienced various delays. The original developers, Darkworks, announced that it would not be working on it any longer due to a "mutual decision" and that the studio had other obligations, and that the game would be finished at Ubisoft Shanghai's studio.^[12] On August 2009, various screenshots of an old build of the game were leaked onto the Internet.^[13] An announcement from Ubisoft indicated a release window between Q2 April 2010– Q2 March 2011. These dates passed with no new information, until June 2011 when a notification was published at the Australian classification website which indicated a possible release in the late summer of 2011.^[14]

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said at the start of 2010 that the studio was "totally re-engineering the product."^[15] Elias Toufexis is reported to have a major role in the game, playing a character known as Henry. In May 2011, Ubisoft cancelled a number of games, but it was revealed that I Am Alive and another Ubisoft title Beyond Good & Evil 2 were not among them, with Ubisoft stating that the cancelled games were unannounced games.^[16] On September 29, 2011, a new announcement trailer was released for the game with a release date of "this winter" at the end.^[17] On January 23, 2012, the developers announced on Facebook that the game would be available for Xbox 360 on March 7, 2012.^[18]

Reception[link]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the game received an average score of 72, based on 45 reviews, indicating "mixed to average reviews".^[20] At GameRankings, the game received an aggregated score of 73.81%, based on 26 reviews.^[19]

GameSpot gave it an 8, complaining that "The few unrealistic elements are a stark contrast to the engrossing world and only lessen the experience."^[24] Eurogamer gave it an 8, commenting "What I Am Alive lacks in originality, though, it makes up for in execution.", praising the tone and gameplay.^[22] Several reviews praised the survival aspects of the game, commenting on the scarcity of resources and oppressive atmosphere.^[22][3][32] IGN gave a negative review, giving it a 4.5, citing outdated graphics and poor gameplay elements.^[26]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Kris Meeke

Kris Meeke at the 2009 Rally Scotland
Personal information
Nationality	British
Born	(1979-07-02) 2 July 1979 (age 32)
World Rally Championship record
Active years	2002–present
Teams	Mini WRC Team
Rallies	38
Championships	0
Rally wins	0
Podiums	0
Stage wins	2
Total points	25
First rally	2002 Rally GB

Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a professional rally driver. He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His current co-driver is Paul Nagle.^[1] He originally began his career as a Computer Aided Designer with M-Sport, at the headquarters of the Ford World Rally Team, before moving on to competing in the Peugeot Super 106 Cup in 2001.^[2]

For 2011, Meeke is competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC) driving a MINI for Prodrive. His first event was be the Rally d'Italia Sardegna which was held between 5–8 May. Meeke scored his first WRC points and won the Power Stage at the 2011 Rally Catalunya.

Career[link]

Meeke with a Citroën C2 S1600 at the 2005 Acropolis Rally.

Meeke, who was born in Dungannon, Northern Ireland, educated at The Royal School Dungannon, and later went on to study at Queen's University in Belfast where he obtained a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He initially worked for M-Sport as a Computer Aided Designer. He took his first step into rallying in 2000, when he won a Peugeot competition for new rally drivers. His debut event was the Bulldog Rally held in North Wales, even leading the event for a time. After mixed results, his first victory came on the third round of the 2001 Peugeot Super 106 Cup, the Swansea Bay Festival National Rally.

In early 2002, Meeke's career was boosted when he was taken under the wing of the late Colin McRae and contested the British Junior Championship in a Ford Puma. In June, Meeke won in his category in the Scottish Rally after a calculated drive overseen by McRae, and took second on the Jim Clark Rally, his first full tarmac event. Third position in the final round of the series was however enough for Kris to claim the British Junior Rally Championship title in only his second season in the sport, as well as third in the British S1600 series.

JWRC[link]

The following year, Kris moved up to the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC), driver an Opel Corsa run by Team Palmer. He made an impressive debut setting the fastest time on two of the final leg stages however a string of minor problems dropped Meeke down the order. He retired in the next rally and a potential second place finish in Italy was lost after a crash. Shortly afterwards he claimed consolation by winning the British S1600 title. On the final round of the 2003 JWRC held in Britain, Meeke was running in 2nd place in the JWRC and in 17th position overall before being forced to retire after hitting a rock and rolling his car.

Kris kicked the 2004 season off in style by finishing 3rd in class in the Rally of Monte Carlo. He then took part in the British S1600 event in Wales as a shakedown for the next JWRC in Greece, winning the Welsh event along the way. The next two JWRC events in Greece and Turkey were marred by mechanical problems on the rough gravel terrain. He then took part in the Pirelli Rally in Tampere as shakedown for the next JWRC event in Finland, scoring a class win in Pirelli Rally. He was leading the Finnish JWRC event before a mistake caused him to have a heavy crash and retire. There was further disappointment for Kris when during the last JWRC event in Wales he was plagued by electrical issues in his Opel Corsa. However a spirited drive saw him set seven fastest stage times and finish on the podium in second place.

IRC[link]

Meeke in the Peugeot 207.

In 2009, Meeke alongside co-driver Paul Nagle contest the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in a Peugeot UK backed 207 S2000. He crashed out heavily on the Monte Carlo Rally but went on to win the next three rounds he competed in at Brazil, Portugal, and Belgium.^[3] He won the championship at the penultimate round by winning Rally Sanremo in Italy, after his closest rival Jan Kopecky crashed on the second stage. Meeke finished off the season with a dominant win of the inaugural Rally Scotland, winning 7 of the 13 stages on the way to victory.

Kris starred in a wave of adverts for the Peugeot 207 in 2009, with the tagline "He's Meeke, but he's not mild".^[4]

For 2010, Meeke continued his successful partnership with Paul Nagle and Peugeot, competing in 10 rounds of the IRC.^[5]

WRC[link]

On 2 September 2010, Autosport magazine announced that Meeke had signed for the Prodrive team that will run MINI World Rally Championship (WRC) return in 2011.^[6] Meeke scored his first WRC points and won the Power Stage at the 2011 Rally Catalunya.^[7] Meeke came close to gaining his maiden podium at the final round of the season, the 2011 Rally GB but spun on the Power Stage allowing Henning Solberg to take third place.

Meeke also appeared in an edition of the BBC show Top Gear in a challenge similar to that of Henning Solberg driving a rally car against the Norwegian Olympic Bobsleigh team. Meeke rallied a Mini John Cooper Works WRC on a downhill snow track in a race against skeleton competitor Amy Williams at the Lillehammer Olympic Bobsleigh and Luge Track. Williams raced down the bobsleigh track whilst Meeke's route ran downhill alongside. With Top Gear presenter James May as his "co-driver," Meeke set a time of 59.73 in the Mini, beating Williams who finished with a time of 1:01.04.

On the 22 December 2011, Meeke was dropped from the Mini WRC Team for next month's Monte Carlo Rally in a crisis within the Prodrive-run team over budget for the 2012 season.

Results[link]

WRC results[link]

JWRC results[link]

IRC results[link]

Year	Entrant	Car	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	WDC	Points
2009	Peugeot UK	Peugeot 207 S2000	MON Ret	BRA 1	KEN	POR 1	BEL 1	RUS	POR 5	CZE 2	ESP 2	ITA 1	SCO DSQ		1st	66
2010	Peugeot UK	Peugeot 207 S2000	MON Ret	BRA 1	ARG Ret	CAN 4	ITA Ret	BEL Ret	AZO 2	MAD Ret	CZE 4	ITA 4	SCO 3	CYP	3rd	39

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kris Meeke

• www.krismeeke.com