Men in Black II: Alien Escape

Published by Infogrames
Developed by Melbourne House
Platform: Playstation 2
Price £29.99
Released: Out Now

If Stuart Little 2 was a good example of how to make a game of a film then Men In Black 2: Alien Escape is definitely a bad one. Choosing to make an old school blaster with repetitious gameplay throughout, was perhaps the one decision taken by the developers that will cheese off most gamers but for deaf gamers there is an extra reason to avoid the game.

Just like in the films the action centres on Agents Jay and Kay and you can choose to play as either. To be honest it makes little difference who you choose. Blasting is the name of the game and there's a nice arsenal of weapons for you to choose from (some weapons are only available at certain times). The weapons on offer include J2 Blaster, HBIII Globulator and the SLI Plasma Torch.

The game has five missions and each of these missions has around four levels. The game is played from the third person perspective and in fairness is quite easy to control. However deaf gamers are probably not going to be too bothered by this stage as they will already have figured out that the game is not subtitled and will probably be having second thoughts about their purchase.

Graphically the game is OK if a little short of what you'd expect a Playstation 2 game to be. The weapon effects are good and stick out like a sore thumb when compared with the bland character models and background textures. One thing you can say in favour of the game though is that it doesn't slow down at all and the action does come thick and fast. Roll and strafing is the name of the game if you are to survive for any amount of time but I found the camera to become a little disorientated, especially when strafing.

Men In Black II is a game that will only please those who long for a plain and simple blaster. Had subtitles been included then the game may have been an option for fans of the films and cartoons but without subtitles and bland old fashioned gameplay, there is little to recommend.

Overall Game Rating: 3.0/10 Bland gameplay and no subtitles make Men In Black II one to forget.

Deaf Gamers comment: No provision at all for deaf gamers.