AlternativA is a Czech produced point and click adventure game set in a futuristic dystopian Prague. If that seems like a great setting for a game, it probably is, but everything else is sadly lacking.
The Earth has been ravaged by the WWIII and currently all governmental powers are held in the hands of totalitarian State and two competing mega-corporations Endora and Thoelex. There of course is a Resistance and our hero Richard suddenly decides to join it. Here starts the problems. His decision is never explained. Why does Richard want to join the Resistance? He is relieved from work and suddenly decides to give the middle finger to everyone. How can he even know that the Resistance is really just that and not a terrorist organization as it is portrayed by the State? The logic of other characters is even worse as they never act in a normal way and constantly make decisions in a completely inconceivable manner.
The characters also have a penchant to disappear and reappear without any explanation and the game just handwaves that. The worst thing is that some key scenes are never show to us and we are constantly barraged with information that we are supposed to know, but we don't. The game constantly breaks one of the main pillars of storytelling - it tells, but doesn't show. That becomes especially jarring upon Richards arrival to Brazil.
Finally, AlternativA is very short and I finished it in a single afternoon. That might not be such a big problem in on itself, but the game is clearly unfinished. The ending is an abrupt cliffhanger and our heroes manage to achieve absolutely nothing before the credits start to roll. The game feels more like an extended prologue than an actual self-contained story, but I have heard nothing about a sequel being made.
The problems with translation from Czech language also rear an ugly head and spoken dialogues sometimes do not match subtitles. That becomes important in Brazil, when a description of one important item says that it can lead you to the Resistance... but only if you have the subtitles enabled. The voice says something completely different.
The positives are a passable art (though the cutscenes are ugly and you cannot understand anything that happens in them), passable voice acting (it's not as bad as some would let you believe) and the relative easiness of the game. Sure, there were some puzzles that required a walkthrough, but overall the game was not that difficult.
In the end, I would recommend you AlternativA only if you really have nothing better to do.
