Alias

Alias may have faded into obscurity from memory but its resurgence doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon.

Alias began as a game in 2001, but it grew its developer to expand its base with future projects. Earlier this month, an ambitious PlayStation 2 title called Viva Pinata released on the PlayStation. The game takes place in a town where the color-coded animals had moved to the tranquil, beautiful Flower valley. The game's protagonist, a 17-year-old boy named Tatsu, has decided to become a conduit for his love, Ali, and his aspiration to become a member of the valley.

The world is divided into three main worlds, where each world contains its own distinctive personality, animals, and objectives. The core gameplay in the game takes place in a world of sorts called the outdoors, where animals roam around in herds. Tatsu's friend Ealdon is a wisecracking shepherd and a hiker, who follows Tatsu, guiding him to his requested friend's camp. All the player needs to do is talk to the animals and deliver mail. In this state, the animals also serve to feed Tatsu's life hunger. All the animals in the game have unique characteristics and can be interacted with for hidden motives, like pelt and pelts. There are seven types of animals in the game: tiger, rabbit, sloth, bug, axolotl, goat, seagull, and deer. They can be raised and educated as you go.

At the start of the game, you can go to the sloth camp to meet the cats. Each animal has different preferences and needs, like hunger or spirituality. Once you have a cat, you'll have to spend a good amount of time talking to them and making sure they don't eat you. After speaking with all of the cats, you can choose the subjects of your conversation: what's required, how much they need to eat, what kind of animals you need to eat, and more.

You can also be called to adopt an animal's personality. There's a way to invite the animal's personality to go with it. There are five different types of animals: green, red, blue, purple, and walnut. Each will have a different personality and needs. Some can even be pets. You can invite a cat to live with you in your tent, and if you are able to bring him in, he'll bring it home.

The frog personality is the best of the three. It's the kind of animal you'd want to show off. There are no pet slots, and you can have cats, birds, foxes, cats, dogs, or frogs. You can use cats to show off your fishy personality. Cats, for example, might ask if you want to be his friend. But you can't allow cats to be in the tent, or if you choose to become his friend, he'll stay inside. So, you'll need to take that choice with you.

While you can't take down any enemies in the game by yourself, you can drop a ton of dynamite to clear levels. Once you've played through the game, you'll realize that the game actually has a pretty decent challenge mode that even hardcore fans of the game will get to enjoy. There's a mode that lets you play through stages of the game with the enemies you've defeated and challenges you to a waypoint system that will show you where to go next. Then, you can replay the game to earn achievements and to see how you fared.

You can play the game with up to three other players in the same room or online.

The only way to play the game online, while there are some multiplayer modes, is to play with a friend on your own. There's the classic gameplay, as well as the various team modes. In Team Deathmatch, you have to collect your opponents' flag for a specific time to claim it, and you can shoot down a specific number of opponents by shooting the flag. Team Territories are those game types that you'll be able to play on. Finally, Search & Destroy is the game type that lets you play a variety of different modes from the standard deathmatch to capture the flag and take it to the next player. You'll find that a couple of the modes can also be played in Battle of the Nations, where you'll be able to do battle in one of six game types that will let you play on one of the maps.

Battle of the Nations: Rise of Legends is very much a strategy game. Basically, it's a game about making money and running your nation from one end of the world to the other. This doesn't mean that you have to be on the good side, though. In fact, you can try to take control of any country you see in one of its game types, including the Middle East, Africa, and Japan.