The Alpha Device

The Good
This is really a visual novel, and a pretty good one at that. The gaming element is provided by the way it's structured with the player having to search throughout this huge structure to find the next message, then the one after that and so on. It's really like navigating a huge 3D maze.
There's a real sense of space and volume inside the spaceship, the player sets off on what looks like a clear path to the next message only to have enormous structures appear, as though out of a mist, to block their path. If the world had been solid then the game would have felt confined and small; because there's so much light and the structures are full of holes and partly decayed the game world feels really big.
Can't remember playing in an environment like this and I liked it.

There are good sound effects and ambient music too that really fit the game well and the voice over is spot on.

The game plays really smoothly. It is possible to get stuck inside the spaceship's structures but there's a 'reset' button which will take the player back to the last message they found.

The Bad
This is a user flaw and not a fault in the game but it's my only minor niggle. The game can only be played with a controller, I used a Microsoft Xbox controller and it worked perfectly. Having played it I can see why this is and I have no problems with it - it's just that my thumbs don't co-ordinate well, so there were times when I got lost and had to spin round and round until I found the green dot again.

The Bottom Line
Good story, well presented, and free.