Kalisto becomes yet another developer to design a game based on a hit movie. Guide Leeloo and Korben Dallas to the rescue of all life from Chaos. The Universe needs a savior so get out there and get started. It's time to show the Absolute Evil how to play rough.

First off, I'd like to say that games using movie licenses have not been overly impressive thus far (prime example: Independence Day), so I wasn't looking foward to being overly entertained. I'd also like to say that I thought 5th Element was a killer movie and any attempt to create a game on it would just be plain silly. Obviously I wasn't talking with Kalisto because here, in all its glory, it is.

The game is somewhat of a hybrid between Deathtrap Dungeon, Tomb Raider, and Nightmare Creatures (which was also done by Kalisto). It's a third-person adventure/action style game pretty much involving shooting or beating the snot out of bad guys and finding keys and switches/etc to get around. There's not really much of the puzzle aspect to it like Tomb Raider has so it sort of bogs down into the "run around, find the key, and see which one of the doors it opens, get the next key .. etc etc" plot scheme. Not really too much to the plot other than defeating the bad guys to get to the Absolute Evil.

It's very loosely (and I mean loosely) based on the movie. The characters are the same and the general idea is the same, but it's still pretty much its own little gameworld. It does use some of the themes from the movie, like the intro where you've got the flying cars (though it's background). The game is broken into levels where you're supposed to complete some objective, but it ends up being just getting to the end of the level and getting a cutscene instead of an actual interactive scenario. I've also got to say that Korben Dallas looks nothing like Bruce Willis. I also found the idea of Leelu in those skimpy straps that she only wore in the movie for a total of five minutes shows poor taste on the designers side. She also has this really slutty movement when she's walking with her hips swinging excessively. She wasn't really supposed to be THAT female in the movie. If the designers want to add sex appeal, try making interactive porn games. It just doesn't fit here.

Gameplay's not too bad. The controls are similar to Tomb Raider, though they can get very cumbersome and clunky at times. Korben's sidestep is pretty poor. I couldn't see the enemies when I tried sidestepping out. So instead of running out and getting blasted, I stood out, couldn't see the bad guys and still got blasted. It does make use of combos so it gives somewhat of a range of potential movements/attacks, but it's still not real easy to control. I found Leelu much easier to handle, although the camera angles sometimes made it hard to determine which way I was facing and where the enemy was.

It's not real spectacular visually. Like I said earlier, Korben looks nothing like Willis. The graphics tended to look similar to Jedi Knight. It had some good lighting effects at various points in the game. Explosions were so-so. The 3D shapes tended to be chunky and Kalisto probably should have put some more effort into the rendering. I only noticed an occasional case of clipping. Had this game come out last year it might have turned some heads, but I've seen better (and I've seen worse).

Not an audio wonder either. It does have Ruby Rhod for the level selection and he makes a few of his annoying yet cool catch phrases. The sounds in general are nothing special. If anything, explosions and gunshots could have been done much, much better. The ambient sounds are pretty well done and fit the enviroments well.

Altogether, it's not terrible, but it's rough around the edges. It's console styled with controls that are at times clumsy. Nothing really stands out or sets this game apart. I really felt like I was experiencing the "been there-done that" feeling playing this. It's just another game taking advantage of a movie license to rack in the cash. A little more effort on Kalisto's part and this may have been an excellent game... last year. If you really need something to play, I would advise spending your money more wisely.

Highs: Decent dynamic lighting, some interesting moves Lows: Clumsy control, poor adaption of a good movie, outdated graphics

Fifth Element the movie...what can you say about it besides it sucked? Well let's see if the game can improve anything. Guide Leeloo or Korben Dallas around the vast 5th Element world in a 3rd person view, a la Tomb Raider.

Graphics: The graphics look pretty sharp, not a lot of 3Dfx based effects though. My major complaint: graphics were just too bland and cardboard looking. There is almost no interaction with the actual game environment, no bullet holes in the wall etc. Most of the animations were crisp and fluid, however the background certainly doesn't share the same qualities. Explosions are pretty cheesy, lots of miscellaneous polygons fly out when something like a robot blows up. With most games I am very impressed with the 3Dfx graphics, but 5th Element didn't leave me very impressed.

Sound & Control: Gunshots aren't too realistic and the other sound effects just don't cut it. It took me a while to get used to the jerky camera movements and control. I found myself getting very frustrated with the control, to say the least it's very awkward...this is a definite deterrent from playing this game.

Gameplay: Basically you run around each level with the camera behind you just like in Tomb Raider or Deathtrap Dungeon. The first level you control Korben Dallas, but then on the next you control LeeLoo, adding some variation to the gameplay. You have at your disposal numerous weapons such as guns, bombs, and of course your fists. The game makers claim you have special fighting combos, I only found two. One of them is a running/diving shot which does come in handy sometimes. For the most part you run from location to location deactivating switches and acquiring keys.

Fun Factor: Ok, I'll admit this game is pretty hard for me even on easy level. I constantly found myself being beaten to death by guards and having no control over the outcome. For example, I would finish off one guard then one would attack me from behind, before I could even react he was beating the crap out of me. Many times I threw down my game pad in anger due to the awful fighting system. If you haven't figured it out already, I didn't have fun playing this game.

Multiplayer: No multiplayer! Argh!

Overall Impression: The movie is pretty lame, and so is the game. I have only played one or two movie-based games that were actually fun, 5th Element sure isn't one of them. Some type of multiplayer deathmatch would have really made this game better, because after the 15 levels there's not much else to do. The whole time I played it I felt like I'd rather be playing Deathtrap Dungeon, and that says a lot considering how bad Deathtrap was.