Afterworld: Global Contact

Who'd have thought we'd ever be playing games based on shows that aired on MySpace? It's a measure of the appeal of the internet that the little box in the corner of your bedroom - the box that used to be the sole domain of geeks - can now play host to TV shows that pull in as big a audiences as dramas on the big box in your living room. That said, perhaps it's just as amazing that every show or film out there seems to be tied to a video game in some form. Have we all become nerds?

Still, if that's the kind of future we're headed for, then it's preferable - geeks or no geeks - to the kind of future Afterworld foretells. For the uninitiated, this game tells a story of the planet with 99 per cent of its population missing after some kind of cosmic event labelled 'The Fall'. While the show focuses on a certain Michael Shoemaker's adventures thereafter, Global Contact puts you in different shoes entirely, charging you with first escaping from a barren New York before travelling the globe to find out what's going on.

Survival is key, but this is no action-thriller. This is, instead, a puzzler dressed up in new clothes. The premise for each level - most of which are very short - is to deal with the hazards, pick up the items needed, and escape as quickly as possible. Each level is preceded by both a description of the items that need to be picked up - often a weapon and a set of keys -and the assailants that await you; assailants that only react under certain circumstances.

The end result is a game where you navigating yourself around said short and sharp maps - viewed from above - trying to avoid getting killed. This is not a game of lives, however; even if you do cark it, a quick restart on the level you're on is only a button press away. That's because, rather than real combat, Afterworld is more focused on simply getting from A to B, avoiding the traps along the way. As a result, the controls are very simple, with the only input required being the direction you want to move in - '4' for left, '6' for right, '2' for up and '8' for down.

In this way, play becomes a process of trial and error. For instance, one of the early stages features a couple of hostile survivors that are only triggered into action once you've picked up all the keys and weapons you need to graduate from that level. Getting to the exit therefore means dodging these stagnant enemies who only fire their guns if you cross their path, and only ever along one axis. In other words, most of the levels are mazes with blocks to push, enemies to dodge, keys to find and doors to exit from.

It's simple, yes, but that doesn't mean it can't be effective. Said puzzle is, at least initially, easier said than done, creating the kind of game where it's easy for you to get stuck on one level, only to come up with the solution while you're pondering in the middle of the weekly shop at Sainsbury's.

It's ironic, then, that despite the fact this is a license tie-in it's not the plot -which sees you travelling from New York to Brazil, Paris, Korea, Australia and Seattle on a hunt for the truth behind humanity's disappearance - that will keep most players transfixed here, as it is largely superfluous. Rather, its these very puzzles themselves that are Afterworld's meat.

They're not the most ambitious you'll ever find, but as play moves on there aren't many maps you'll solve first time. Aficionados will no doubt see it through to the end just to get their hands on extra plot points, but the rest of us will have to decide whether Afterworld's simple brand of puzzling has enough to offer to warrant a place in our respective futures.