The X-Files: The Lion's Den

As it’s now confined to DVD box-sets and late-night repeats (don't look so smug you producers of Lost, a similar fate will be yours soon enough!) it can be easy to forget just how huge the X-Files series was in its heyday. Back in the 90s we, along with the rest of the world, were totally enraptured by the conspiracy theories, the mysterious smoking man, the aliens, the general weirdness and the sultry appeal of special agent Scully. So when Infospace presented us with X-Files: The Lions Den (follow up to X-Files Deserter) and offered the opportunity to team up with everyone’s favourite FBI agent we were suitably excited.

Hence, cast as Chase Walker, an ex-security guard with a sizeable grudge against his former employers GeneLoft, we duly broke into our old office in order to get to the bottom of the mysterious deaths that had occurred. Once there we made full use of our various abilities (such as sneaking, sprinting, searching and shooting tranquiliser darts) in order to hack into computers, avoid laser-beam security measures and 'dealt with' any guards that came our way. We also made sure to keep updating Scully of our progress using our natty PDA to forward e-mails unearthed from the hacked computers. And to be honest we had a rather good time doing it. The levels were inventively laid-out and became more interesting visually as we neared the climax. The control system was simple to grasp with a clever screen lay-out showing all the essential details on screen at any one time. What's more, there were plenty of nice touches to savour like the exclamation mark offered when a guard is alerted, the flashing lights when you tripped a laser or the way our character slowed down when stunned by the guards’ guns.

Fair enough, we have some gripes too; the slight randomness of combat (press fire rapidly till the guard goes down), the difficulty in judging the lasers from the sometimes awkward overhead and to-the-side view, and the fact that so much of the landscape (apart from computers and filing cabinets) isn't interactive. The novelty of running between points collecting objects to open other rooms did wear a little thin eventually, especially as the guards increased in number and attentiveness on the later levels. None of these flaws was sufficient enough to mar the entertainment though, nor did it seem to matter that the game doesn't really feel all that related to the X-Files world at all (take out the occasional e-mail from Scully and you might as well be a spy, secret agent or a thief). That this latter factor doesn't really matter says much about the quality of the game as well as suggesting that with maybe a few more X-Files-y additions (like a Gillian Anderson or David Duchovny photo gallery, perhaps) the next episode could transform from spooky success to cult classic.