Oh dear. There's a serious problem with Run Like Hell - it's been designed using the 'Bag Of Clichés'. We'll let you in on a little industry secret: the 'Bag Of Clichés' is an old game creation technique that was big in the early Nineties, just before the PlayStation came on the scene. It's literally a black velvet bag that contains folded bits of paper with popular game design elements written on them. Pick five out, mix them together during development and it should produce a big hit. Unfortunately, Run Like Hell proves that such cynical game creation is flawed. You can copy popular formulas all you want, but there's no substitute for original and polished game design.

Cliché number one: Run Like Hell is set on a space station that's been overrun by fearsome marauding aliens. Cliché number two: you need to walk up to every object and press X to see if you can interact with it. Cliché number three: you can combine objects together to create new weapons or solve puzzles. Cliché number four: door codes must be found by searching bodies and drawers for diary entries. Cliché number five: you must backtrack incessantly to ferry vital objects from one place to another. You get the general idea.

If you wanted to show an out-of-touch judge, or someone who's been cast away on a desert island for the last forty years, an example of an archetypal survival horror game, you'd show them Run Like Hell. The game's not wholly bad. There are over twenty hours of third-person gameplay. It's just that we've been here so many times before. Music and a Hollywood-fuelled voice cast is used well to create atmosphere and the shooting/running action, when it comes, is decent, if not heart-pounding. Indeed, anyone new to gaming would probably get a good amount of enjoyment out of the game. But there's little spark for those of us who have become accustomed to the Silent Hills and Resident Evils of this world.

Run Like Hell would have been much better as an out-and-out alien blaster. The targeting system in the game works well, and once you're locked onto one of the many fiendish aliens you can start pumping bullets into its hide. There are occasional camera problems but nothing too annoying. It's just a pity that there are so many tedious cut-scenes to break up the action.

With faster pacing and a greater emphasis on blood 'n guts combat, Run Like Hell could have been much more enjoyable. The attempt to copy other games has just resulted in too much laborious corridor wandering without the sublime polish and tension you'd get from a Capcom or Konami game. There's no need to run like hell from Run Like Hell. But don't consider it unless you're a die-hard fan of the genre.

1. Plenty of weapons and puzzles
2. Makes a change from haunted mansions!

1. More hackneyed than a Bob Monkhouse routine
2. Too many weak cut-scenes

Graphics 50%
Alien Resurrection on PSOne was better.

Sound 70%
Great haunting melodies

Gameplay 50%
A solid, if uninspiring, mix of puzzles and gunfire.

Lifespan 60%
Plenty to do, if you have the energy.

Overall 50%
A valiant effort, but a game that feels two years out of date. There are much better survival horror titles on the market.