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Run Like Hell proves that an all-star voiceover cast can enhance even the cheesiest game. Straight-to-video veterans like Lance Henriksen (Aliens), Brad Dourif (Child's Play) and Clancy Brown (Highlander) have been a mainstay of sci-fi movies for years and fit perfectly with this survival horror game set in space.

Henriksen plays Captain Nick Connor with his usual calm sincerity. This likeable hero is forced to reveal a mean streak when parasitic aliens arrive on Forseti space station. Before long, the creatures have bioformed the entire structure with strange organic material and seized the crew for a mysterious and disturbing purpose. Despite being a low-rent carbon copy of the movie Aliens, Run Like Hell's plot does keep a captivating pace and is helped immensely by the considerable talents of Henriksen and Brown.

Arguably, there is a huge number of cutscenes in proportion to the time you spend playing - probably because the game itself isn't particularly deep. Controlling Nick is intuitive enough and the camera rarely obscures your view, but it's hard to get excited by the dated survival horror formula. Running about from room to room collecting key cards and ammunition grows very old, very quickly. While it makes narrative sense for Nick to revisit locations, wandering through Epsilon deck for the fourth and fifth times really starts to grate later in the adventure.

Repetition also plagues Run Like Hell's HR Giger-esque extraterrestrials. There are only four standard species (not counting the more fearsome boss creatures), and not even the old trick of different colour schemes for tougher variations can dilute the tedium.

Combat overall is intuitive but auto-targeting (possible at massive range) does most of the work for you. At least there's an involving weapon-upgrade system that adds a slight RPG-style element to the game.

Despite its faults, Run Like Hell offers a heap of mindless Saturday night entertainment; exactly the cheap thrills (particularly at £20) that you'd expect from one of Henriksen's flicks. There is certainly a solid weekend's diversion here, but definitely more for the moviegoer than the gamer.

1. Movie actors
2. Weapon-upgrade system
3. Cheap thrills

1. The monsters aren't varied
2. Combat is dull
3. Levels are repeated

Power
Some of the character animation is very wonky but the lip-synching is above average.

Style
The music and voiceovers are pretty good, with a real Hollywood movie quality.

Immersion
Despite a fairly engaging storyline, gameplay quickly gets repetitive. Too many levels are repeated.

Lifespan
Just 12-15 hours will see you through to the end. No multiplayer modes to increase the longevity.

Summary
Works better as a CG movie than a game. Not bad for the budget price but there are better sunvival horror games out there.