The game prepares you for its mix of shooting and puzzle solving with a free-form tutorial level.  In the tutorial, you are free to explore the base in its bustling, pre-invasion state.  While looking around the base, you'll find a shooting range, a code-locked door, a VR simulation that has you control a robot, and a few other things to introduce you to the various controls and mini-games that you'll encounter in the game.  It's a nice change of pace from the usual in-game tutorial, and certainly more immersive.

The integration of the tutorial into the game is really a reflection on the game's designer's desire to make Run Like Hell very story-driven.  This desire also manifests itself in the game's numerous and frequent cutscenes.  The cutscenes are all of high-quality and the voice acting is very good.  Interplay even brought some Hollywood talent on board to supply some of the voices including Lance Henriksen, Kate Mulgrew, and Michael Ironside.

While the game certainly owes a lot to Alien and similar films, it can't quite seem to match the same level of suspense.  There is a decided dearth of scary moments and an overall lack of tension.  You never really feel like you are being hunted as the game's packaging suggests, and don't feel the need to "run like hell" - or more appropriately "saunter like hell" since Nick's character animation gives one the feeling that he is shuffling about.  Since the game falls a bit flat on the action and puzzle fronts, it really needs to build a strong feeling of dread and foreboding.  What's a survival horror game without the horror?

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 68%.  Run Like Hell is certainly not a bad game, and delivers an almost interactive movie-like experience with its quality cutscenes and voice acting.  However, it just seems to consistently fall short in the action, puzzle, and suspense categories.

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