Do you remember this trailer? I do. It was June ’08, Nintendo had embarrassed themselves, whilst Sony used Sackboy to make dull things interesting, and Microsoft stunned everyone by securing Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360. That’s not why I remember an E3 of now four shows ago though. I remember a man fleeing for his life, using a bottle of water to eliminate his enemies, before emerging in a destroyed Chicago. I remember E3 2008 because of I Am Alive.

It struck a chord with me; call it my “Dead Island Trailer” for the year. It set up this incredible interesting setting where, as would actually be the case in an apocalyptic world, water was the sought after commodity. Not guns, not cash, but taken-for-granted, live-saving water. We were promised a game where “players will be challenged to think, react and take risks that will directly affect themselves and those around them”. Something we’ve seen ever more increasingly over the past few years. Even Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot claimed that “the game will offer a rich palette of emotions while challenging players to make life-changing decisions.”

After the reveal and CG trailer at E3, the game was scheduled for a release the following year (2009), something I was extremely excited about. This sounded like the perfect game for me. An environment of familiarity yet with obvious distinctions; a look at the moral and ethical choices and decisions that everyday folk would take when hit by such a catastrophic disaster; with a real ration on even the most basic of staples in games – weapons; all blended into a disaster-survival, first-person game. There would be a focus on tactics, diversion and discretion, with players having to sometimes bluff their way out of situations by using guns without ammo, in the hope that other characters wouldn’t want to be the hero in that situation. It sounded truly brilliant and the blurb alone had me clawing for more information.

“I thought to myself that the potential was huge, and this was a game made for me. I couldn’t wait.”

A few months passed and not an ounce of information from the game. Already I was getting impatient. Luckily, having gone to actually purchase a gaming magazine, I saw that it was the cover of the latest issue of games™, parting with my money as hastily as I could, I was eager to get a fix of what had become a title I couldn’t wait to get. I remember reading through the interview, gripped to what they were promising. Taking inspiration from ‘I Am Legend’, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ and ‘Cloverfield’, they wanted to focus on how humanity will slowly seep out of people when put in that kind of scenario. Even the power of Mother Nature would be present with “collapsing towers and devastating rifts”, in something that now could be compared to Motorstorm: Apocalypse. I thought to myself that the potential was huge, and this was a game made for me. I couldn’t wait.

It seemed that I wouldn’t have to for long, as news then broke that the game would release by the end of March 2009, a few months earlier than planned. Even back then, in a time before I was a part of the industry, I knew how things worked so this news worried me. I mean, as excited as I was we [the public] hadn’t actually seen the game yet and now its release was just two months away. However, just a day later, Ubisoft revealed that the game would be delayed until 2010 as it needed “more work”.

What followed wasn’t promising either. Darkworks, the developer, were pulled from the game and it was taken in-house, before it came to light that the game would slip yet another year into 2011. Then silence. Utter, deafening silence. It just dropped of the grid. Ubisoft didn’t even mention it in their pre-E3 conference, despite releasing a trailer - which was far removed from what we see today. A poorly thought-out joke was the only glimpse of the title for an increasingly worrying length of time. Ubisoft confirmed that the game was still in development, and not amongst a host of canned titles by the publisher, but failed to utter anything else of note. With more than eighteen months having passed since the last bit of worthwhile information a ray of light appear, an Australian classification for the title. Then, just last month, some actual footage was leaked, showcasing a far removed style from what was expected.

“All hope and interest I had in I Am Alive evaporated.”

That brings us to today, where I Am Alive was officially ‘confirmed’ for a Winter release as a downloadable title. That’s right, over three years since it’s announcement and a game with the scope to win ‘Best of E3′ awards has been compacted down into a downloadable release. Don’t get me wrong, I Am Alive could still be a great game, but it’s not the same prospect I feel in love with. Very rarely do we see a fully fledged release become a download-only release, as they come with different qualities, different scopes and different goals. A game that has spent the best part of four years in development was either: considered not good enough to retail in stores, and as such has been packaged as a PSN and XBLA game, which will come with a completely different set of expectation; or didn’t have enough content to warrant a full release. Either way, all hope and interest I had in I Am Alive evaporated.

A more pressing issue has raised its ugly head here though. Why, as an industry that excels at visual appearance, do we still use and accept gameplay-less trailers? Don’t get me wrong, they’re almost always beautifully pretty and extremely effective at ramping up hype, but with that comes a level of expectation that can rarely be met. We have an industry that often promises greatness that far too often disappoints. Is that a fault of us, the fans? Or of the publishers and studios for creating a shroud of excitement around their titles based off of things that simply aren’t true.

I’m all for jumping on the hype train, but don’t sell me a first-class ticket to then shove me in coach – it doesn’t sit well.