Stop an alien invasion never was so fun.
The main aspect from this game is the mix between RPG and action, something very close to Diablo and Doom together. Sound weird, no? In truth, what really matter is that the producers made a nice mix. It's a simple game and we get used to it in few minutes.
The game almost lacks of a total history, but it's enough to give us the reasons for all the action. We're a mercenary, hired for the army to help them to contain an alien invasion. And this is all. Our character and any other character from the game don't have a history. The only thing that will be revealed is where these aliens are coming from, nothing more. But the player will not be interested by its history, but in the action.
When I say action, I really mean action. You know, the game can seems repetitive and too simple, but, being a old-school in its essence, this don't make the game bad. What I'm trying to say is, in many moments, we'll face so many enemies, so many at the same time, that we WILL think "I'm going to survive?" or "I'm really able to kill all these aliens before I die?", and this is the "high" of the game.
The monsters and characters on Alien Shooter are all in 2D, instead of 3D. But this is why this game can render so many enemies at once. The engine can generate precise shadows for all of them without compromise the performance. Also, all the decals stay on the game, this includes all the alien bodies that are spread on the ground (or walls). In the end of any big battle, will be almost impossible to see the floor or know what color it has before you kill all that aliens.
In the beginning, the game is really challenging, kill all those things with a simple pistol, a double barrel shotgun or a mini uzi. Before start the Campaign, we can choose between eight characters (four male and four female chars), each with a specific ability or being more balanced. Also, we can start with a special ability before choose the char. They're eight in total, and can give you very useful possibilities, like the "Self-Treatment", the "Vampire" (for every enemy that you kill, you absorb a little of its HP, recovering your own HP) or the "Night vision" (helping you see in dark places, without the use of the flashlight or to have to buy a night vision goggle).
But, through the game, will be unlocked some new weapons for us, some are well know (like Desert Eagle, mp5, AKm, Mossberg 500), and others just have a futuristic design. Mini guns, rocket launchers with multiple barrels, flamethrowers that freeze your enemies, and some laser weapons, like a laser rifle, laser mini gun or the ion cannon.
What weapon you'll use depends in which skills we have. Before start the Campaign mode (the main single player mode), we can choose between six characters, and each char begin with a higher skill or can be more balanced. Know what class of weapons we want to use, can help in the choosing. So, to use "Shotguns Weapons", we need "Shotguns skill points", and, the more points we put on "Shotguns skill", more damage we'll inflict on the enemies. Also, the more points on a specific skill, better weapons of that class we can use.
In total, our options are: Handguns, Shotguns, Sub machine and Machine Guns, Grenade and Rocket Launchers, Flamethrowers and Power Weapons. A nice variety of weapons for us. Then, we can use powerful armors too, but, we must use some points at the "Armor Skill" to be able to use more types of armor. Also, when we change our armor, we change our character appearance. We can use some items, that, in games like Diablo or Sacred, it would be called ring or amulets. But here, they're called "Implants". Probable, they're the most useful items of the game, being a must have, because, a single implant can give us a lot of skill points to two or more skills!
Having some RPG elements, an inventory couldn't miss. Depending in how much strength our character has, more equipment we can carry. This includes other weapons, med kits, radar, defense drones and ammunition (a LOT of them). The weapons can be changed at any time, through the inventory or in the middle of the action (the difference is that, when you open the inventory, the game stay paused at the background), and the med kits are used automatically when our HP is low.
Probably, you should be asking how to get all these equipments and all. Well, Alien Shooter have a shop system, very similar to the shop system from Dead Space. There, we can sell any item that we've found or buy any equipment or repair our armor. We don't get money at each killing, but, we gain a bonus at the end of each mission. Being a mercenary, make us only receive the money when we complete our mission or missions, because ,some stages, will have secondary missions, where we can get more money, more experience and special items.
This is a general view from the Campaign Mode. On the single player, we have the Survival mode too, which is subdivided in the Career mode and the Stand Firm mode. In the first, it's very similar to the Campaign, but, the levels are smaller, and the enemies just come from all sides, we gain level and, at each level, we can change and get new weapons, rise your HP and other attributes. In the second, we have only a single level, with A LOT of enemies coming from everywhere, and, we can only get new weapons when a special type of enemy appear, then, will start to appear stronger enemies and we don't gain levels.
And, thankfully, Alien Shooter have a multiplayer mode! Shadowgrounds was very frustrating because had only a cooperative mode in the same computer, but, Alien Shooter give a full multiplayer service. The cooperative through campaign isn't available, but we can play cooperatively on Career mode and in the Stand Firm mode, plus the death mach.
Even being a game with incredible qualities and superior diversion than other games from the genre, this game is relativity easy (until you bullets end...). At least, the game can provide a nice amount of fun before the end.
Other positive points:
- Nice sound effects;
- Superb sound track;
- Mini nuke.
#1ยบ Revision#