Alien Breed 2: Assault

The rumour mill began to squeak in late May this year when North American rating body the ESRB classified Alien Breed 2: Assault and let the cat out of the bag early. At Gamescom 2010 we sat down for a look at this space sequel.

The game is split into two distinct parts: a single-player campaign mode, of which we saw a chunk of the prologue mission, and the new Survivor mode. If you missed out on playing the first Alien Breed game, it’s essentially a dual-stick isometric-perspective space shooter. Your job is to pick up a weapon and blast the goo right out of the hostile foreign forces aboard a ship. Nothing has changed with the premise, but this time around there will be a greater variety of weapons, a more advanced upgrade path, and more story set-piece moments.

The basic assault rifle will be your best friend as you shoot aliens in the face and avoid them chomping on your limbs, but stun grenades, pistols, and miniguns are all on the menu in this sequel. Team 17 says that while some foes will require a bit of lateral thinking, such as flanking to shoot them from the rear, or blasting through protective shields, any gun will get the job done if you have the patience.

Weapon upgrades are available at shops scattered around the levels by spending credits. Improvements include juicing your rate of fire, being able to hold more ammo, and dealing more damage. Firepower upgrades are the most expensive to purchase, forcing players to consider their upgrade path in advance rather than dumping all their dollars with reckless abandon. Larger levels will include multiple supply points to prevent backtracking or missing out on upgrades until the next level. As well as beefing up your arsenal, health kits and ammunition can be replenished, and your progress can be saved.

Set-piece moments and boss encounters are important parts of the experience in Alien Breed 2: Assault, and while we saw only one in action, it involved manning a mounted gun turret as groups of enemies attacked us en masse. We were also told about a giant spider that needed to be squashed further into the campaign.

The other big new feature for Alien Breed 2 is Survivor mode, which will be available for solo play or with a buddy locally or online. Teamwork is crucial to staying alive, with teams needing to work together to take down the alien invasion. Survivor levels will be reworked versions of the ones from the single-player story, tweaked to suit two-player action.

If your thirst for zapping xenomorphs has not yet been quenched, then grab your rifle and prepare to get green stuff all over you when Alien Breed 2: Assault busts down the door on Xbox Live Arcade and the PC in September of this year.