RLH, an outstanding game with a desperate need for a sequel…
This game is as close to a Hollywood movie as games can get, it is very surprising to me that everyone seems to hate it.
First, we need to take a look at the games storyline. It takes place on a research and mining space station a large number of years in the future. The quick back-story you get is that you play as Shakespeare obsessed Space Marine Captain named Nick Conner. You’re plagued by nightmares, you live on said Space Station, you’re married to a super-hot scientist named Samantha and a war against an alien race had ended a short time before. The real story picks up after the tutorial level. You return from a mining sample collecting mission to find that something has gone wrong with the space station. Your mission; if you choose to accept it is to find out what happened and escape with your life. This mission turns out to be quite difficult however considering that the space station has been taken over by aliens and the survivors are VERY few in number. The plot is filled with twists, turns, surprises and emotional shifts. It’s like a non-stop action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end! (sorry for the movie trailer joke)
The supporting cast of main characters includes Dag, An alien security team leader for the space station. Dr. Mek, An alien scientist who was also involved with the affore mentioned war. Niles, the head engineer and handy man for the space station. He is an alien too. Jessie, Niles’ son, he’s just as good at engineering as his father. Jinx, a friend of Jessie’ who is an ace hacker. Craig, a cowardly miner who helps a bit. And Commander Mason, the commander of the once happy, flourishing space station.
The game play in RLH is pretty strait-forward. It’s a basic action shooter, not innovative but not crappy. You have to shoot aliens, lots and lots of aliens. You can get over 10 weapons to choose from and most of them have the ability to be upgraded and made stronger. There are puzzles to solve as well. Most of them involve key codes or finding the right items to make something happen. The controls are simple yet fun and easy to pick up. Your basic “point, shoot” is replaced by “choose target, shoot” and it flows exceptionally well. There are about 5 main types of enemies and about 11 bosses to shoot up. It’s almost like a Resident Evil style gameplay but in an Alien-esc (Sigourney Weaver movie series) style.
The Graphics are great, not perfect but they are good at what they do. The atmosphere is scary, it succeeds at doing that. The cut scenes are terrific and well made. The characters look good in cut scenes and while standing but the character movements are not perfect. The backgrounds and level designs are cool. Half space station, half alien goo couldn’t look better. The weapons and enemy design are good, each individual yet functional.
Now the best part, the sound. This game features famous actors like Kate Mulgrew, Lance Henriksen, Michael Ironside and Kevin Michael Richardson doing the voice-overs. It features excellent music by Breaking Benjamin and Coma and great and totally accurate sound effects! I’m not going to lie, I think the sound is the best part of the game.
As for replay value, it’s so low it’s non-existent unless you have XBOX live. Through XBOX live you can download new skins like Samantha, Cyborg Nick, Zombie Nick, 8-ball and more as well as a new mode, Sniper Mode. In Sniper mode you take up a sniping position and shoot oncoming evil aliens. It doesn’t save your top score so it’s not very important. Other then that once you beat the game once you most likely won’t be playing it a second time unless you get a craving or hankering to do so.
As for weather to rent it or buy it, it’s probably easier to buy it as it costs new only a few dollars more then what a rental costs and used it costs less.
I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys the wonderful world of sci-fi and anyone who likes the action-shooter genre or Survival Horror genre.