Resogun

Guns, Flashing lights, Big Explosions and Little Green Men? What drugs am I on ? 

Resogun was one of the first Downloadable titles that was released for the Playstation 4 when it launched. The game is set around the idea that mankind is dying off and you are a pilot that's protecting the last bastion of humanity as the people evacuate. Now that we have the story out of the way we can talk about the gameplay. 

Like every other game of the genre Resogun consists of the player moving left to right and shooting everything insight. The difference? the artistic destruction that the game offers and that is it in 3D destructive environment. The game looks 2D at first but what the game does is that it keeps the camera angle at the same position in relation to the player. As a result it's easy to forget that the structure at the center of the game is a 3D structure. Everything that is in the game is made up of small cubes and when destroyed an explosion deconstructs the object. While the enemies are collapsing so is the background structure in the center. Every game ends in the form of an explosive firework display that destroys everything in the center of the game while the player escapes. This all creates a rather satisfying setting that couldn't be achieved to the same extent on the PlayStation 3.

And...... KABOOOM!

What good is a scrolling shooter if you only have to fight drones though. So yes there are boss battles that will likely kill you when the ending is so close you could almost see the scoreboard. Each boss is different but their difficulty doesn't necessarily increase with each level. Every boss has their own attacks and annoyances.One boss shaped like a cube is made of of, you guessed it, smaller cubes but this time they are loosely connected and move around. Each shot destroys some cubes and the boss becomes smaller and smaller but his danger never dwindles. An attack that can prove effective against the player from this particular boss is his ability to form small whips out of it's cubes and twirl them around keeping the player out of shooting range. 

On the other hand there's a boss who uses a different tactic against the player. Instead of keeping the player away the vulnerable sections that allow the player to defeat it are hidden at it's center. There are three circles that make up the boss and the whole things spins around the map after the player. The only way to beat him is to destroy small openings on each circle and fly through them until you reach it's core. With the boss still moving however the dangers only increase with flying into to but without high risk there is no gain. A notion that carries on throughout the game.

One of the latest updates adds the ability for players to upload content that they create. This content is made by using a ship editor that can be accessed through the main menu. As the game uses cubes for everything making a ship becomes a relatively easy process providing you have some imagination. In a 3D room you move around the cursor and the camera to select the space in which you want to place a cube. While doing this you also select the colors you want otherwise you will end up with a purely while and dull design. I took a bash at the ship editor briefly to see what it was like and I created, well I don't know what I created but you are able to fly it I think. 

What is it?.... Who knows.....

While you maybe thinking that using purely cubes and nothing else could be restricting I have below an image of me flying the TARDIS.

Your argument is mute my friend

Still not convinced with the ship building feature ? here's a picture of the Normany SR2 because I can.

That isn't a good picture I admit but it does show what can be created with a little imagination from the player. If you are however blighted with a lack of imagination in how cubes can fit together then you need not fret. There is a list where cube eccentric gamers have made designs and put them online for anyone to download. 

From a TIE Interceptor to a 3D Yoshi, all is available for you to fly and save humanity with. 

Resogun maybe part of a large family of scrolling shooters but I will finish by saying this. No other shooter does it with such artistic destruction as this one and backed up with the power of the PS4, it sure is pretty. 

7/10

Alien: Isolation

In space no one can hear you scream... except the mother******* Alien

Alien Isolation could very well be THE horror game of this year beating out its competition by miles. A franchise that has seen many a poor game call itself Alien has finally gotten the title that it so rightfully deserves. This game wins points all across the board from story to gameplay and characters even. Let's however not forget about the Alien, your co-star throughout the entire ordeal. The Alien is a factor of this game that is so large and intense the game wouldn't be anything without the AI that controls it. I will say here and now that Creative Assembly, a studio famous for Strategy games has made a game that surpasses all expectation. 

Starting with the story or an overview of the plot to avoid any spoilers. Fifteen years after the Nostromo went missing and Ellen Ripley vanished without a trace a clue as to what happened is found on LV-426. A black box that survived the Nostromo self destruct had hurdled towards the planet and was picked up by salvagers. A Weyland Yutani employee called Samuels informs Amanda Ripley, now a fully grown woman looking for traces of her mother that a lead has been found. A ship is dispatched for a station called Sevastopol, an old space station that has seen better days and is being decommissioned. Onboard the ship called The Torrenz is a lawyer called Taylor, a Synthetic called Samuels, Amanda Ripley and the ships crew. Arriving at Sevastopol the ship is met by Silence and not much else so they decide to board, and the fun begins. 

One thing that really made the game stand out was the designers attention to detail. When Creative Assembly was making the game they received Terabytes of data from the production of the original Alien. It is obvious that the data was put to good use when looking at the environmental design of the ships and the station. Just by looking at the corridors of the Sevastopol memories of the Nostromo come flooding to the surface. Adding to the nostalgia are the computer terminals that are placed throughout the work spaces and  corridors. 1970s computers the size of a large travel case with screens barely the size of a textbook accompanied by a green static filter. 

Adding to the thrills of the game were the stations automatic doors, after detecting the player The door's lights would flash a little before opening. This my not seem like a very thrilling thing but it does make running away from the Alien an even more interesting event. On more than one occasion I have waited patiently only for an Alien to emerge and kill me. 

The range of environments however isn't truly realized until later on in the game. Space walks and manufacturing lines give you a retro science fiction feel while ramping up the atmosphere the game has. One of my favorite yet unnerving scenes was that of the main generator. A vast open room that houses a giant central reactor and four electrical conduits. Plunged into darkness the only light sources were the electrical currents that shot into existence with a loud bang and fizzled out just as quickly, the consoles and the eyes of the android workers. When this was all very scary what really freaked me out the most however was that in the main reactor, for a ship in space, it appeared to be raining.I imagine that this is some form of coolant for the reactor it really got to me as the rain coupled with the electrical bolts and loud noises made it feel like a storm. A storm at the heart of the space station.

That's a lot of space to float off into......

Moving onto the Alien itself I am at a loss of where I could possibly begin but I will start with it's AI. Undoubtedly one of the finer and menacing aspects of Isolation is the idea that the main antagonist can think for itself. When playing the game it does make you think about whether it can analyse the player as it seems to. Running into a room I take shelter within a locker from my pursuer. On the hunt the Alien enters the lab in search of me, it's prey and starts slowly moving around the room. Through the bars in the door of the locker I can see it moving past me but it stops. Backtracking it begins to get to close for comfort with my locker until eventually it sticks its head right up for a sniff. Moving back I make Ripley hold her breath but this is only a temporary measure, hold too long and Ripley could pass out but release too early and your Xeno food. At first the Alien wouldn't stay long because it wouldn't be sure your in there at all. This allows you time to escape but try and fool him twice the same way, your chances dwindle. Moving to another locker to hide means that the Alien will just find you that much quicker than he would of if you had taken the chance to leave. Even if you hold your breath the Alien will likely rip open the locker and preform one of many death animations. 

It moves through the vents which gives the game many of its most tense moments. Do you reason that the Alien isn't in this part of the game or do you crouch along the entire level. An Alien will attack when the player is least expecting it, even using its surroundings to it's advantage. On one occasion I was moving through an area with my concentration squarely on the Androids when an Alien lying in wait pulled me into the vents.

"And what are you looking at ?" 

The Alien isn't the only danger that the player must face on his journey through Sevastopol. Along for the ride is a small army of Androids and trigger happy survivors. When you first meet an android they seem friendly enough but it is obvious that there’s a sinister side to be shown. Moving further into the level how dangerous they are is truly revealed when you see one dispatch a survivor for simply being in a restricted area. Clearly not a safe place to go wondering but you must press on. Even while they are hostile the androids can't help but keep promoting the company that produced them, a small but effective touch. Their durability is about the same as a Terminators, eight shots from a revolver to its head and still it kept coming. Large scale encounters like these are preferably avoided as they do take a considerable amount of planning. 

Scavengers are also present on the station but like you they are the bottom of the food chain. Roaming around the areas in small groups scavengers tend to find places relatively safe and stay there, until Ripley accidentally or purposefully draws the Alien towards them. When not all humans are hostile most are and they won’t hesitate to shoot at Ripley after giving her a warning to back off. If they do shoot and start making noise that will attract the Alien to your location so it is best to, that’s right, sneak past them if possible.  Like Ripley they are human and are just as useless against the Alien so when it shows they will either fight or run and hide, either way they ignore Ripley.

One of the best scenes in the game was when I had encountered a small group of people and escaped. I called for some transport but had to wait for it to arrive so I took shelter within a locker just in time to avoid company. Shutting the locker door at the split second the gang had entered the area I watched and listened. Each group has a set of conversations that interlink with the audio files that you find throughout the game. This time however they were looking for Ripley and like a train crash in slow motion the Alien was coming from the opposite direction. Within no time the Alien had jumped down and started dispatching them left, right and center before a lucky shot hit it square in the chest scaring it off. The remaining scavengers hid but this was only a small reprieve because seconds later the Alien returned to chase them down. I took my chance and ran towards the transit car that had arrived seconds before. Moments like these are scattered throughout the game. 

The game also contains a number of characters that will help Ripley either for a substantial or just a partial part of the game. Questions of trust and motives are constantly swirling around as you try and figure out what happened and who is responsible. One such character is Colonial Marshall Waits, his voice and likeness are that of William hope. The actor who portrayed Captain Gorman in Aliens. From the moment you meet him tension between him and Ripley starts to build as he starts giving her orders and refusing to answer questions. Not to say that all characters are untrustworthy or hostile but I shall let you discover that yourself. 

"It has to use the door eventually... Right?"

Weapons are included in the game but are a small part of it that are just last resorts. A maintenance jack is the first tool that is found on the Sevastopol which doubles as a door opener and a club. Even though it isn't much of a weapon it does give you a sense of security in a deserted station. A few levels after and more weapons start being uncovered as you progress, from a Revolver to a flamethrower Ripley finds it all. While there are a collection of weapons lying around the place most of the equipment will need to be made by Ripley. Scavenging for resources Ripley is able to make things necessary to her survival like Medkits and Molotovs. Even though the screen for the components creation is quite basic I found that this helped the player a lot. When you need to make something in a few seconds because an Alien or an android are on the way to you all that needs to be done to create something is open the menu and add the resources. The game does carry on in the background so time is of great importance but making a Molotov takes only seconds. Having a system like the one for dead space works in a game where you have a number of weapons that do actual damage but not in a game like Alien Isolation. 

Minigames have been quietly snuck into the game in the form of computer hacking and other tasks. Breaking into a locked room involves using a device called an access tuner that displays an abstract shape with a timer below. Under the timer is six shapes that when added together create the bigger shape, the task is to deconstruct the bigger shape using the smaller ones within the time limit. What seems like a simple task can prove challenging at times when you are in dangerous areas because enemies can sneak up behind you. Other minigames are scattered around the game game from tuning satellites to sending communications and so on.

A motion tracker becomes a useful key to survival when aboard the Sevastopol. Wondering if an enemy is nearby but out of sight? then the motion tracker is the tool for you but it's not without it's setbacks.   

"I wonder where it is?"

For starters the screen is a two dimensional screen so you will never know if the enemy is above, below or in front of you. The main setback is however that the tracker beeps when a target is nearby which in turn can give your position away. It's a good method for saying yes we have you given this tool to see through walls but it gives your position away. 

Lastly there are also two very imaginative features that are available on the PlayStation 4 using it's PlayStation Camera. One uses the Camera to keep track of the players head and uses his movement to turn Ripley's head while in peek mode. The second feature is that the Camera will pick up sound coming from the room the player is in, one loud sound and the Alien will be alerted to your whereabouts. I didn't try these features out as I do not own the Camera but I couldn't see the first feature being of much use to the player. As for the second one however I have a mixed opinion of. In one hand it could really make the game more immersive as any sound you make would affect your progress. On the other other hand it is a feature that could cause more pain than joy, Someone shouts in your house, Alien food. Phone Rings, Alien Food. Someone walks in the room, Alien food and so on. It seems that the player would need to time their gaming sessions at just the right time. 

In my closing statement I will only say this, buy a headset, get some snacks, lock your door and turn out the lights. Do all of this and then prepare for the worst. 

10/10

Watch Dogs Review

Watch Dogs is a new game released by Ubisoft that solely revolves around technology. You play as Aiden Pearce a man who has the personality of a door and the phone of the future.  But the reason this game created a big hype was not the characters but the phone that connects you to the world around you. Yes everything is open to be hacked by the player, traffic lights, Bridges, Grenades, Camera's and more.

The story for the game was clearly not a big cause for concern for the developers as its only around 30 missions long or 5 chapters if you prefer. Even Assassins creed 1 felt a little longer. I will however explain a little bit about the story, Aiden Pearce who is a computer hacker tries to hack a hotel but comes across a strange file held on the servers. The people who own the hotel call a hit on Aiden and his niece is killed thus driving him onto finding those behind it. So not much thought put into it at all, but then you get the phone and things don't look so bad. The playable part of the game starts with Aidan interrogating the gun man that killed his niece. This is when we meet Jordi, a hitman but in Watch Dogs these people are known as Fixers and they are plentiful but only one is on your side... because you pay him. After escaping the stadium and the police who pursue you the player is introduced to what family Aiden has left, a sister and traumatized nephew.

Aiden is somewhat of a blank character in terms of emotional depth he's definitely in the shallow end. This has received a lot of criticism from gamers and Ubisoft has announced that a new character will be taking over as the main protagonist. In my opinion Aidan Pearce was a blank character, no denying that but after playing Infamous Second Son it's not really that bad. When you have a roster of characters who are stereotypes in one way or another having a blank character doesn't seem so bad. In a perfect world games would attempt to rise to the story level of The Last of Us but that is a big ask. 

It's later on in the game where you actually get the full range of abilities made available to you.  At first you get a limited amount and then boom! You have one hell of a phone in your virtual hands.

The world is what attracts you to watch Dogs though, the map is split into six different sections that are full of things that the player are free to do. There are shops that can be visited to buy clothes, supplies, coffee etc that help the player survive in the game but there are also jobs as well. These are known as fixer contracts and come in various forms, ambushing criminal convoys, Racing and some generic tasks. These jobs don't really catch the player's attention for the enjoyment but rather the players need for money.

The main problem with this game is that there are a whole range of tasks available to actually get money but little to spend it on. I was imagining that there would be some kind of system that GTA Vs stock exchange. I wouldn't have minded a system that allows you to build up a small company or something. This may sound out of place but you need to bare in mind that when I finished the game I had over $250,000 left. I say this is a problem but it's something that could easily be fixed through an update or DLC if the developers felt so inclined to do so.

Clothes while expensive offer little more than a change of style. I was hoping for little perks like more holsters, dual weapons, increased Kevlar etc. If the season pass has been purchased as well then there are a flood of free clothes already available to the player for free. This on the whole just leaves you with less to spend money on.

If he spent more time thinking about the plot and
less on clothes he'd actually get somewhere

Digital Trips are a neat little escape from the game world. A Digital Trip is meant to sound like a drug but is actually a video game. The player can become a spider tank for example and rain chaos through out the city or free the city from alien robots. There aren't many rewards for these digital trips though and there are few things to keep the players interest. On most occasions the challenge that they give the players is enough to keep interests levels peaked, or more accurately you'll keep playing because of determination.

Robots ? Zombies ? Robot Zombies ?

I have played many games set in wide open worlds but none have quite reached the depth of Watch Dogs. Every NPC that passes you on the street has a name, a back story, a life that you can get a glimpse into. Just by turning on your profiler you can get a list of information about people. They even react to the world as well as the player, take a news broadcast about the player for example. If he appears on a TV screen the NPCs may ignore you, they may cheer you or the may call the police. Which is where the games sense of moral choice comes into it, do I take the phone away from the civilian, do I shoot the civilian or perhaps shoot them in the knee. When these events occur the player genuinely feels like a man on the run from the authorities.

"I'll just tweet about sneaking into this building"

DLC for the game was marketed a lot up to its release but they are slow to be released post launch day. The launch DLC are available to all players now but offer very little for your money. The player is able to get a few outfits, a few guns, an extra perk or two and last but not least a few missions. That may sound like a hefty sum but the missions themselves are rather repetitive and lacking in any originality.

Ending on talking about the games technological functionality the video below shows it's frame rates on next gen consoles. As you can see the frame rates stay at 30fps which shows that the game doesn't really utilize Next Gen hardware that much which is unfortunate. Coupled with tearing that is experienced after completing missions makes for a very poor ride in terms of technology. Despite this however the game still manages to look amazing on these consoles and are miles ahead of their PS3 & 360 counterparts.

Watch Dogs did not get everything right for certain but they did get a lot of things spot on. It's for those reasons that I would suggest this game to anyone looking for a good enjoyable game with technological aesthetics.

9.1/10

Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes Review

"No HD horse Shit here, plenty of rain though"

Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes, the game that has given gamers a glimpse of what the franchise will be like on new gen consoles. The announcement of Ground Zeroes came out around 2012 with the release of a trailer that turned out to be the intro cinematic for the game. The game itself however is not a complete game and is instead an intro to The Phantom Pain being released early 2015. This means that people buying this game can expect a handful of hours of entertainment, this being said I have had 12 hours of gameplay from it which is more than most complete games.

The story of Ground Zeroes consists of one mission that sets up everything for The Phantom Pain. Snake who is now known as Big Boss receives word that Paz is still alive and that Chico is also in the camp. You find out that he went to save Paz without telling anyone. A nuclear inspection is also taking place on Mother Base while this mission is going on.

While the game was still in development Hideo Kojima did say that the themes of the story would be a little more riskier than previous games. I won't go into the plot but I can safely say that even in this small mission the tone can get pretty dark the further you investigate. If this will get worse in The Phantom Pain is unclear but it's safe to say yes I think, after all this is only a glimpse of what is to come.

Side Ops also returns from Peace Walker and for those who skipped Peace Walker I shall explain what they are. Side Ops are small missions that can be undertaken to collect bonus items like tape recordings or materials for research etc. In Ground Zeroes however what you get from them is greatly reduced, they are mostly included to show off the new FOX engine. It's no coincidence that each level is set during a different time of day.

FOX engine at work

The main game mission is set at night during a storm, one Side Op is set during a sunny day and another is set in the late evening. At the very least The Phantom Pain will be a beautiful looking game. 

There is only one environment for the game that is called Camp Omega, a blacksite on the coast of Cuba. Although The Phantom Pain is promised to be 200 times bigger than this games environment Ground Zeroes still offers a decent playground to test yourself in. 

The prison compound during the main mission is full of guards, search lights and the odd vehicle here and there paroling the base. If you want to get through the game with a high ranking then your best hope is to take things slowly. The stealth aspect of the game has been elevated somewhat as the map in the HUD has been taken away so you get no cones of vision. Instead you will need to use you binoculars to map out points of interest, enemies etc. Tagging an enemy means that Snake can keep track of him and seen him through walls for example making it easier to sneak around and not get caught unaware.

Search lights in this game act as they should and look almost realistic. This coupled with the sound that played when the light hits Snake is a truly frightening experience. 

"Please don't see me, Please don't see me"

The controls in this game are different from previous installments, the picture above for example shows Snake take cover by a wall. Now when snakes goes near a surface with the rock formation in the picture he will automatically cling to the surface. This makes it harder for Snake to be noticed by things like search lights that are also in the picture.

Another new feature is the slow motion moments that occur when Snake has been spotted by the enemy. Time will slow down giving the player a chance to deal with the enemy before things get out of hand, this could be a single guard or a search light. Failing to do so however sets off an alarm altering all the guards to your position. In this event the player can run full out across the base to safety losing his pursuers.

Because the maps are going to be so big the developers have decided to let the player drive vehicles. These could be Jeeps to Tanks and trucks, each bring their own advantages and disadvantages to the current situation. Driving a jeep in Ground Zeroes for example is good for a quick escape but it does attention of trigger happy guards.

No respect for personal space

CQC is also improved allowing the player to take down multiple enemies at once. When in a run like the one mentioned above the player can seamlessly take down an enemy when in the run, throwing him through the air and continuing to run. Holding the CQC button forces Snakes to grapple with the enemy allowing for either interrogation or a stealth kill with the knife.

There's also a limit this time on what can be carried so gone are the days when the player could use three assault rifles, two pistols and a PSG-1. Now there are places for the weapon like the Hip that would contain an assault rifle, sidearm that would contain a pistol and a place for grenades and explosives. This means that the player will need to consider wisely what course of action that they want to take, do they choose smoke grenades or C4 ?

Not included in Ground Zeroes but The Phantom Pain will have a working Day to Night cycle. This cycle will become more visible when traveling around in a helicopter which is in Ground Zeroes. Leaving one area for another will see a change in the time of day which also has an affect in how you play. Certain times of day will see shift changes in the guards on duty. Daytime might have less guards, night time may have more making it purely a player choice as to how to proceed. 

The helicopter will be Snakes main mode of transport, simply throw a flare and boom the helicopter is inbound. It can't land anywhere however which means that some forethought is necessary. There are small waypoints scattered around the map with some being safe and others being in the center of the enemy base. Calling in the Helicopter in a dangerous location means that it can be shot down so you will need to protect it as it comes for you.

But what does that matter when Flight of the Valkyries is playing ?

PS4 and XBONE users would be pleased to know that the frame rate for both consoles stays at 60fps so there is no concern about quality issues.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game however aren't as impressive as both are around 20fps - 30fps. During the game is seems that the 360 seems to hold the 30fps whereas the PS3 seems to jump around a lot between the 25fps and 30fps range. This however doesn't make it a bad version of the game as it is working on last gen consoles and still looks pretty impressive. 

So yes that is Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes in all its splendor, despite it not be a full game and more of a glorified demo of The Phantom Pain it's still pretty good. Probably best to play this game a week before The Phantom Pain is released 

8.8/10

   

Aliens: Colonial Marines Review

"A game that fails at being a game"

Aliens otherwise known as Xenomorphs the creatures designed with women's reproductive organs in mind, and make those predators look like pansies. These are the main antagonists of Aliens Colonial Marines a game set roughly around seventeen weeks after the events of the film Aliens. There was a lot of hype leading up to the games release and it's widely known that's its a big let down and didn't reach the expectations of the gaming community. I bought the game with no expectations what so ever and while the game does have its bad points there are also a few goods things grounded into it. 

This man even says that he loves the Marine Corp
It wouldn't be Aliens if no one said that

The story is one of those good points as it does a nice job of revisiting the locations of the film and describing the events that take place after Aliens and Alien 3. It even quite nicely corrects one of the things that annoyed me about Alien 3 and does so in a believable manner. The game starts off with the crew of the Sephora receive a distress signal from Corporal Hicks at which point they load their pulse rifles, grab their smart guns and flamethrowers then proceed to barrel into the unknown. Boarding the Sulaco things get from bad to worse as the walking cliche's are faced with Xenomorphs and the friendly neighborhood Weyland Yutani Mercenary's.

Eventually the story shifts to the planet below where the cast of the game take refuge in Hadley's Hope the colony from Aliens. Here is where they set up their base of operations and go about being ultimate bad asses until the Aliens start coming out of the god damn walls. The player explores various places of the colony to perform a number of tasks as there are around three hundred Colonial Marines spread across the planet and we need to get into contact with them. The player discovers dark but not at all surprising secrets about the weyland Yutani Corporation  

By the end there are a fraction of Colonial Marines left on the planet compared to the amount at the beginning and they all converge on a base. The player fights the Alien Queen by throwing her off the ship like Indiana Jones did to that Nazi in the last crusade and they all live happily ever after, due to the unlikelihood of  a sequel that's a good a prediction as any. 

The plot overall is a very enjoyable part of the game as you feel like you are part of an 80s science fiction film. Something the bad graphics and dark environment help with oddly enough. 

As for the characters there are a varied range of Cliche'd character for the player to fight alongside, there's O'Neal the bad ass, Captain "I thank baby Jesus for everyday I'm in the Corp" Cruz, Bella the Bad ass, on second thought forget the varied range of Cliches. Nope there's only only one type of character I want in my Aliens game and that's a gun wielding bad ass, names are just given to them to distinguish one from the other if you can be bothered to read the names that is.   

A few other marines also make appearances but these are the equivalent of the red shirts from star trek. You might think the odds are in your favor but soon it will be just you as those marines are all killed off in a blink of an eye. 

The voice actors include Lance Henrikson and Michael Beihn
 

Moving onto level design which is another high point of the game the designers did a nice job of recreating Hadley's Hope from the film. The state that it was left in at the film's conclusion is pretty much the state of the place when you arrive, the moment you see it come into view images from the film flood into your mind. At the start of the fourth chapter the player spends all of his or her time in the location the marines barricaded themselves in during the film. Walking around further and it becomes even clearer how much attention they spent to detail and how much they have changed because of the Nuclear blast at the end of the film. 

There's even an opportunity to explore the Engineers ship as well. while nothing really happens in this sequence in the game other than the bland formula of an FPS game its a nice throwback to the Alien & Aliens films.

Now we reach the aspect of the game that makes it a let down, the game play. I can say that for the most part it's on par with what I expect from a First Person Shooter. The gun play was tolerable and bland like any Call Of Duty game and that was fine I can't expect variation on that. The sound bites used for the weapons were also very nice as well. The variation of weapons were fine but I would have preferred it if the player were limited to two or three along with the sidearm but instead the player carries an armory with him, no wonder he can't run for long periods. 

There are also points in the game where the general game play don't match. One such instance is when a APC starts shooting at you and you have to run around diving for cover until it retreats for some reason I can't fathom. Now the key part is "run" which means moving fast for as long as you need to, the game however has a time limit on how long you can run for. This isn't bad when it is done in a believable manner, making the limit one and a half minutes just isn't believable.  

There is a part of the game that was a mix of enjoyment and frustration. Upon entering a Power Loader the player enters a grudge match with a new variant of Xenomorph. While this is a good idea it lacks in execution as the AI is so dull they can't stop the regular Zenomorphs from killing you whilst in the rig.

Colonial Marines recruitment poster

Another issue with the game I found although this could be just me being unfamiliar with PC gaming is that the buttons were too close together. "F" fires the under slung grenade launcher, "V" is the default Melee button and "C" is crouch, they all form a triangle on the keyboard. More often than I like to admit I found myself crouching in the presence of an alien or blowing myself to kingdom come when trying to crouch behind cover. Eventually I just got annoyed and changed the controls but when done right the player shouldn't have to do that.  

There is also for some reason a leveling up system that is used on the single player campaign. With every Xenomorph or Mercenary that is killed the player earns XP and levels up earning an upgrade point, if these points were used to improve the character then I would be for it. Instead however they are used on the guns and not in a good way either, instead of improving accuracy, reload time etc they are used to purchase attachments. Nothing else changes in terms of game play other than me have a scope to zoom in on the horde of fuckers that want to rip me to shreds. 

As for the games AI the less sad about that the better in my opinion. All I will say about it is that I don't remember the part of the films where the Aliens ignored and ran past the Marines like two lovers having an argument. 
  


There are also variations of Xenomorphs but while this is a nice touch they are usually used in throw awway scenes and boss battles after which they are not seen again. 

My verdict on this game is that it would be better suited for an animated film. 

6.4/10

A walk through of this game is also available on my YouTube account and all parts will be uploaded soon.