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IGN Review of Aliens Infestation
Seven months ago I was convinced the DS had seen its last days. With Pokemon and Okamiden in stores, surely all eyes would shift to the Nintendo 3DS, with its major franchises, more powerful graphics and expanded communication abilities. How happy I am to be wrong. Titles like Aliens: Infestation not only represent continued support for the system, but the continued growth of its great software library. If you like Castlevania or Metroid, Infestation is well worth your time, despite a variety of small control and design issues.
At its heart, Infestation functions very much like any Metroid game, albeit with more of an emphasis on the action and horror we've seen in the Aliens movie franchise. You play as a squad of Marines who have been sent to investigate and eliminate the hostile Xenomorphs from iconic movie locations such as the Sulaco ship and the planet LV-426. The plot does bring in some familiar franchise themes, including the idea that corporations attempt to exploit the creatures as weapons for war. All in all, however, your goal is to blow up just about everything that moves.
Gameplay operates precisely how you'd expect, with a fairly slow and methodical pacing that ratchets up tension in some very clever ways. Every now and then I found myself jumping, either due to a near-death encounter or a cheap thrill included by the developers. You'll spend the bulk of your time doing the very things you'd expect in a game inspired by Metroid, wandering through halls looking for a key, and encountering plenty of paths you can't access with your current equipment. Acquiring one item will in turn give you access to more areas, which will contain more dead ends and more goodies for you to seek out. It's all basic stuff to those of us familiar with the concept, but it's still executed and paced very well. I rarely found myself lost, stuck or otherwise frustrated in a way that worked against the game. I had just enough curiosity to discover what was behind a door I had walked past a couple hours prior. The game's map, accessible on the lower screen, is just effective enough to be useful while not spelling out everything for you along the way.
Of course this wouldn't be an Aliens game without hordes of Xenomorphs and plenty of violence. Obtaining access to new areas of a ship or planet only comes after letting the ground run green with acidic blood. You'll encounter more enemies than the standard, iconic Xenomorphs. Expect variations on those creatures, as well as Facehuggers, robots and even humans. Combat strategy is mostly limited to shooting anything that appears. Variety is a bit limited, but still feels right. There's even a basic cover system to work with, even if it's a bit unnecessary.
The vast majority of enemies respawn the second you leave a room, which affects how much fun you'll have with combat. A tense, thrilling firefight somehow becomes irritating when your foes reappear three seconds later. Cheap hit detection only adds to that frustration. The game's impressive ability to build tension will also lower considerably once you've seen the same alien leap down from the same dark ceiling ten times. You'll also eventually predict precisely where things will jump out at you, and that's before you factor in the motion-tracking device you'll acquire early in the game.
The most compelling element of Aliens Infestation comes in its cast of 19 playable characters. Though you'll start with a simple collection of four Marines, as you explore various locations you'll run across many more. Each character has a very distinct design and personality, with distinct in-game text dialogue and interactions with enemies and NPCs. I actually cared which of my characters lived and which died. Death in the game is permanent, outside of some limited sequences where you can attempt to rescue a captured ally in a certain time limit. Fail and you'll find a lifeless body, or watch as an alien bursts from his or her chest. In a few instances I'd deliberately head to a save room to switch out a character if I valued one over another. As bosses tended to kill many of my Marines, I selected my combatants carefully.
Unfortunately the diverse cast doesn't impact gameplay on any level. Despite a diverse range of personalities, every Marine you select will play the same. They also all share the same equipment, meaning upgrading weaponry with one character will carry over to any other character you select. Infestation could have been an incredible experience had it used the Marines as a method for solving puzzles and accessing new rooms versus mundane keys and switches. Instead it's a bit repetitive.
©2011-10-11, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
At its heart, Infestation functions very much like any Metroid game, albeit with more of an emphasis on the action and horror we've seen in the Aliens movie franchise. You play as a squad of Marines who have been sent to investigate and eliminate the hostile Xenomorphs from iconic movie locations such as the Sulaco ship and the planet LV-426. The plot does bring in some familiar franchise themes, including the idea that corporations attempt to exploit the creatures as weapons for war. All in all, however, your goal is to blow up just about everything that moves.
Gameplay operates precisely how you'd expect, with a fairly slow and methodical pacing that ratchets up tension in some very clever ways. Every now and then I found myself jumping, either due to a near-death encounter or a cheap thrill included by the developers. You'll spend the bulk of your time doing the very things you'd expect in a game inspired by Metroid, wandering through halls looking for a key, and encountering plenty of paths you can't access with your current equipment. Acquiring one item will in turn give you access to more areas, which will contain more dead ends and more goodies for you to seek out. It's all basic stuff to those of us familiar with the concept, but it's still executed and paced very well. I rarely found myself lost, stuck or otherwise frustrated in a way that worked against the game. I had just enough curiosity to discover what was behind a door I had walked past a couple hours prior. The game's map, accessible on the lower screen, is just effective enough to be useful while not spelling out everything for you along the way.
Of course this wouldn't be an Aliens game without hordes of Xenomorphs and plenty of violence. Obtaining access to new areas of a ship or planet only comes after letting the ground run green with acidic blood. You'll encounter more enemies than the standard, iconic Xenomorphs. Expect variations on those creatures, as well as Facehuggers, robots and even humans. Combat strategy is mostly limited to shooting anything that appears. Variety is a bit limited, but still feels right. There's even a basic cover system to work with, even if it's a bit unnecessary.
The vast majority of enemies respawn the second you leave a room, which affects how much fun you'll have with combat. A tense, thrilling firefight somehow becomes irritating when your foes reappear three seconds later. Cheap hit detection only adds to that frustration. The game's impressive ability to build tension will also lower considerably once you've seen the same alien leap down from the same dark ceiling ten times. You'll also eventually predict precisely where things will jump out at you, and that's before you factor in the motion-tracking device you'll acquire early in the game.
The most compelling element of Aliens Infestation comes in its cast of 19 playable characters. Though you'll start with a simple collection of four Marines, as you explore various locations you'll run across many more. Each character has a very distinct design and personality, with distinct in-game text dialogue and interactions with enemies and NPCs. I actually cared which of my characters lived and which died. Death in the game is permanent, outside of some limited sequences where you can attempt to rescue a captured ally in a certain time limit. Fail and you'll find a lifeless body, or watch as an alien bursts from his or her chest. In a few instances I'd deliberately head to a save room to switch out a character if I valued one over another. As bosses tended to kill many of my Marines, I selected my combatants carefully.
Unfortunately the diverse cast doesn't impact gameplay on any level. Despite a diverse range of personalities, every Marine you select will play the same. They also all share the same equipment, meaning upgrading weaponry with one character will carry over to any other character you select. Infestation could have been an incredible experience had it used the Marines as a method for solving puzzles and accessing new rooms versus mundane keys and switches. Instead it's a bit repetitive.
©2011-10-11, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved