Alien Shooter is a game about shooting aliens, lots and lots and lots of aliens, mostly ‘til they turn to goo.
Flashlight
There isn’t really much I feel I need to say about this game, the name sums it up perfectly, as does this screenshot.
The aim of the game is to shoot thousands of aliens and get through levels; it feels very like an isometric Serious Sam with spider looking enemies and less macho dudes. The first game is kinda basic in its approach, giving you merely a level to progress through and not die; whereas the second game -- Alien Shooter: Vengeance -- becomes more of an RPG, with voice acting and everything.
Unfortunately both games are only able to run at the high resolution of 1024*768 -- which is still pretty high compared to consoles; derp -- but then, this is a 2003 game, so I guess it’s to be expected, maybe. The low resolution doesn’t mean much though really, the game still looks ok, for a 2003 low-ass-budget isometric shooter anyway. The second game has some pretty nice dynamic shadows, which when half the game is set in dark rooms this is a pretty nice addition, especially when I am as big a fan of lighting effects as I am.
Speaking of 2003, this game had dubstep on the menu music, so for those of you who think dubstep in games is so super cool and new, you're an idiot. It also actual dubstep too, none of this new fangled HEAVY DROP BASS BRO stuff.
In the first game you gain cash throughout the level and are able to spend it during the interim on new guns, armour, and a couple of skill upgrades; whilst in the second game you gain money, which you use to buy guns, ammo, and armour, and you also accumulate exp which you’re able to spend on an actual set of skills: health, speed, strength, weapons classes etc.
Both games seem to stick to a similar way of chucking thousands of aliens at you: corridors. You can generally tell when there will be a new wave because you’ll enter a corridor of sorts, or the door in front of you will close abruptly. This was never as worrying as you’d think they would have you think, as you just hold down the trigger on your automatic rifle of choice, and occasionally back up, and you will defeat them all and come away mostly unscathed. It’s only when the arena of combat is widened that this game gets tricky, as the enemy can then get all around you which makes fighting them off harder; although, when there are health and ammo drops every 20 or so alien, it’s not that tough to stay alive.
The games aren’t too bad to be honest, but they do get a bit boring, as the combat isn’t too much more than spamming a trigger. Saying that, they are probably the better of the games I have played so far, if that actually is saying anything?
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