Team 17’s Alien Breed top-down shooter series is new to me and gives me a fresh insight as to what the game is like. After shooting my way through the series making my way to the thrid and final chapter of the games, I realised there was barely any difference between the 3 games graphically. The explosions and electricity stay relatively the same throughout, they are of very high quality in any gaming experiance. However, i feel this quality is advantageous since it keeps the player engrossed, within the game, as there are no sudden changes in style or contrast. The reason for this repetition is to let the player acknowlege they are playing Alien Breed.
The controls and User Interface are simple and easy for any player to pick up on. Unfortunatly I found myself occasionally fighting with the camera while switching directions and firing at the aliens. This has a negative effect on the game, for me, as the camera spun me off course wasting alot of ammo in the process. This interfered while navigating the areas, as I would walk into fire and loose a chunk of health or clash with the walls and objects. This is solely down to the mechanics of the camera, since it is set to only a few angles not the free swinging camera we are familiar with. After a few attempts I had the camera and the movement all under control and the game became a lot more exhilarating, I found I could turn with ease and shoot and waste the enemies before they could get a hit on me. Even in some of the harder difficulties I had little trouble, well until I realised I had been a bit to trigger happy and ran out of ammo and was stuck with the pistol.
The cache of weapons are the same as the two other Alien Breed titles, plus an additional 2 new designs. One being the Project X or BFG for short, this gun shoots a pulse that destroys nearby enemies in its path. The other being Electro-link gun, that fires bolts of electricity and sends a chain effect to nearby enemies. Out of the two new weapons the Project X has to be my favourite as it is superior to the other weapons. When it came to close combat situations this gun is very effective as it annihalates waves of enemies that approached my posistion. The only downside to this gun is its low ammo capacity. All of the weapons can be upgraded into 3 categories; firing speed, reload speed and damage. The games repetitious actions through-out do not not hinder the overall experiance, it still has entertaining and thrilling game play. I found Alien Breed stimulating and slightly addictive in survival mode especially; the opportunity to fire at waves of aliens one after the other, trying to beat friends and other players high scores a challenge to not be passed on.
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Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
