Aliens: Infestation

The Alien franchise of films is probably one of the most referenced and copied series in film history.  It set standards and benchmarks for how sci-fi horror should be done.  Scenes and phrases have become parts of popular culture and due to this, the fans take it all quite seriously.  The easy way to please the fans is to make a game drenched in Alien lore, and this is exactly what we have here.  Possibly a final swansong for a retail DS game and possibly the last time you will see old school sprites on a 2-D background, just like the good old days.  So is it “Game over man” or “Ahhh-firmative”?

The start of the game sees you controlling a group of space marines who have been sent to invesigate the goings on aboard the Sulaco spaceship, last seen in  the Aliens film.  The top screen is your game screen and the touch screen controls your weapons and tools and also displays your map and motion tracker.  The detailed sprites of the Marines move around the corridors of the Sulaco, encountering locked doors and pass card protected lifts, so it seems you’re not getting anywhere fast.  More annoyingly, your first encounters feature dull looking robots that take too much fire to put down, so it seems like it’s going to be a trudge.  The saving grace at this point is the sound of the pulse rifle straight out of the films. It seems like the game is going nowhere fast but after finishing the first part of the Sulaco, where I lost all of my marines in a boss battle,  you are transported to the surface of LV-426, the setting for Aliens.  It is here that the shit hits the fan and the many plus points of the game start to shine, but alas the faults show too.

Most of your missions feature going to point A to be told you have to go to point B to then return to point A with what you have found.  The trouble with this structure is that on your map, the objectives are not clearly marked.  At one point I wandered around the map looking for explosives that were hidden away in an alien filled chamber looking like a small pile of clothes.  It does add to the exploration though as you really are forced to seek out what you need to progress, all the while blasting aliens and soldiers with that gorgeous sounding pulse rifle.  As you progress deeper in the maps, the walls become covered with alien bio-mech and the aliens appear more frequently in all their guises from egg to chest-buster, face-huggers to queens and they all look and sound great.  Sadly, the game features constantly respawning enemies, so rooms that you have cleared minutes ago become repopulated with the same enemies appearing from the same places they first did.  This becomes a bit tiresome and takes away some tension as you learn where they are and deal with them before they can damage you.

The idea of lives in the game is interesting.  You start with a squad of four that you can swap at any of the, far too few, save rooms in the game, each having their own personality and image.  As you progress through the levels you come across other marines that can join your squad if any are dead.  If you lose all your marines you have to go way back to your last save, and sometimes it can be a huge chunk you have to replay.  Yes, it makes the game a little more tense and you really have to plan ahead, but the boss battles can strip your lives in no time, forcing you back a good bit.  If your squad is full you can drop a flare beside any marines you encounter, making it easier to go back and find them.  Also if your character dies and you still have a living marine, you have a set time to rescue the marine from the aliens before they are harvested.  It’s a nice touch but you are made to go back through waves of respawned enemies and it’s easier just to let them die.

You return to explore more of the Sulaco between levels and the ship opens up further as you gain the ability to weld open doors or see in the darkness with your torch.  The tension builds as your motion tracker phuts and blips just like in the films, warning of impending doom.  There is also a small driving section, where you defend your vehicle from swathes of aliens by using the touch screen to control your turret; it’s a great bit which could have been made longer.  You also unlock a knife trick mini-game, the same idea as the android Bishop did in the Aliens film.  It’s presented, much like the rest of the game, in a blast of 16 bit glory.  Just like the classic Megadrive and Super Nintendo games.  This is how you should approach this game, as an homage to classic 16 bit gaming.