Man! I remember playing a metric shitton of 30 to 60 minute game trials off of various websites like MSN Gaming Zone, Reflexive Arcade, Big Fish Games, and many more. So today I will be reviewing one of the games I was more fond of during my childhood. The game is Alien Shooter.
Alien Shooter is an isometric top-down shooter released by a Russian indie developer known as Sigma Team back in May 2003. This game came out during a time when indie games were in their infancy and many indie games didn't give out physical copies, except for some.
The only way people could obtain the registered version of their games would be to send out a payment to the developer through their own website, and they would send you a special download link to the full version of said game. Now if you are wondering, "Where can I get this game now?" well, you've come to the right place.
The game is currently on Steam and GoG.com. However, the GoG version of Alien Shooter includes the original game plus two addons, Fight for Life and The Experiment. Two of them I will get into at another time. Now keep in mind that you have to purchase the add-ons separately for those planning to purchase the Steam version.
The story of this game is kind of simple. You play as a mercenary being sent to an underground laboratory after contact was cut and several military outcomes failed, and oh boy! You're about to have a very fucking bad time! as hordes of alien creatures have invaded the place.
and your goal is to clear the base at all costs, even if it means making the entire place full of alien gibblets. Simple as that! Really! You get inside, kill everything that moves, and be done with it.
Anyway, I like to say I discovered this game while downloading various free trials off MSN Gaming Zone and other sites as a kid playing around with a Dell Dimension L800r with an Intel Pentium III processor. While I couldn't play too much because of the time trial limit being thrown at me, I did manage to try out other games like Theseus: Return of the Hero, which is a spin-off game by the same team, 10ton's survival twin stick shooter "Crimsonland," and Kraisoft Entertainment's After the End.
I personally didn't own a copy of Alien Shooter until around March 2016 on Steam. I eventually obtained a copy on Google later on. Anyway, the gameplay is pretty simple; your objectives kind of vary a little between levels. Just simply kill all the aliens before progressing, while in some levels you do the same, but you are required to blow up the holes from where the aliens are coming from, and remember to collect money in the levels that include secret areas by going behind walls or discovering cracked walls and blowing them up.
You can also buy weapons, items, and upgrades using the money you've collected in levels. Now there's a bit of a strategy I've learned, and that is to get as much money as you can to obtain the last weapon in the game, which I'll explain later. Getting upgrades can be done by finding implants in a level or just buying them if you have enough money collected. You can upgrade how much health you have, how strong you are, how fast you can run, and how accurate you are. As for the items, you can buy armor, extra lives, flashlights, nightvision goggles, and a drone that pretty much defends you from the aliens.
There is also a medkit that is only available when found in a level. Speaking of extra lives, the game also has a life system. Before anyone asks, why is this necessary? Well, it's kind of useful if you're in a tough spot and want to restore your health by getting yourself killed. This is actually known as a death warp. You cannot save mid-game, but the game saves itself as you progress.
Also remember, if you've run out of lives, it's game over, and you'll have to start over unless you have a save game in hand. There are also four variants of aliens. Green is weaker, yellow is mildly tough, red is tough, and blue aliens are just bullet sponges. Some types of enemies have turrets that will make things tough for you, so remember to dodge. Now let's move on to the arsenal.
You start with a basic dual-wielded pistol; it's mainly useful for picking off green aliens one by one and conserving ammo for the other weapons, but later becomes completely useless once you start obtaining the better weapons. Also, it won't be long before you obtain the shotgun, which is more useful for picking off groups of green and yellow aliens one by one. What's also funny about this weapon is that the firing sound reminds me a lot of Quake's double-barreled shotgun, or Super Shotgun, as some people call it. The Grenade Launcher eventually obsoletes the shotgun as it basically gibs the weaker aliens. It becomes more useful in picking off the yellow aliens. It is also noted that it does not bounce and explodes on impact. The minigun would be the first workhorse of a weapon you should get as soon as possible, as it grinds both the green and yellow aliens, making it definitely useful against hordes of aliens as well. The rocket launcher can also be useful to blow up larger groups of aliens, thanks to its splash damage. But keep in mind that it's at the cost of firing speed. The Freeze Rifle just freezes aliens, and it's probably my least-used weapon in the game. The Plasma Rifle is just satisfying to use; really, it's kind of like if the BFG9000 from Doom and the Railgun from Quake II or Quake III Arena had a baby. The flamethrower is mainly useful for creating a path during large battles, but it is also my second least used weapon. And, oh boy! This weapon is f*cking OP! The Magma Minigun! This is why I said to get this weapon as soon as possible, because once you have that and plenty of magma ammo, you're going to use that weapon only for the rest of your playthrough. No Joke!
Let's start off with the demo release. Here, you play either a male or a female character with different attributes. The male character has more health and strength but is slower than the female and has less accuracy. The female character, on the other hand, has less health and strength but is faster than the male and has higher accuracy. Although in the demo release, she is not available, so you have to play the male character. The demo release is very short, and it took me around 50 seconds to complete the demo mission. Shoot down crates and barrels, kill aliens, and destroy walls as secret areas. Kill more aliens, get 50 dollars, turn the power back on, grab the explosive, plant it, and that's the mission! While it was a very short demo, it did a good job introducing you to the gameplay and its few weapons, like the shotgun and the minigun. Not to mention, there's also the survival mode if you want to have more play time on the demo version or if you want to try getting a high score. You can obtain the demo on Steam nowadays if you want to try it.
Anyway, here are my thoughts on this game. It's a fairly good and short game once you know what to do. I've completed this game a few times, and it's quite fun. It's quite a fun time-waster if you're into that. Now, if you want more of that, I would also play the expansions Fight for Life and The Experiment, but that's for another time. Also, Sigma Team is still around these days, but most of the time they just make mobile games. On the other hand, I've discovered a rather small modding community. There's one YouTube channel named "Saturn Polemarch" showcasing some of their mods for Alien Shooter that looked pretty interesting.
But anyway, that's it for this review, but before I go, here is some trivia: Did you know the item drop sound is a Windows sound in reverse?
