If Smash is a mix up of all popular Nintendo characters, then Alien Breed: Impact is a mix up of all popular sci-fi shooters. So what do you get if you mix the atmosphere of Dead Space with the action mechanics of Alien Swarm, the corridors and objectives of Doom, and the sound effect libraries of Halo and Half Life? You get 5-6 hours of something so eerily familiar, and yet what the HELLIf Smash is a mix up of all popular Nintendo characters, then Alien Breed: Impact is a mix up of all popular sci-fi shooters. So what do you get if you mix the atmosphere of Dead Space with the action mechanics of Alien Swarm, the corridors and objectives of Doom, and the sound effect libraries of Halo and Half Life? You get 5-6 hours of something so eerily familiar, and yet what the HELL IS THAT?
I'd like to give this review my usual level of flair and intricacy, but despite finishing this game only an hour ago I just gosh darn don't remember any specific instant of this game, only the vagaries of a dark hallway and... several more dark hallways. I mean really, is trying to one-up a haunted house on its poor lighting choices really a decent investment? I'd make a joke here about the game saving money on the energy bill, but I swear to God, 4 out of 5 of these levels involved some degree of 'turn the power grid back on.' Environmentalists be warned.
To be fair, I did have a good time playing through the singleplayer campaign. Yes, the gameplay is repetitive to the point the game's short runtime is a blessing better than Jesus himself. Yes, the game isn't much to look at; existing during the time of "brown hallways with shallow lighting fixtures means our game is dark, edgy and action-packed" (Remember those days?). Yes, the games camera and controls are finicky, though not to the point of true frustration. And yes, for some dumb reason, 70% of the random, barely-perceptible, barely-worth-a-thought-in-your-precious-little-brain-space clutter on the ground will stop Conrad dead in his space tracks. As will half the walls if you graze them slightly too tightly and they blow their whistles on you.
BUT at least it did have some atmosphere. And the shooting was satisfying... most of the time. Just accept that any compliment I give this game has the caveat of 'most of the time' and you'll be dandy, Randy.
I've gone on long enough without talking narrative as I am usually want to do. So. The narrative. It is... present? It did turn up to work on time, so I guess you can say it made an effort today. The story exists only to contextualise the action, somewhat. That'll be another regular caveat. Conrad, which I couldn't stop hearing as comrade, is the usual few-words-given but soft-at-heart action hero. And then there's the narrator, I mean Mia, who tells you what to do. Yeah, that's about it. Let's just move on.
I stated earlier that this game mixes its gameplay loop from elements of Alien Swarm and Doom. I wasn't exaggerating for effect. It's an isometric shooter like Alien Swarm where swarms of aliens try to kill you as you traverse the map completing objectives and kindly fixing the aliens' lead deficiencies. The biggest difference is how the camera works. In Alien Swarm it was a fixed point camera, here you swivel the camera around overhead. And this is necessary if you want to see anything. There's more clutter, less light and colour, and tighter corridors than Swarm.
The other half of that equation is Doom (which is generally how I viewed maths in high school anyway). You know how in Doom you walk around corridors shooting things until you find a keycard or switch to progress? Well, in Alien Breed you walk around corridors shooting things until you find a keycard or switch to progress. The only difference here is that there really isn't much of a difference here. There's more backtracking here I guess. Which doesn't help with the already repetitive nature of the game.
What else? There's upgrades for weapons. They're... neat.
Honestly, I say I like this game because the action is satisfying enough to carry the short runtime. And there are actually a couple of interesting sequences such as a boss or a chase. But more than that, I personally believe the strange differences here make for a unique atmosphere which can be fun to immerse yourself in. The menus and effects, both visual and sound, for text or image displays add that small dev team creep factor which I genuinely like. And while it's not matched by the lighting, graphics or art design, the animations are good. I like how Conrad walks and turns, and searches dead bodies. Although the interaction animation that you'll see a lot isn't much to look at. And how they chose which way to allow you to interact, whether it be the seemingly randomly decided amount of time you have to hold the button when near a screen or the couple of times that it's only a single button press, for which purpose confuses me. Adding to this is that strange floating isometric camera that causes annoyance amongst Alien Swarm fans, which I can understand. However, I feel this also added to the atmosphere. Making it isometric rather than first-person kept the budget down and this camera means you can still get the sense of turning a corner into the dark unknown. Or as my parents would refer to it, 'my sexuality.'
It's not great, but if you look for the fun, you'll find it.… Expand
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