Tried out the NDS game of Aliens: Infestatiion?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Was browsing at my local Target and saw that they had the new DS game of Aliens: Infestation for sale. Snagged it & booted it up. It has a sliky smooth 60fps presentation that's easy on the eyes. The premise of this 2D platform based game is it takes place a few weeks after the events in the 1986 Aliens film. Nice little touches with the characters if you let them stand around doing nothing. The background scenery of this A:I game is on par with the film as well.

It's recommended to use a good pair of headphones with the DS/DSlite/DSi/DSi-XL as the BGM will draw you into the gameplay.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Moniker]

How's the gameplay? I've been waiting for the price to drop due to mixed reviews.

[BulletMagnet]

I'm also tempted by this one, though some of the stuff I've heard make me want to wait 'til it drops to 20.

Now, if WayForward would actually bundle some of their DSiWare stuff onto a physical cartridge I'd snag that in a second.

[Daigohji]

I love this game. It's atmospheric, plays well, and keeps the tension up by giving you a cast of distinct characters who can die permanently. Where most Aliens games mimic the movies, this looks and feels more like the Dark Horse comics from the 90s. It's just the right length for a Metroidvania game, not outstaying its welcome. The only thing I didn't like was the throw-away ending.

[Mischief Maker]

The youtube videos make the gameplay look awful.

[Herr Schatten]

I bought it, and I love it. It has a few minor issues, but they are really not hurting it much. Gameplay-wise it's pretty much your standard Metroidvania fair, but divided in sepereate levels instead of one big area to explore (even though you're re-visiting certain bits later in the game, there's little to no backtracking).

THE GOOD STUFF:
- The game is wonderfully atmospheric, with fantastic, lovingly crafted pixel art and sound effects straight from the movies
- It always keeps you on your toes through some nice level design
- Different from most other Aliens games, the enemies feel like a real threat, not like cannon fodder. Even encountering a single alien can become quite a challenge.
- Great system of handling "lives": You have a group of four marines, which you can switch between in the save rooms. Sometimes you encounter surviving members of other squads along the way. If there's a slot free in your group because one of your marines has died (and only then), you can recruit them.
- Each individual marine has a distinct appearance

THE BAD STUFF
- Individual marines don't have different stats, they all play the same
- Some harsh difficulty spikes, usually around the boss encounters
- Controls are a little too complex for the DS. Some actions aren't easy to pull of with the necessary ease. (Especially bad if they are needed to hurt a boss, e.g. shooting diagonally upward in one direction while walking backwards in the other.)
- Switching between the weapons selection screen and the map via the touch screen can get a bit annoying
- Rooms look too same-y, so you really have to pay attention where you are, especially since the map is pretty basic and doesn't give you a lot of visual hints.


Overall, it's not the best game in the world, but it's really fun. If you like Metroid/Castlevania and Alien(s), you won't be disappointed.

[Weak Boson]

I finished it but I was pretty underwhelmed. It was reasonably engaging but it got kind of repetitive eventually. There's not much variety to the combat and there aren't many different enemy types. No real platforming either. Basically you spend the game walking slowly forward until an alien pops out whereupon you hold down the fire button until it dies. The atmosphere is good but I found it dissipating as I got through the game and it started becoming easy and familiar. If you can find it for a good price you'll probably get you're money's worth of distraction from it but (despite it being short) I don't think it's that replayable.

[dcharlie]

finished it but I was pretty underwhelmed. It was reasonably engaging but it got kind of repetitive eventually. There's not much variety to the combat and there aren't many different enemy types. No real platforming either. Basically you spend the game walking slowly forward until an alien pops out whereupon you hold down the fire button until it dies. The atmosphere is good but I found it dissipating as I got through the game and it started becoming easy and familiar. If you can find it for a good price you'll probably get you're money's worth of distraction from it but (despite it being short) I don't think it's that replayable.

Can't really add much to this - eventually got through it but, yes, even though it's short it just started to drag. Pretty poor game design and i ended up feeling bored despite being a huge Alien/Aliens nut, but great pixel graphics though. Was hoping for an end of life DS gem, but got a bag of average