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Alien Breed 2: Assault Review for Xbox 360

Alien Breed 2: Assault Review for Xbox 360

One Part Alien, One Part Dead Space,
One Part Shooter, One Part Dungeon Crawler.

What do you get when you cross the overhead perspective with the frenetic space station infested by aliens formula made famous by the move Alien? Alien Breed is the produce of the aforementioned formula, creating a game that doesn’t really innovate in any way but still entertains. As the obvious sequel to Alien Breed, Assault brings a few new features to an already decent formula to make an enjoyable XBLA game.

Alien Breed 2: Assault screenshot

Alien Breed 2: Assault follows the story of the crew of the spaceship Leopold, which crashes into another huge space station. The Leopold becomes lodged in the other ship, forcing Conrad, the Leopold’s chief engineer and game’s protagonist, to go aboard the mysterious ship and engage the engines to save his surviving crewmembers. Ultimately, the story is little more than an excuse for the player to go alien hunting. There isn’t much here in the way of surprises, and the entire story has been better executed in previous movies and games. Assault doesn’t aim to win any storytelling awards, but obviously the goal of the story is simply to give the player a motivation for murdering hordes of alien monsters.

Assault makes good use of the Unreal Engine 3, which visibly upgrades the graphics over the original. Conrad is well-articulated and animates well, as do the hordes of alien foes. The settings are all well-crafted as well, although environments do get repetitive. While it makes sense that a space station would be metallic and boring, it still begins to grate on the player after playing for hours with little variety.

Alien Breed 2: Assault screenshot

You control Conrad from a three-quarters overhead perspective as he explores the space station, following his mini-map to assorted objectives. As he moves from goal to goal, he encounters the titular aliens and must use his arsenal to dispatch them. To combat the monsters, he uses weapons that run the gamut from an assault rifle to a rocket launcher. There isn’t a lot of variety in the guns, which is nearly inexcusable since games like Ratchet and Clank and Resistance: Fall of Man has given us such innovative weapons. The weapon variety is simply boring. It feels like the developers should have offered us more fun and innovative weapons, although the chaingun-esque Hyper Blaster is fairly fun to employ. The game does offer upgrades to the few weapons though, allowing you to invest credits in increased bullet capacity, damage, or firing rates.

The gameplay is flat out repetitive at its worst. Conrad moves from objective to objective, with very rare moments of simplicity. If you are tasked with activating machinery, it is almost certain that an essential piece of hardware is missing, or that something is blocking your path, or that the machine’s auxiliary systems must be activated first. While this is generally the formula for most video games, somehow it is made obvious in Assault, bringing with it a shattering of suspension of disbelief. Nothing in the entirety of the game appears to function as it should, and Conrad must single-handedly put everything right. While this isn’t much different from what occurs in similar games like Dead Space, other games bury the formula a bit deeper with varied gameplay. However, it’s probably unfair to compare an XBLA game to a full release, but in Assault you’ll definitely be denied total immersion in the game world.

Alien Breed 2: Assault screenshot

The music is atmospheric, but largely forgettable. The sound effects are great, with accurately clanking metal or weapons report and with aliens that sound different depending on the type. The voice acting is hokey though, and probably intentionally so.

Alien Breed 2: Assault screenshot

Another minor complaint is that Assault isn’t scary. The game is atmospheric, but never do you as the player actually feel scared, outside of losing your place because of spaced-out save stations. While the game doesn’t necessarily bill itself as survival horror, it feels as if it should. The environment, the music, and the whole alien invaded space station motif feel as if the game should be scarier. Aliens pop out of the floor, or rush you from your un-illuminated blindside, never once creating a genuinely scary moment. It also may be unfair to expect thrills from Assault, but when you’re playing it, you can’t help expecting or hoping to be scared, as if you were watching a low-budget horror movie with cheap, see-through special effects.

Another minor complaint is that nearly everything in the game is dictated by a progress bar. Whenever you open a door, place a turret, repair machinery, search a dead body, or even toss a grenade, you are subjected to a progress bar. While mercifully, the progress bars move at different speeds depending on the task at hand, you will find yourself waiting for a good portion of the game, moving quickly from station to station to wait on the filling of a progress bar.

While there are a lot of complaints that can be made about Assault, there are also a lot of things that are fun about the game. The single-player mode is short and quickly beaten over perhaps the course of a single day. The story mode also offers co-operative play, allowing you and a friend to tackle the alien monsters over Xbox Live. There is also a Survivor mode that allows you to last as long as you can against continuing hordes of aliens. There is even a stage select that allows you to choose which stage to begin on, if following the story isn’t your style.

Ultimately, Alien Breed 2: Assault is a decent addition to the Xbox Live Arcade Lineup. While there isn’t much here in terms of innovation, Assault is a solid isometric shooter that offers fun for fans of the genre or a person looking for a simple shooter with a buddy.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
The Unreal Engine makes for pretty but repetitive visuals. 3.5 Control
Conrad controls well, although it is difficult at times to aim properly. 3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music and sound effects are well done, though the voice acting is a little hokey. 3.0 Play Value
Play single player or multiplayer in story mode or in Survivor mode. 3.5 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • New “Survivor” mode: Resist endless waves of intense alien horde attacks in specifically designed arena environments, or team up with a friend in order to reach the highest score in two-player co-operative assaults!
  • New Set Pieces: Fight the breed through stunningly choreographed action sequences.
  • New Equipment: More equipment to combat the horde including Hardened Armor and new weaponry: 1) Hyper Blaster – a destructive chain-gun, and; 2) The Rocket Launcher – blow the horde away!
  • NEW Alien Foes – Enter into conflict with the all-new ‘Webber’ alien and endure dramatic encounters with new and shocking bosses.
  • Single-Player story mode: The single-player campaign mode that follows the continuing narrative of the game through five huge and challenging environments.
  • Two-player co-operative play mode: Work together to defeat the alien horde across specially customized assault maps for two players, over Steam or Xbox™ LIVE Arcade.

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