Whether one would care to admit it or not, it is somewhat accepted that the video game market in general is highly saturated. Sequels appear to take precedence over innovation, and sometimes developers simply capitalize on the successes of their predecessors or mentors, merely churning out the same drivel everyone else already has.

Alien Shooter Vengeance falls somewhere between the two. Employing a 3/4 camera perspective (Diablo-style), players are thrust into the role of a mercenary, selling skills, guile, and brute force to the M.A.G.M.A. Corporation - which for some reason has experienced "drastic personnel changes of late". This is an alien shooter, after all, so one could imagine that just like in the movies, the aliens tend to slightly outnumber the good guys. The developers at Sigma did a fairly good job at creating an action-RPG where players blast away mercilessly upon a virtual never-ending sea of alien critters. While suffering from numerous minor flaws, the game still has an inherent classic, throw-back charm that insidiously beckons for the player to keep playing again and again. Is it point and click action 99% of the time? Sure. But it is wickedly addictive and fun - for a while.

The game is comprised of three main game modes: Campaign, Survival, and Stand Firm. The latter two are essentially "the player versus the world" type scenarios, where enemies are constantly swarming and never give in - but these will be addressed later. The real meat of the game is in the Campaign, and the game offers quite a bit of variety, configurability, and customization to suit the average action-RPG lover.

The opening lines of the game manual are priceless, stating "…we consider your employment to be 'at will', and you may terminate it at any time". Then M.A.G.M.A. offers this friendly warning: conversely, "your work with us reserves our right to terminate you." They don't, however, mean simply not sending the bi-weekly pay-checks anymore. If they're not happy with your performance, you'll pay for it - in blood.

There are no unique character classes per se; rather, the player selects a Special Ability upon creating a character. I personally love some of the abilities like Self-Treatment (which constantly regenerates hit points), Vampire (draining baddies' health), and Hypnotist (garnering the ability to briefly control the fairly basic minds of the aliens). There are also the options for Economist, Night Vision, Observer, and even the Boxer (yes, that's right - excelling in hand-to-hand combat with some of the nastiest creatures you've ever seen). After choosing a special ability, one chooses a particular character with a unique personality, who excels in certain areas, while suffering in others.

This is where the level-building element comes into play, as experience is gained as aliens are disposed of. One can improve on health capacity, strength, speed, aim, intelligence, and also on one's ability to wield weapons with special expertise. For example, upon slaughtering a predetermined number of alien scum, the player may be awarded with five experience points to use. Three could be assigned to make the player faster, and two could be used to improve the efficiency of the character's use of the game's different weapons: pistols, shotguns, miniguns & rifles, rocket launchers & grenade launchers, and flamethrowers & energy weapons. I made a personal effort to make my shotgun proficiency particularly high, even though I probably should have spread it out more across the different weapon categories - there are a TON of weapons from each category. As money is awarded for completing missions, or found scattered about the levels in open (or secret) areas, new weapons, armor, ammunition, and intelligence implants can be purchased, usually after each mission has come to some sort of ambiguous conclusion, further advancing the storyline.

The game's story is fairly weak. All the player really knows is that he needs to stay alive, keep someone else alive, or switch on some generator (or some other mundane task) to keep the game progressing. Trapped in the M.A.G.M.A. facility - which is inherently inundated with extra-terrestrial evil - despite the varying mission imperatives, the main objective remains the same: conserve your ammo, be agile, and stay alive. Alien Shooter Vengeance








Published by: cdv Software Entertainment
Developed by: Sigma-Team (RU)
Genre: Action RPG
Number of Players: 1-6 (LAN), 2 via direct IP

Release Date: US: February 5, 2007
Release Date: Europe: September 8, 2006
MSRP: $35.00
MSRP: GBP £20.59
M for Mature: Blood, Language, Violence