PixlBit

What is it with the engineer being the badass in sci-fi games? I don’t understand where this precedent comes from and it is really starting to make me question the military occupation specialty selection process being used by future militaries. “So I see here you have an incredible survival instinct, natural aptitude with firearms and inhuman reflexes. Have you considered fixing engines son?”

Putting my little known hatred for inept galactic bureaucracies aside for the moment; we apparently, once again, find ourselves in the shoes of Chief Engineer Theodore Conrad on the spaceship, Leopold. I say apparently as I have not played the previous two games in this trilogy. When the game first loads, a short animated comic is thrown on the screen, giving me a basic recap about ship one meeting ship two at night - they crash into each other, and now ship one has an infestation. Please practice safe piloting people!

The main issue with the comic intro is that very little detail is provided; apparently after almost blowing up the second ship to save the surviving crew on your ship (anywhere from 1-3 people plus yourself), you are thwarted by something that is either a crazy AI or crazy human inside a computer that was secretly responsible for everything and now wants to visit earth. Although later on in the game you can go back and read the data log providing a lot of this story in detail, we are not in a RPG and a fast-paced arcade-style game should really have a better system of helping you know what is going on.

The rest of the game’s story is pretty much straight out of any Aliens movie, or story based on an Aliens movie, that you can think of. Throw in some System Shock with the AI angle and you really won’t find yourself too surprised with anything. This predictability unfortunately tends to translate over into the gameplay itself, in that very little of the game actually surprises you. You get to a point where you fully know where each enemy is going to “ambush” you at and there are no jumps or scares that cause you to have to rethink your overall strategy. Somewhere after level three you have more or less encountered every enemy type and scenario the game has to throw at you.

But really, we are here for gameplay, and it is fun. Designed as a typical isometric shooter you control movement direction with the WSAD key set or the left analog stick and shooting direction using the mouse or right analog stick, depending on your system of choice. The scheme is tried and true and you can’t blame the setup for any death on your part. Except for about 10% of the game where you are suddenly forced into an awful over-the-shoulder third person view. You have very little visibility and will constantly resort to using your most powerful weapons just to get through things as quickly as you can. If possible, a patch should be released to just allow a full isometric view the whole way; I also wouldn’t recommend you get this for anything other than PC as the console controls are not nearly as accurate and you will often miss with your shots.

The graphics are the crowning jewel of the game in which Team17 Software Ltd. proves their skill over the Unreal 3 Engine. Explosions are great, the transitions fun, and going into outer space while the ship flails around having massive pieces break away is incredibly great. The sound adds some excellent ambiance, including the muted effects of it in outer space, and the voice acting is actually surprisingly well done even with some of the lines these people have to utter. Conrad loves his noncommittal grunts like any properly seasoned combat… engineer.

Equipment wise you are given the standard fare of assault rifle, shotgun, etc. that you had in the previous games though two new weapons are introduced. A gun that fires a linked electrical attack allowing you to take out multiple small enemies at once and a BFG equivalent called Project X. Both weapons are incredibly powerful but ammo is an issue, although you can buy more of it at shop terminals. As a side note, why do they never blow open the terminals and take the goods, who is going to stop you?

There are some other modes outside of the single player story, one being a survival mode allowing you to try to survive against wave after wave of baddies. The mod is co-op, so you can bring a friend along, though I never found anyone waiting in the lobby for a game.

Story and predictability aside, this is a good action shooter. The controls are precise and the visuals fun, even if things get a little repetitive near the end. The real problem is timing. With the release of the completely free Alien Swarm from Valve happening at the same time, Team17 finds themselves charging for something without as many features in a limited market. If you like this kind of game, the $10 price tag for each game in the trilogy is not high, but you probably should wait until you have finished Alien Swarm and are still looking for more.