Alien Rage describes itself as an “old-school shooter,” yet it uses regenerating health and a two-weapon inventory (plus an infinite-ammo pistol). That’s pretty much the exact opposite of old-school shooter design in my book. What I think it’s trying to say is that it’s hard – and it is, but in the way that repeatedly kills you with cheap deaths. Even on the normal difficulty level (which calls itself “Hard” next to the arrogantly named “Challenging” easy level) there are frequent nasty spikes that throw tons of enemies at you at once. They’re not really tough to kill – headshots are pretty easy to pull off (once you disable the counter-productive auto-aim) and they’re dumb enough to round a corner in single file, but their weapons deplete your small health pool extremely quickly.
The worst part is the grenade launchers. Alien Rage’s most common enemies pack one attached to their rifles, and obviously so do the dedicated grenadiers that look like Big Daddies, and as a result there are explosions happening pretty much all the time. That wouldn’t be so bad if hiding behind something would shield you from an explosion happening on the other side of that thing… but in alien Rage, splash damage shockwaves travel directly through any solid object. There is no hiding from them, unless you not only take cover, but stand about 10 feet behind that cover. Considering the tiny amount of health you have, that leads to a whole lot of one-hit deaths. I like a challenge, but not when the challenge involves learning to avoid being killed by something really stupid.
It wasn’t until about halfway through the 12-mission campaign that I unlocked the perk that boosts your health by 50%, and only then did things start to become anywhere near balanced. Suddenly I had a chance to recover if a grenade hit me instead of being instantly killed on the spot, making progress much easier and the choice of which perks to equip not actually a choice at all.
Levels are set almost literally in an exploding barrel factory in space, which also contributes to the frequent and graphically underwhelming explosions. You have to slog through a few different settings – from a mining facility to underground caves to an alien ship – but they’re all the same dull gray metal color, making each one virtually indistinguishable from the last.
I missed a good chunk of the backstory, since it’s hidden in hard-to-spot audio diaries. They tell a not-too-terrible tale of cultural misunderstandings that led to the alien attack, and they made me wish that the writing and acting going on in the here and now was anywhere near as competent. Super-cheesy dialog, including an alien boss’ garbled noises translated into “Say hello to my little friend” and references to a guy hiding under a box and sneaking around, falls flat.
I’d give you an estimate of how long it took to beat, but it’s going to vary widely based on your shooter skill level and how many times you have to repeat a section until you reach a checkpoint or learn to dodge a bullet-sponge boss’ missiles. In certain areas, it took me a dozen attempts before I was able to pick off each of the enemies as they spawned like Bill Murray in an action movie version of Groundhog Day.
A bland shooter like this seems like it might’ve been okay in multiplayer, but the servers are a total ghost town. I’ve yet to see a game with more than a couple of other people in it, and all of these maps are built for eight or 16 players, resulting in a complete absence of fun. Even if there were people to shoot, you’d be doing it in the most painfully plain deathmatch and team deathmatch modes using weapons that are never anything more than mundane. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been done just as well – or significantly better – in virtually every other half-decent multiplayer shooter you’ve played in the past five years.
THE VERDICT
What game were we talking about again? I’ve pretty much forgotten Alien Rage already. Between its lack of personality or distinctive, original features of any kind, and completely non-existent multiplayer community, the only memorable aspect is its annoying and frustrating difficulty spikes.
«Blew my mind»
Other reviews3
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Microsoft from Deutsch
Short Form: I thought the Game was quite good. :-D
Had got it to me for a few Pennies at Steam And pulled it through the other day.
The Graphics are not High-End but that's okay for me.
The Sound is good and crisp, but could be a little better at one point or another.
You get Points for each Kill of an Opponent with which you unlock Powerups during the course of the Game. Of these, You can activate a maximum of 3 at the same time. Is made quite nice and motivated to Play at higher levels of Difficulty.
The Story is rather Average but that doesn't bother with this Type of Shooter.
What is somewhat negative is, on the one hand, the stupid opponent AI and, on the other hand, the boss fights.
The Opponents sometimes hide behind an Object, then run anywhere else (sometimes into the open [shot] field) without any sense, only to then run back sometimes.
All in all, the Opponents are just Cannon Fodder, nothing more. But still, it's kind of Fun to mow them down.
Yes, and the Boss Opponents somehow all look different, but they were somehow all the same.
In Other terms, most simply go through blunt White-ballers after a While on it and all have more or less similar Attacks in The Repertoir. Personally, there was too little Variety for me.
I see wasted potential In one Thing, and that is with the (one-to-one) Collectable items. There are only two Types of Collectibles and not too many of them either. I would have liked you to find several Bonuses and in all the hidden Corners some great Items that sweeten the game life.
Edit1: What I forgot: The Dialogues between the Protagonist and his Team are sometimes really funny (I played in English). That upgrades the Game a little more.
My Conclusion: A mediocre shooter that you can rip in between. However, Too Much Money should not be spent on it.
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
Microsoft from Deutsch
Alien Rage is a well-designed and thoughtful "Ballers" And "Run" game.
One begins in the History of the Age; Let us not Yet imagine.
EINFÜHRUNG/History/Background;
Alien Range is set in the distant Future, it's no longer about Dollar Bills and Oil, it's about Promethium! Unfortunately, everyone is eager to claim these Occurrence, just as the Race Of Vorus (which Are Technologically better faster and, above all, stronger than Humans).
In the Beginning, there is an Income of the two Breeds, provided that People are allowed to accumulate Promethium only for Economic Purposes and not for Technological progress.
Just as in real Life, one side or the other Will always not abide by the Contract and break it.
Gameplay and Depth: Unfortunately, the Flow of the Game has a little edge and is not modular (in terms of Draught) to linear, you run from a to b, and push Switch c so that the Door opens at z! And in between it says; Cover Ballers and the same once again. Unfortunately, this is a little sluggish, so with it is also lost to the Fun of the Game.
Whoever is into good Cover is very well catered for here in these Games (and that's not just true for the Player). The Ki is specifically looking for the best possible Cover so that he can push you out behind, they are progressing tactically. This is how a System can be seen in it. After a While you know the Trick's, and it then becomes a lot easier.
The Weapons are very good and not as excessively strong as can be found in some AA titles.
There are 2 Weapon Options of each Weapon. First, the modular Firing and the one with specific Characteristics of the Weapons (depending on which Weapon you Play with).
Gun Shortages don't apply in this Game, but they don't want too much Verting either ...
Graphicato-optical Representation of the World: The Graphics are in all a Feast For the eyes for the Senses! Many Details can be seen during the Trip.
How eg; That a Valve of Steam lets off, you can see the Drops very closely. The Cards you move on have been adapted very well and visually to each other, there is a lot of Variety to get from one Place to the other.
All in all, Alien Rage is not the highered Title seen as a Shooter, but the Demand of the Opponents just like infinite Masses of creatures and Weapons in this Game, there is no Breather for the Player.
Lots of fun and with Kind Greetings ...