Aliens: Infestation

Another bughunt?

So, Aliens series. Time hasn't been all that kind to you, has it? Your fans have had to suffer various insults over the years; from awful recent films to dodgy game tie-ins, Rebellion's efforts aside. Now we have one of the most unexpected entries for the franchise ever - a brand new, 2D, Metroidvania-esque game. For... the DS.

It's not an obvious choice by any stretch, particularly given that Infestation doesn't do anything particular to capitalise on the unique merits of the DS platform. What the game does have, though, is quite a few things in its favour. For one, it comes coutesy of Wayforward games, developers of (amongst other things) Shantae: Risky's Revenge and Bloodrayne: Betrayal. For another, its probably the truest homage to the original film trilogy that has ever been comitted to game form, and that's saying something.

Infestation gives you control of a team of Marines, sent to investigate the Sulaco (the ship from the movie Aliens) and the terraforming planet LV-426. It's a rescue mission, you'll love it. A unit of Weyland-Utani corporate goons is also there, as are the series hallmark Aliens, and you can pretty much guess what happens next: people die, things go wrong, blood goes everywhere. You'll find maps to aid your exploration of the Sulaco - which plays out in a nonlinear, Metroidvania style, with new areas opening up gradually as you obtain new items (like welders and flamethrowers) - and the more linear environments of LV-426, both of which are (naturally) infested with alien critters to kill. Every now and again you'll come across a save point, where you can restock your ammo and switch weapons and characters.

Don't bother getting too attached to those characters, though, because you can only have 4 in a squad at once, and once they die, that's it. They're gone. Well, that's not strictly true; you do have a few minutes in which you can hot-foot it to a nest chamber to rescue them before they get impregnated by face-huggers, but that does mean you'll be risking the life of at least one more marine to do it. And with only 28 Marines available in the entire game - many hidden away, or completely missable - you'd do well to hang on to each one for as long as you can. Especially since you're only given one save slot. And if they all die, its game over man, game over.

Make no mistake, Infestation is a pretty hardcore game. It's old school in a strangely charming way: it's bastard-hard, and actually rather proud of it. Chances are, you'll die. A lot. And fail. But each time you restart the game you'll get a tiny bit closer to the end, and maybe, one day, you'll make it. If you can just overcome that next boss without losing your last Marine, anyway.

Gameplay pays homage to the old Megadrive Alien 3 game, with your Marines able to walk, run, crouch, shoot in 7 directions (left / right, crouching left / right, diagonally up left / right, and straight up), and chuck about grenades or other secondary weapons. You can also hide behind crates, handy for protracted battles with human or android foes, who can knock you down with a single bullet but require a few dozen from you to fell them. There are several disappointing sections where humans form your main opponents, but thankfully the alien enemies more than make up for it by being much too fast, much too agile, and much too tough for you to ever stand much of a chance in a straight-up fight. That means you'll spend a lot of time advancing very cautiously, checking your corners, warily watching your motion tracker, and running away. The vast majority of this is exhilarating and genuinely terrifying, given the very real consequence of death in the game, though it can prove occasionally frustrating during longer boss battles, where specific locations must be targeted but the limited aiming angles make this a tricky prospect. On the other hand, you do get to drive a power loader, so all is forgiven.

You probably won't find much to latch on to in Infestation's storyline, so if you're here for the Aliens lore you might be disappointed, and likewise the cast of characters has a few interesting individuals but most are painted with fairly broad strokes, and whilst the dialogue in the game changes depending on your character you never get more than a basic impression of their personalities. What you might like, though, is the opportunity to visit some memorable locales from the films, including an airlock (which, yes, you do get to hurl an Alien Queen out of) and the Space Jockey's control room, complete with freaky-trunked Space Jockey Alien. Homages to the series and quotes are liberally scattered through the dialogue, and despite its demanding difficulty, its hard not to like the game even when its really winding you up.

And it will, at times, wind you up. The single save might be good from a challenge perspective, but its pretty unforgiving, and the sporadic placement of save rooms is pretty random and exacerbates the problem. Likewise you can't recruit Marines you find if your squad is full - they won't go and wait in a safe room until they're needed, for example; they'll just stay where they are. Switching between inventory items can be a little fiddly, since the game won't show the map / motion tracker and your weapon selection at the same time, and given that tapping on your weapon icon is the only way to reload (short of burning through an entire clip, anyway) you can find yourself wrestling with the controls a bit to try and reach all the buttons in the more hectic and protracted encounters. Short, controlled bursts are definitely the order of the day.

Wayforward has done a hell of a job translating the visuals of the film into tiny sprite form, with smoothly animated characters and aliens meshing well with the dingy, gritty-looking backdrops. Honestly, the sprite work is sublime, packed with character, and the background artists deserve praise for their work in making the environments atmospheric but easily navigable. There's no voice acting, but the snyth soundtrack is wonderfully suited, with orchestral crashes at a couple of points lifted straight from the films, much like the excellent pulse rifle and smartgun sound effects.

Written by :

James Hall