Alien Breed 2: Assault Review

Alien Breed 2: Assault  invaded the marketplace last week, and we’ve finished it up now. Has it been improved, or does it feel like an expansion to Episode 1? Keep reading…

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If you’re not familiar with Alien Breed, it’s a top-down isometric shooter based in a science fiction universe. The game features various high-powered weapons to help you maneuver through detailed environments destroying hordes of alien lifeforms. Alien Breed 2: Assault features a five mission single-player campaign, plus a new survival mode,  and of course the return of online two player co-operative gameplay.

The game plays out like its predecessor, requiring the player to move from one waypoint to another using the map. You’ll encounter locked doors, sometimes requiring a key or some sort of power supply to access, and you’ll need to fight your way to meet each new objective. The aliens range from smaller creatures, to semi-large creatures, but they usually die quick. You’ll also encounter a couple of boss fights which may prove slightly difficult until you figure out their patterns. Your guns are fired with the right trigger and you can you your laser sight using the right stick, and its sensitivity is almost perfect so you should never have trouble hitting your target.

Weapons vary from your basic pistol which has unlimited ammo, to a machine gun, shot cannon, and some much heavier weapons. You’ll also have access to stun and fragmentation grenades which prove helpful in dire situations. The grenades are mapped to the left trigger but also have to be selected using the D-Pad. Like the previous game, this would be much better if grenades were mapped to the LB & RB locations.  Fortunately, it’s not useless in its current state, and for the amount of time you’ll need to use them, it’s still forgivable.

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For the most part, the formula seems to have remained the same following Alien Breed Evolution, but Team17 Software has definitely made some improvements. The biggest change relates to the save terminals located throughout the game. Instead of only saving your game, you can now purchase ammunition, grenades, health packs, and upgrades to most of these items as well. Using this new feature will allow you to make your weapons deadlier, or your health items more potent. Of course, this doesn’t come without a price tag attached, and the upgrades aren’t cheap. Throughout the levels, you can now pick up “Credits” which act as the currency, and you can also sell small items but you’ll only get 1/5th of what you paid for an item originally.

In terms of visuals and general presentation, more improvements apparent. Both Evolution and Assault use the Unreal® Engine 3, but Assault has definitely had some tweaks. The lighting appears to be improved greatly, whether it’s from lights in the environment, or burning fires. Due to this, the game simply looks much richer and detailed, and surely that’s a good thing!

Sound effects are a real treat if you’re playing in surround sound, and combined with the dynamic soundtrack, you’ll find yourself ‘on the edge’ while playing, wondering what’s going to come crawling out of the floor next. Everything about the environment from its visuals to its accompanying audio makes it feel like a lonesome and desolate location. I found it common to actually feel a chill run down my spine at times, maybe not to the point of the older Resident Evil titles, but it still feels great to have  a game make me jump.

Alien Breed 2: Assault has some solid improvements and additions upon the previous game, and it still remains at only 800 :MSPoints: so why not give it a look? The single player campaign can be done in a matter of 5-8 hours based on your skill level, and the co-operative and survival modes should add at least six more hours to play through at least once. You’ll get  two avatar awards, and if you’re very dedicated, you can earn another 200 Gamerscore. Free stuff, fun gameplay, and a fair price – you can’t really argue with that. If you enjoyed the original, definitely grab this sequel, or if you’re new to Alien Breed, grab the demo.

For more information, please check out the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.

Thanks to Sean at LunchPR for providing the XBLA review code.