This fresh trailer from Gearbox & Sega promises some serious alien based havok for us all to sink our teeth (both sets) into.

With various other games having some success in similar implementations the world still waits for a game to fully deliver on the promise of the “Alien” universe.

With Gearbox & Sega in the mix, this iteration could well finally deliver on this promise.

- Richard “Rax” Burley

Game:

I think we will all agree when I say shooting aliens is fun; it’s one of the best ways to relieve tension, kill time and a good excuse to drink a few beers. But despite its appeal, inevitably it will get a little boring, repetitive and god damn frustrating at times.

Don’t worry Theodore J. Conrad, this is the final time you will have to don your glistening space suit of destruction, the constant back & forth between the gritty corridors of the universe’s most annoying space ship will soon be over and the truth behind the Breed will finally be revealed…you will never have to repair a broken door ever again.

I have really tried hard to enjoy this particular series of games, although now I think about it, I am not convinced there was anything there to love to begin with. I loved Alien Breed: Evolution, it was a well made remake with plenty of appeal, Alien Breed 2: Assault was pretty good too, it certainly kicked up the level of action and doubled the level of annoyance with relatively little to no new features. However, as the old saying goes, “third times the charm”.

Alien Breed 3: Descent is the final chapter is Team 17’s episodic alien genocide, closing the book on a rather uninspired story with a forgettable legacy. So it may come as a surprise then that I’m going to have to urge you to give the game a chance, because… well it’s a rather enjoyable ride.

One thing’s for sure; while playing Alien Breed 3 you will never be short of surprises or aliens to shoot. They have a nasty habit of bursting though every wall and every floorboard when you even so much as breathe. Just like the previous games in the series, the most prominent and welcome change has been to the environment in which you joyfully slaughter the alien horde, decorating the dark, damp and spooky sci-fi walls in a sickening shade of green alien blood. But in terms of graphical prowess, nothing has changed and nothing has been improved. If you enjoyed the visuals of the previous games in the series you’ll find it’s still just as entertaining for the eyeballs; just don’t expect any drastic changes.

Descent shows no improvement in terms of graphics but changes up the formula with some new locations.

The inclusion of new enemies and some challenging new bosses to fall upon the receiving end of your very large, sexy gun (euphemism intended), are all new additions. But perhaps the biggest change comes in the form of two new additions to the anti-alien armory; the very useful and life saving Electro Link Gun, which paralyzes and disintegrates up to 4 or 5 enemies within range and the completely inane and useless Project X gun, which is what you would class as a plasma grenade launcher or BFG, I suppose. Whilst in the case of the Project X gun, ammo is rare, expensive to purchase and ultimately not as effective as the simple machine gun, both guns bring something new to the party, providing more choice to the weaponry at your disposal.

Another delightful addition is the way the camera angles adjust more dynamically, making the game feel a lot more engrossing. When coupled with the constant ambushes and surprises, it injects even more tension. Just like before, you have full control over which way the camera is facing by adjusting the angle manually. Upon reflection this feels a little bit clunky but practical nonetheless. Needless to say though it has given the final game in the series a more prominent sense of progression with sterling cinematics.

The new camera system is a refreshing inclusion.

Despite being the third installment of the series, AB3 has its memorable moments, the climax of which is the space walk level, where you have unfortunately found yourself wondering around the outer hull of the ship, the worst built cargo vessel in the entire known universe, the Titanic of spaceships, and would you know it, you’re on a crash course to an icy unknown planet. The sense of panic and tensions is heightened by a few jumpy, scary moments and before you know it, all hope is gone and you come face to face with the half man, half machine, Klein, the thing responsible “f*cking up everyone’s sh*t”, prioritizing Conrad’s ability to even open a simple door, across the entire series.

Herein lies the best boss fight of the entire series because not only do you finally come face to face with a enemy that has bugged you over 3 whole games, but suddenly the action is ramped up to overdrive and whole thing gets even more exciting. There’s water everywhere, electrical circuits blowing out all over the place, elevators exploding then re-exploding, it’s just sheer madness. Success in your mission to destroy obliterate the man-machine responsible for all this and avenge your fallen comrades depends on your ability to adapt to the situation, conserve ammo when you can and spend extra cash on gun turrets or small health kits, adding a more tactical element to the game.

The final encounter ramps up the action, adds tactical elements to the gameplay and offers a satisfying conclusion to the end of the series.

As for re-playability, AB3 has provided a wealth of secrets to find and unlock (apparently), which I couldn’t find any trace of, so in that sense they have achieved their goal of keeping them all a secret. But if you’re diligent in your investigation of the environment, you will undoubtedly uncover concept art, data logs to inform you on the back story, avatar awards and achievements providing some incentive to keep you coming back, but they’re not easily obtainable that’s for sure.

AB3 includes two co-op modes, including a Gauntlet Mode, but it doesn’t exactly boast many differences from the singeplayer. Survivor Mode is in there too, but it’s your basic stay alive for as long as possible scenario. With a friend the game does take on a more appealing demeanor, it’s just a shame Team17 couldn’t have included a co-op story mode, which would’ve added more variety and re-playability.

Co-op mode gives the game some re-playability but so much more could've been done.

Alien Breed 3: Descent is by far the best game in the trilogy, but alas it is also the shortest. Thankfully it’s been a sweet ride along the way; one filled with suspense, action and imaginative environments to run around. You will be content but not entirely impressed and left with the feeling that this trilogy, despite being an excellent homage, was perhaps a little half-hearted.

Review Round

Gameplay: 3/5 Simple & effective, if a little repetitive & uninspired. But altogether solid, fun and intense.

Graphics: 4/5 Crisp, dark and atmospheric. AB3’s new camera direction is superb and visually impressive.

Sound: 3.5/5 The sound design remains unchanged from the previous episodes in the series but it still packs a punch, your eardrums will rumble with delight at the music and effects.

Longevity: 4/5 Value for money is questionable, you won’t regret checking out AB3 but you’re not going to be coming back for more anytime soon.

Overall I give Alien Breed 3: Descent 4 blood stained, space helmets out of 5.

[starreview tpl=16]

- Adam Radcliffe

Your tolerance for Naughty Bear is likely to extend exactly as far as your amusement at the prospect of chasing cuddly-wuddly widdle bears around a candy-coloured village and beating their stupid bear faces in with a baseball bat while all the other bears run around sobbing and howling in grief and horror.

On a mechanical and artistic level, Naughty Bear is content to stop at merely functional, or sometimes not even that. Naughty himself is a fairly graceless object, lumbering around the levels with the arcing speed and nimble elegance of a bath mounted on rollerskates, and the camera hovers awkwardly as if trying to remember why it came here in the first place. Though the unwary may be tempted to view Naughty Bear as an action game, it is really nothing of the sort; instead being a sort of puzzle-game constructed around the simple core mechanic of spreading fear and distress.

Every antisocial action performed will earn you points, and successive actions will build up a score multiplier. By chaining together “naughty” actions both small (smashing a picnic table) and large (disemboweling a weeping bear with a machete) you try to build up as many points as possible before killing the bears living in each area. The longer you keep them alive and suffering, the more points you acquire. Eventually a bear will snap under the strain and go insane. At this point they will begin to wander aimlessly around, staring into space and babbling to himself. He’ll be lost in a lonely dream world where he’s happy and everything is all right and he’s not about to get his head staved in by a psychotic pervert teddy bear on a torture-rampage. Frighten an insane bear one more time and he will commit suicide.

The repetitive nature of these screenshots should give you some idea of the limited range of the game itself

The game therefore comes down to a balancing act between keeping the bears alive and in terror and keeping the multiplier as high as possible. Each of these levels can then be replayed under challenge mode conditions, which include having to drive all bears insane, or complete the level without using a weapon. There is a certain, limited, pleasure to this in short bursts. There’s also some moderately amusing touches to be discovered, but it fails to compel at any length, especially given the limited variety of weapons and environments involved (the box cover threatens us with further downloadable content).

The repetitive nature of these screenshots should give you some idea of the limited range of the game itself

Additional multiplayer modes are included; seemingly more out of a sense of obligation than anything else. But in their necessary shifting of emphasis onto the game’s creaky combat mechanics, they undermine the only particularly appealing aspect of the whole package. Modes like Cakewalk (carry a delicious cake to the goal while under assault from a rival team) and Golden Oozy (one bear has a devastating submachine gun and must fend off hordes of attackers) all-too-quickly devolve into a frenzied bundle of running round in random circles desperately jabbing the attack button in the hope of killing something.

The whole lacklustre business of attempting to compete against other people vigorously underlines one stark, simple fact: Naughty Bear is a game constructed around a single joke, and it’s not one that bears much repetition. In its best moments it manages to be faintly reminiscent of Rockstar’s tremendous, grubby, killsploitation title Manhunt, but without that game’s mechanical delicacy, pervasive sense of dread or wry satirical bite. As Manhunt showed, there’s nothing essentially wrong with being a one-trick pony, but it had better be a pretty great trick.

Review Round-Up

Graphics 2/5 – Adequate to the task, but lacking in any real flourish or vision in its art design.

Sound 3/5 – Sound effects are uninteresting and music unmemorable. The children’s television-style narrator is faintly amusing (I enjoyed his cry of “You nutter!” upon earning a platinum medal) and wisely not over-used.

Story 1/5 – No, not really.

Gameplay 2/5 – Repetitive and unimaginative with a turgid camera and clumsy main character, yet somehow oddly compelling in short bursts. Some of the death animations are amusing the first time you see them. Online multiplayer is, of course, arbitrarily included, but it’s rubbish. Mention must also be made of the fact that the game in its current form suffers from frequent game-crashing glitches that should shame whoever was supposed to be responsible for QA.

Longevity 2 /5 - Little incentive to carry on with it beyond manic completion-ism or achievement hunting. After the first level, you’ve effectively seen everything this has to offer.

[starreview tpl=16]

Overall 2 Ruined Parties out of 5 – You know how magistrates and tabloid columnists talk about videogames as morally-reprehensible murder simulators? They were dead wrong until this came out. It is, however, too clumsily implemented and frankly too boring to be described as any kind of moral menace. It achieves a borderline competence as a score-attack game, but you’re frankly better off with the sublime Manhunt or even Swordfish studios’ underrated The Club, both of which pull off the dystopian spree-killer genre with the kind of grisly panache that this clumsy effort probably couldn’t even spell.

- Elliot Mears

UK based developer Rebellion are no strangers to the Aliens Versus Predator (AVP) franchise. One of their first games was AVP for the Atari Jaguar, which is widely considered to be one of the console’s finest games. They returned to the franchise in 1999 to release Aliens Vs. Predator on the PC, another critically lauded title. Yet in 2007 they released Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem for the PSP, which was generally panned by reviewers. However, no-one can argue that they don’t know the source material.

Rebellion’s latest offering to the AVP franchise is something of an uneven experience. With a fairly short single player campaign that is broken up into three modes, the Marine game, the Alien game, and the Predator game. The Marine sections are little more than a painfully generic shooter, while the Alien and Predator sections blend melee combat, stealth, and platforming to create a (mostly) interesting game, even if it is a little short.

In terms of story, the game is a little light. The evil Weyland-Utani corporation has discovered an ancient Predator pyramid, and in their quest to mine it for information, have unleashed an Alien swarm. Hearing their high tech burglar alarm going off, the Predators descend on the planet in order to protect their secrets. Caught in the middle of the Weyland-Utani corporation, the Aliens, and the Predators is a small band of Marines who are stranded on the planet thanks to a surprise attack by the Predators.

Of the three campaigns, the Alien campaign is the most fun, despite being only 5 levels long. As the Alien you have no weapons other than your claws and gigantic tail, so combat is a melee based affair. Pressing the right bumper performs a quick attack, left bumper performs a heavy attack, and holding both bumpers will make your character block, which is only really useful against the Predator whose primary weapons are his wrist blades.

After successfully blocking an attack you can press either of the bumpers to perform a counter attack, which deals massive damage to your foes. If your opponent is attempting to block your attacks then the only way to break their block is to perform a heavy attack. This adds a little depth to the combat, but for the most part the melee combat is a clumsy and imprecise affair.

The Aliens can climb any surface.

The added bonus of playing as the Alien is that you can climb on any surface, Spider-Man style. When facing a wall, or ledge, simply hold the right trigger and you can crawl as much as you like. While the shift in perspective can be a little disorienting at times, overall the climbing works pretty well. Wall climbing and hiding in darkness is key to the Alien campaign, as it is far easier to take out your enemies by sneaking up behind them and performing a quick kill by pressing the X button.

Quick kills are suitably gory, for example the Aliens can impale humans with their tails, or chew through the humans skulls with their mini mouths. If you come across an unarmed human you can tackle them to the ground and prepare them for a face raping at the hands of a lone Face Hugger, which quickly jumps on your victim and deposits the Alien embryo in the victim’s stomach.

The Predator game is a close contender for best campaign, with most of the same controls applying to the Predator, except you are unable to climb surfaces. Instead the Predator can perform a massive jump in order to get in to the perfect position to kill your targets. As with the Alien stealth is your best option. While you do have projectile weapons, in the form of the plasma cannon, the gun has very limited ammo due to the amount of power each shot consumes. The power for your weapons can be refilled by draining human generators of electricity, these generators are few and far between, so more often than not you may find yourself being without your gun for lengthy periods of time. Predators also perform quick kills, and the Predator kills are the most gruesome. You can decapitate humans, or rip their spinal column out. On a visceral level these quick kills are visually impressive and would gross out most people. In a good way of course.

The Marine campaign is by far the most traditional, and it is also the longest. Armed with a pistol and two other guns, either a sniper rifle, machine gun, or shotgun, you traipse your way through one dark corridor after another. For the most part, your primary light source can be compared to the light found in the glove compartment of a mini metro. With the torch light doing little to illuminate your surroundings, it is good news that you can pop off a flare with a simple button press.

While the flares only last a few seconds, they dramatically increase the amount of light available. This lack of light is no omission on the developer’s part; it was clearly intended to increase the tension. There’s no arguing that it can be incredibly tense wandering down a pitch black corridor with only the sound of something scuttling around in the darkness and the recognisable bleep of your motion sensor, but after a while you may find yourself wishing this futuristic colony had an electrician on call.

You sometimes come across another Marine or two to help you out

The Marine campaign is chocked full of cliché characters, with tough talking Latina Marine Tequila (yes, really) being the worst offender of the lot. The other Marines you encounter shout generic military jargon at you when you pass them, and if I ever hear another Mercenary say “I think that’s the last of them!” only to get torn apart moments later, I may well dive head first off the top of a multi-storey car park.

In overall terms the single player is disappointing because the three campaigns altogether only last about 8 or so hours; with each of these campaigns happening at the same time, in the same place. This means that you will find yourself playing the same level two or three times, just from a different perspective. Fortunately the developers give you the choice of which campaign to play, rather than dictating which species you can play as.

The level design, in general, is nothing to write home about. Levels tend to range from dark facilities, to dark jungles, to dark underground temples. Even in the Jungle level, where the sun was clearly visible in the sky, it was exceptionally dark. While the Aliens can see in the dark, and the Predator has three vision modes (regular vision, thermal vision for seeing humans, and Alien spotting vision) the Marine’s reliance on a piddly flash light and short lived flares can make the single player a chore.

Aliens hide in the darkness and spring out at you from nowhere.

So, whilst the single player is a bit meagre, the online multiplayer is quite impressive. Sure, it has the generic deathmatch modes, but there are also some decent game types. Infestation has eight players, with one player randomly cast as the Alien and the other seven as Marines. When the Alien kills a Marine, that Marine becomes an Alien and must work to finish off the rest of the survivors. When there is only one Marine left the Aliens have 30 seconds to kill him, or that surviving Marine wins the game. While each round has a time limit, how long you survive depends on the people you are playing with and how you work together.

Survival mode has four players playing as Marines fighting off wave after wave of Aliens in cramped conditions, surrounded by darkness. Each player’s health bar is displayed on screen, so if one of your team mates wanders off into the darkness, you can see if he is being slaughtered. Couple that with the terrific sound effects, and you have a wonderfully tense game. Most games of Survival that I have played have only lasted a few minutes due to the sheer numbers of Aliens that swarm you all at once, so Survival seems like the perfect game mode for someone that wants a quick game online.

Predators tend to favour their wrist blades in combat over anything else

The other online modes are made up of Deathmatch (all against all), Team Deathmatch (species vs species), Predator Hunt (a team of Marines vs a Predator, with the killer of the Predator earning the right to be the next Predator), and Domination (King of the Hill) are all well put together, but nothing particularly special.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 While the character models are particularly good, the levels themselves tend to be overly dark. I understand the darkness is an intentional design choice to heighten tension, but towards the latter part of the Marine campaign especially, they are just ridiculously dark.

Sound: 4/5 There are only a few voice actors in the game, only Lance Henricksen offers a particularly memorable performance as Karl Bishop Weyland, evil CEO of the Weyland-Utani Corporation. The sound effects are particularly good, especially the Marine’s motion sensor, machine gun, and the Alien’s screeches.

Gameplay: 3/5 The Alien and Predator have interesting abilities, focusing more on stealth and melee combat than anything else. Although they are the shortest of the Campaigns, they could potentially have worn out their welcome if they had been significantly longer. The Marine campaign is more traditional and becomes more and more tedious as it progresses. Online multiplayer has two brilliant modes, Infestation and Survival, and the other more traditional game modes are competent.

Longevity: 2/5 The three single player campaigns will last about 8 hours, and each campaign has a number of collectables: audio diaries for the Marines, Royal Jelly Canisters for the Aliens and Trophy Belts for the Predators. However, these will likely only appeal to the most obsessive compulsive gamers out there. The online modes will probably keep you coming back, so long as there are enough players still playing.

Overall: 3 Surprise Face Huggings out of 5. A short single player experience that offers little replay value is propped up by a decent online multiplayer mode. While there are no major flaws with the game, there are a number of minor issues that all mount up to decrease the overall quality of the game.

[starreview tpl=16]

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