Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Matthew does, as he nukes the entire site from orbit.
Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.
This review was submitted by Matthew Lye. If you’ve played Alien Breed Impact, or just want to ask Matthew more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Alien Breed Impact (PC)
Alien Breed Impact is a top-down science fiction arcade-shooter that resurrects an old favourite in a good way. It gives you swarms of varied alien enemies, big weapons, and great moody environments.
Loved
Alien Breed: Too often you play an original and hate the remake. This one, however, works. It’s nice to play a resurrected game and not feel the need to put it out of its misery.
Graphics: Great use of the Unreal 3 engine in a fantastic-looking top-down shooter. The constant explosions were just pretty… and distracting… very, very distracting… Oops, I’m dead.
Co-op: Nothing more fun than loading up with a friend and going hunting. Well, throw in aliens and it does get cooler. Make sure you buy the twin pack from Steam so you will always have someone to play with.
Surprise Attack: You might know an attack is coming, it always is. But somehow aliens seem to come in unexpected ways and from multiple directions. Sometimes with multi-layered attacks stacked on top of each other.
Enemy Variety: Who says all aliens look the same? The varying types of aliens are rather refreshing: some melee ones that rush in, some fodder underfoot, some ranged ones, and a few special ones that protect themselves or heal others.
Environment Variety: Unlike most top-down shooters, Impact has more than the standard hallways thanks to a mix of open rooms and tight hallways and, man… look for those choke points.
Hated
Episodic Content: Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The game ends too soon; right as you are starting to think like it was cranking up to something awesome, it ends.
Boss Fights: The boss fight is good – if little on the easy side if you pick the right weapons and upgrades – but there are just not enough with only one boss fight right at the end. Even in the ’80s they knew better than to do that with an action game.
Alien Ship: Dunno if its just me, but when you run into an alien ship, it should look – you know – alien. Not like a rusted version of the old ship with the same tech, weapons, and dead humans everywhere.
Points: You get points at the end of a level, but no bonus for how well you do. They are just there for… why are they there again?
Upgrades: The upgrades seem a little clunky, and the lack of an accuracy upgrade for some of the weapons is just unforgivable. But, then again, there is always the shot cannon. Mmm, love my cannon…
Co-op: The lack of storyline co-op seems to be a glaring omission. I know it’s a budget title, but would it have been that much harder?
Easy Mode: Don’t play it on less than Veteran; anything else and it lacks the punch.
Alien Breed Impact a great little top-down shooter that will keep you on the lookout for the next episodic release. Until then, you still have some co-op killing to get back too.
Reviewed by: Matthew Lye
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 500 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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