jamielove
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Central to the exploration of the game, any member of that squad that dies in battle is permanently lost.
When a member of the squad dies, another must be selected via the touchscreen, and is immediately dispatched to the same location, which certainly makes boss encounters slightly less stressful. To keep players from running out of marines and exclaiming “game over man!”, additional marines are scattered throughout the game’s environments. However, these extra marines will only join the player’s squad if there is an open space in the four man roster, and otherwise remain where they are.
The game allows players to mark spots such as extra marine locations on the map by deploying a signal flare for future reference. There’s no direct difference between the controls and abilities of the various marines, who differ only in the level of attitude they give during key conversations.
Some of these marines will inevitably be left behind. While the primary focus of the game takes place aboard the Sulaco, players will leave the ship to follow the story to LV-426 and a research facility, which the player is unable to return to at later points. The game does ensure that players are highly unlikely to leave anything vital behind - namely the extra weapons available (flamethrower, heavy turret, shotgun in addition to the standard machinegun).
Leaving marines behind is something I’ve found a bit stressful given how many I tend to lose during boss battles, which have players square off against oversized deviations on the aliens theme, and tend to cost at least half my squad every time. As much as I’ll suggest that marines don’t have memorable personalities, I still formed attachments that kept me sending the stereotype I liked least in first to face bosses, and I’d definitely have preferred a Pokemon vibe that encouraged “catching ‘em all.”
The backtracking that does take place aboard the Sulaco leads players toward large sections of the ship that are reserved for certain spots in the narrative progression, and by the end I had reached 98% completion without breaking a sweat. That’s not such a bad thing given how well the game mixes 2D gameplay with Aliens’ aesthetic, but it does lessen immediate replay value. Marines might have different personalities, but nothing to really shine through and make it worth putting together different teams or the like.
Despite how secretive the Weyland-Yutani corporation is regarding their alien research, there simply isn’t an ample supply of secrets for players to uncover. The primary story that unfolds fits the franchise mold, and developer Way Forward has convincingly captured the sounds and sights fans would expect, which serves as the primary invitation in the absence of deeper exploration demanding repeated revisits.
The real job of charming players falls to the gorgeous 2D depiction of the franchise’s blockbuster entry, the mix of isolative moments, where the familiar blip of the motion sensor warns of swarming aliens ahead, and the more panicked areas that leave players contending with the creatures as they drop from overhead and face huggers leap from eggs, shifting the emphasis to survival over exploration. While the result may differ from initial expectations, it perhaps better suits the franchise, and certainly offers a game worth enlisting with for at least one tour of duty.
For more information on Aliens: Infestation, check out the futureshop.ca product pages here.
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