Alien Syndrome

"Alien Syndrome gave me a Human Syndrome"

ALIEN SYNDROME: REVIEW

Most games you play have a kind of area they fall under on the spectrum of quality. I'm not a big graphics fanatic but I do enjoy eye candy in GUI's (Graphical User Interface) and details in CGI's and a low difference in the graphical quality between CGI and actual game play. But typically my standards in quality lie elsewhere; my system for determining quality is very simple; there are games that are so fun I can go back years later and still enjoy it (Super Smash Bros Melee) or games that you can't even go through once without a puke bag next to you; just incase you start thinking about what the developers of this game were thinking (Spectrobes). Alien Syndrome had me at a cross roads, the game was fun and seemed to have a lot of potential in multiplayer, that is of course until you test this potential out.

Graphics: 3

I understand that this game is a PSP port but understanding this I wonder why Nintendo would accept such a blatant slap in the face. Someone must be having a wonderful laugh at Nintendo's expense because they are simply reemphasizing that the Wii is only as graphically promising as oh lets say the Xbox on its worst day. Was this game actually a joke (graphical wise) or was the marketing manager actually serious when he proposed the idea of porting a hand held game directly to a “Next Gen console”. Ok the graphical quality of this game is very poor, if you can get past the very old “War Craft 3” object models (Not even “The Frozen Throne” models were this bad) you might be able to NOT enjoy this game at all because theirs a whole slew of other issues. The only good things about this game come back and bites you in the arse later.

There is not a single cinematic scene only still comic book artwork with negligible voice acting. The FMV's aren't anything special only a generic walk in entrance in most cases and the same old default voiceovers. To me what hurts this game the most is that I was expecting a fast paced shooter PSO (Phantasy Star Online) instead in the character select menu you get about 5 different variations of the exact same explicative deleted person! I cannot emphasize enough how much that blows out of it's a**.

In short if you want a game with high quality graphics this is not the title you should be looking for.

Story: 1

Ok, the story is slightly different, and it comes across a little bit too strong at times, (hmm, nothing like blasting space mutants while seeking true love.) Basically theirs about 25 minutes of shooting and then 30 seconds of story and it seems like the dev's actually want to jerk some tears but c'mon I bought this game to shoot and have fun with friends. Plus anyway do you really think 30 seconds of sentimental gibberish is really needed if you've been shooting and exploding and smashing things for 30 minutes. This games story just blows, it doesn't get a 0 simply because “Totally Games” tried.

Simply put this story had nothing to do with the main female protagonist or at least it should have had nothing to do with her. Basically it's one of those stories where it's a washed up Hit man or Killer type persona at the end of their rope and about to break down but the message comes across in all types of wrong, FYI Aileen is 21, hmm… Ok this is shakey ground at best so for now the Stories quality for this game will have to hold and enjoy a “1”.

In the end if you need a game with a good strong story, this isn't a good buy for you, or even a rental.

Music/SFX: 7

The music gets a seven because I don't even hear it half the time over the explosions (I chose demolition =P ) because of this theirs no noise aside from the explosions which I find decent, however if you stop and listen to the music then you realize its nothing but generic dungeon stuff, which works so life is ok.

The sound effects are a major no, no: First off there is no chime for when your hp is low thus sometimes in the thick of combat you will just drop dead not realizing your armor which has a DA (Damage Absorb) of 1 – 67 decided to absorb 1 and let you handle the 66 left over. This one missing tid-bit makes the game play much more of a chore as you have to keep a steady eye on your hp not the action. Otherwise the sound effects are solid and allow for a kind of realistic feel to the game.

Game Play: 4

Ok honestly the Game seemed to have so much potential here and not because of the Wiimote but because of the multiplayer, by this point I had abandoned caring about this games graphics and even the (at this point) inconvenient and thank goodness skip able story incurrence, however it would be here I would realize just how badly this game failed.

The game provides Solid mechanics with easy to aim shooting good strafing and constant barrages of enemies spawning ahead of you and behind you. The only flaw here is the melee fighting, which alone takes this game down from a 10 to an 8.

If you're a sharp shooter chances are you will run out of ammo before you can say “Bullets FTW!” and unfortunately you can't throw your gun at things so you have to use a Melee weapon. Woops I'm sorry I mean “the” melee weapon, as you only use one generic model as a melee weapon (some weird pole arm.) Using the melee weapon will murder your wrist, the melee weapon is slow and even though you swing it doesn't do anything until its done doing its animation, if they were going to make this game so rigid on attacking by swinging the Wiimote perhaps melee attacks would have been better off with timed button presses.

The camera angles don't bother you often but when you have to change them it becomes a total pain in your wrist. The only good thing is that it's not too responsive where it would spin the camera because I moved into a more comfortable position. This games camera high-jinks earns it so far a 7 out of 10.

So multiplayer is where its supposed to be at, or at least you would expect it to be there. Here comes the surprise; the multiplayer sucks, each one of your friends is stuck using some incarnation of Aileen and the story doesn't (didn't expect it to) compensate for the additional 3 players. Finally your character doesn't actually exist, it's more like you're an importable character from another save file. So even with all the stat growing this game turns into the same old cr** really fast solely because nothing is unique about anything that this game applies.

There are many other issues with this game but I'm tired and rating Alien Syndrome has given me even worse of a headache than it did when I played it.

Over View: 4 (3.75) honestly this should be a 2

Don't rent this game or buy this game for the Wii unless of course you and your friends enjoy it, then go for it. If you are interested in this game I'd recommend buy a you get it for the PSP because if you like Nintendo then this game will embarrass you on behalf of Nintendo and leave you wondering did you just waste $250 on the Wii.

Even if you do rent it for the PSP I recommend you don't, find a demo and try it that way. Honestly if you do rent it then rent it with the intent on lending it to your worst enemy or someone who has wronged you in a past life.

If you're a Nintendo Fan like me then you will do what I plan on doing, making a list of all the crummy developers and not buying their stuff for the Wii.

Crummy Developer List:
Ubisoft (Ports) – Even their GCN to Wii port Failed
Totally Games – If you are wondering why just read the above.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/30/07