Buy Alienation

Since Housemarque's near-runaway success of Super Stardust HD on the PS3, fans have depended on the development house for great twin-stick shooter experiences. Whether it's the cylindrical Defender-style gameplay of Resogun or the undead shooting of Dead Nation, the team has mastered the art on Sony's consoles. Its latest romp on the PS4, Alienation, seems like it would be another instant classic for the developers, and while it is good, you can't help but feel that it could've been a bit better.

Over the last few decades, mankind has been fighting a war with alien invaders, but it's been hidden from the populace with denials and cover-ups by the world governments. The aliens have been winning, and the humans are dwindling in numbers. The defense forces of the Earth have developed exoskeletons to help the remaining soldiers fight the menace. As one of those chosen to wield the suits, you're assigned to a global mission to drive back the aliens and take back your planet.

Some story tropes are present, like scientists who want to examine enemy species and a few people who betray mankind for their own benefit. The story provides no surprises, and it's not exciting enough to merit attention between stages. Thankfully, the game doesn't inundate you with cut scenes, given that story progression is relegated to in-game chatter among your superiors. The snippets of dialogue that bookend each mission can easily be skipped thanks to the game's quick load times.

If you're familiar with the team's work on Dead Nation, then you'll know what to expect from the game mechanics. This is a twin-stick shooter where you need to pull the trigger to fire in the direction you're pointing. You have to consider your ammo count and reload times, but you have a wide-reaching melee attack to defend yourself while waiting for the reload bar to fill up. You have a small cache of weapons, including standard assault rifles, high-powered revolvers, rocket launchers and ordnance. You also earn XP, which can be used to power up your character with active and passive abilities and level up those abilities. Though the game features a level cap, it's a soft one as you work toward a Hero level that's good for more upgrades. While the core gameplay makes this title a spiritual successor to the zombie shooter, that's where the similarities end.

The first difference you'll notice is the addition of three classes. The Tank is meant to be a big damage dealer who you can depend on to take plenty of hits. The Bio-Specialist is a typical healer who also provides some attack abilities. Then there's the Saboteur, the thief equivalent who can move fast, sneak up on enemies, and has the strongest melee attack of the trio. Though the game seems to promote co-op play with the complementary class abilities, you'll be fine running solo with any of the classes.

The other difference you'll notice is that the game moves away from a pure, arcade-style twin-stick shooter and into Diablo territory. Alienation emphasizes loot and the different things that are done to it. Though the weapon variety isn't vast, each weapon has different levels and stats that make them distinct. For example, you can compare two level-six rifles with different clip sizes and levels of damage. Those weapons can be further augmented by adding cores for damage and critical hits. Just like the stats, the number of slots available for core placement vary per weapon. There is no store in the game, but you are incentivized to pick up weaker weapons and break them down into core components, which are then used to reroll weapon stats. It provides you with the chance to improve weapon abilities, and it gives you a reason to stick with a certain weapon a little longer than you might have.

The loot system, buffs and XP system serve as the catalysts for the campaign mode. The maps for each of the 20 missions are quite sizeable to the point where it takes an average of 25 minutes to complete the story objectives. The core missions are nothing new, as you'll perform mundane things like hitting switches, finding essential equipment, and blowing up alien ships or nests. However, those same levels are packed with loads of enemies and events that keep things interesting. Secret loot-heavy areas are peppered throughout each stage. You can't walk a few feet without running into a small group of enemies, and a few pockets contain small horde invasions. There are even a few optional boss fights that yield some great loot. The variety may not be overwhelming, but there's always something to do.

The game also employs a risk/reward system in a few different places. You can choose the difficulty level for all of your missions; harder ones take away resources from you at the start in exchange for increased XP and loot rewards. You also have the chance to destroy respawn points instead of activating them, further increasing the loot drops from that point on in the stage. In exchange, you're forced to respawn at the starting point, and defeated enemies also return.

The excellent combat mechanics make all of the activities more exciting. Everything from melee attacks to bursts of gunfire feel impactful. Explosive elements are everywhere, and there's nothing like seeing a chain of them go off. The levels provide enough space to help you maneuver through the enemy hordes, especially once you employ some class-specific abilities, like cloaking and dashing. More importantly, you'll encounter plenty of elevation changes that force you to think up some tactics on the fly so you don't waste your shots. Those little things make the game feel like a nice blend of near-brainless action title and something slightly more tactical.

As alluded to earlier, Alienation features online co-op, and it does plenty of things right. The different classes complement each other rather well, so while you might be able to get by on most levels with only one class type, the experience is certainly amplified when different ones are at play. Enemy scaling is balanced nicely and is dependent on the number of players present, and the lag is nonexistent in every mission. While co-op play is certainly the highlight e, you can opt to have other players invade your session and act as enemies if you want PvP and PvE.

However, it is an odd design decision to have everyone stick together at all times as if this were a local co-op game. Since the maps are so large, it makes more sense to give players the ability to wander on their own without being tethered to the group leader. It becomes even more baffling when you learn that the title features no offline couch co-op whatsoever. The studio has promised that the feature is coming soon via a patch, but since Dead Nation had that feature at launch and Helldivers does the same, this is disappointing.

The title falters in a few other areas. With the game always being online, there is no pause feature. That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that the game completely covers up the action with a full pause menu. You can hear what's going on, so you'll know if you're being attacked while you're changing things, but it would've been nicer to see the actions happening instead. Additionally, the tutorial is rather sparse. It teaches you the basics, like moving and clambering over objects, but you'll only discover deeper things like equipment use and switching between firearm types through trial and error or via the tooltips you'll likely skip on the loading screen. Finally, the game could use some variety when it comes to weapons and enemy types. It doesn't take long before you see the same enemy models in different colors, and while the arsenal is nice, it would've been cool to see some more imaginative weaponry.

At first, the graphics seem rather pedestrian because there isn't anything to catch your attention. The same applies to the character and alien designs, both of which look familiar enough but don't possess a game-specific signature style. Locked to a solid 30fps at all times, the game doesn't feel like it's pushing the hardware. What changes your mind is the abundance of particle effects. Explosions look massive, and smoke plumes from destroyed structures look intimidating because of their detail and size. Ash, snow flurries and sparks are everywhere, and it's impressive to see them dance around the screen — even if it can be borderline superfluous. Given the sheer number of enemies and other on-screen elements, the graphics finally come into their own and become impressive.

While the graphics end up being positively surprising, the sound fails to elicit the same kind of reaction. The effects are fine but nothing extraordinary. Allies and enemies stay rather quiet. The voices that are present vary from bored to appropriate, and while there aren't any terrible performances, they aren't enough to get you interested in the plot. As for the music, it is appropriate for a sci-fi action game, but it isn't strong enough to be noticeable above the effects. Without an outstanding track to anchor everything, it's immediately forgettable.

Ultimately, the objectives in Alienation aren't anything special, but the good shooting mechanics and abundance of things to do make up for that. The loot and XP systems will keep players addicted, while the campaign length is just right. It could've used more weapon variety and local co-op, but overall, Alienation is a dependable addition.

Score: 8.0/10