Blast from the past.

AOT is one of the most easy going, and barebones cover shooters I’ve ever played. There may be a small dip of nostalgia here since it was one of the very first few games I ever played on PS3, but I still think this is genuinely a good time.

As far as cover shooters go, it’s pretty meat and potatoes. Every level is standard A to B, kill swarms of enemies and push to the end. All the enemies are the same, a couple of heavily armored ones and the bosses don’t add much to the pack. No real challenge elsewhere, just run around maybe do some team based movements like climbing or opening doors, or maybe pulling a latch for another guy to go to another area to hit a button. It’s all been there done that.

Granted that all sounds kinda dull, AOT is actually pretty fluid and fast paced. It was a perfect game to play in between big games or maybe you just hit a wall in a difficult game that requires a lot of time.

Also, the story is roughly 6 hours of 2008 edgey Michal Bay, Early COD era varsity jock vibes. But it flies the hell by and shockingly has a decent amount of customization for weapons and gear!

As far as the gimmicks in gameplay, it wears out quick, but can be fun lashing out commands to your AI teammate in firefights! Once you do the back to back, emotes, and weapon swaps early on. You’ve already tasted everything the game can give you. I think with the game being as short as it is, really helps in that aspect. So nothing really ever gets super tainted.

I’ve seen that most fans of the game prefer the co-op experience, but I never have. I’ve attempted this game with a few friends in my youth and wanted to punch them in the neck, hard.

Just play this shit by yourself, crack open a beer and just let the angsty and outdated dialogue, and plot take you on a testosterone fueled journey of the brown and grey 2008 aesthetic that swarmed the PS3/360 era.

AOT is the definition of dumb fun and can be a weekend play-through you won’t regret.