I've tried 3 separate times to get into Alien Soldier. I feel I should love it, everyone else seems to love it. Yet every time within 30 minutes I've bounced off of it like a bodybuilder throwing a ball at a wall.
I suspect this is a me problem rather than a game problem. Alien Soldier does not ease you in and throws you straight in so that in less than 3 minutes you are fighting a boss where you can run along the ceiling. This game goes to 11 immediately and never slows down so you can get comfortable with the clunky and unintuitive controls. Whilst it does have an interactive tutorial menu it doesn't help when you're thrown into the front lines trying to remember what controls allow you to block, dash, change stance or bring up the weapon reel. Honestly this game feels ahead of it's time that it's trying to give so many options on a controller with so few buttons.
The whole game feels clunky in a way I don't have the patience to learn and adapt to. The weapon reel doesn't pause the game which would be fine if your weapons didn't (needlessly) run out of energy forcing you to swap at the worst time. This means you are guaranteed to receive a cheap hit like a trout to the face as bringing it up is slow and cumbersome, when you remember which button and direction do it. The levels have super tight timers for no reason, and resource managing your weapon energy on top is just a chore.
Despite my lack of enjoyment of actually playing this there is a great deal of charm here. The ludicrous story reel fed in a scrolling feed like Star Wars fan fiction, the huge chunky character model, the extreme fast pace, and colourful visuals are all great. I can see how people would like, nay, love this game when they learn the controls and mechanics so they are second nature rather than having to think then get an energy bullet to the face as I did.
+ Great visual and art design.
+ Fast paced non stop action.
- Does not give you time to acclimatise.
- Control system feels clunky and unintuitive.
I suspect this is a me problem rather than a game problem. Alien Soldier does not ease you in and throws you straight in so that in less than 3 minutes you are fighting a boss where you can run along the ceiling. This game goes to 11 immediately and never slows down so you can get comfortable with the clunky and unintuitive controls. Whilst it does have an interactive tutorial menu it doesn't help when you're thrown into the front lines trying to remember what controls allow you to block, dash, change stance or bring up the weapon reel. Honestly this game feels ahead of it's time that it's trying to give so many options on a controller with so few buttons.
The whole game feels clunky in a way I don't have the patience to learn and adapt to. The weapon reel doesn't pause the game which would be fine if your weapons didn't (needlessly) run out of energy forcing you to swap at the worst time. This means you are guaranteed to receive a cheap hit like a trout to the face as bringing it up is slow and cumbersome, when you remember which button and direction do it. The levels have super tight timers for no reason, and resource managing your weapon energy on top is just a chore.
Despite my lack of enjoyment of actually playing this there is a great deal of charm here. The ludicrous story reel fed in a scrolling feed like Star Wars fan fiction, the huge chunky character model, the extreme fast pace, and colourful visuals are all great. I can see how people would like, nay, love this game when they learn the controls and mechanics so they are second nature rather than having to think then get an energy bullet to the face as I did.
+ Great visual and art design.
+ Fast paced non stop action.
- Does not give you time to acclimatise.
- Control system feels clunky and unintuitive.
7 Comments
@Weatherby - I forgot about the parry mechanic almost the instant I started. Like I said, this is more likely a me problem rather than the game. 😂
To be fair, not even the manual places much emphasis on parrying to clue you in on how it can be used to exploit the phoenix teleport. Not that it cheapens the game (you gain far less than you lose, so taking a couple hits can really screw up your ability to chain them), but it did turn my experience with it around from being absolutely brutal being able to beat it in a sitting without save states.
Great review, and I hope I'm not making it out to be like you didn't play it right or something. I just thought it was a funny coincidence we both played this in the last few days and wanted to share my experience.
Great review, and I hope I'm not making it out to be like you didn't play it right or something. I just thought it was a funny coincidence we both played this in the last few days and wanted to share my experience.
@Weathetrby - I didn't take it like that mate no worries, it actually gave me better insight as to how I should play it so if I at some point try for the 4th time I'll give that method more of a go. I was mostly using guns and dodging through bosses when learning their patterns rather than partying as it's not a mechanic I traditionally enjoy so I suspect I was flat out playing it wrong. That is my issue though is this game just doesn't teach you the basics and I am not patient enough I think.
It's definitely one of those "read and internalize the manual before playing" games that were so typical of the 90s, and even then there's a whole lot it expects you to just piece together on your own. I kinda love that about it but I can also see how that would lead to people having more frustrating experiences with the game. My first playthrough I didn't even realize fire was effective on organics and that lasers were for machines, I'm pretty sure I pushed my way through with the standard and homing shots.
Agreed, it's just too much all at once and immediately. I keep booting it up periodically and bouncing off it.
If you're willing to emulate, there is a six-button hack that might alleviate some issues you have with the controls.
Weatherby
6 months ago