(This is the 60th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)

The first game in the Alien Breed series, simply called Alien Breed, came out in 1990 and was released by Team17, who are behind the Worms series as developers and are more active as publishers these days, most recently publishing 'Dredge'.

This Alien Breed review is for the original version, though there is a 1992 special version with more levels, improved sounds and a funny message at the end explaining that the game didn't have a high budget originally and that, if you are looking for better production value, you should play their other 'blockbuster' games that released since. Those blockbusters? 'Project-X' and 'Assassin', the latter of which reviewed quite well, but that's an interesting definition of blockbuster.

Nevertheless, here is my review for Alienbreed.

STORYTELLING/CHARACTERS | 4/10

You work for the IPC, the Inter Planetary Corps and are sent to a Space Research Centre. Upon arriving, you find it is infested with aliens. This is explained in the opening text scroll. There is an ending text scroll that is not 4th wall breaking here, unlike the special edition, were a sequel is teased. Finally, each stage starts with you getting your objectives/targets.

What I found to be better than your typical early 90's non-adventure / RPG is that there is a tiny bit of lore added here, both regarding the IPC and the Intex Systems technology, which basically works as the in-game menu/store. That said, if you need a good story for your games, this game will of course still not suffice.

GAMEPLAY | 10/20

This has a top-down perspective and is what you would call a run and gun with maze-type levels that you need to explore to find your way forward.

You have a weapon and need to shoot hordes of aliens as you explore, aliens which respawn all the time as you leave a certain screen. You have finite ammo and need to find key items to open locked doors, of which there are many in each level. In fact, there are more doors than keys that you can find, which is really fun whenever you enter an area through an electric barrier (one that doesn't let you exit back out) and find yourself key-less, with doors looking you in. This means you can't continue forward and need to damage yourself on the electric barrier until you die.

Enemies are aliens, and only aliens, which is not so great in terms of variety for a game lacking it in general, for which you can play the low budget I mentioned earlier. Objectives are more or less the same all the time as well, so you will only enjoy this for long, if you really love the simplicity of the game. I suspect that was easier to do back then than it would be today.

There are the few boss fights as well, but they are poorly designed since you can simply hide in a corner, where the enemy can't reach you, and easily kill them. This is worsened by the fact that bosses, as well as normal aliens, can't do any attack apart from ramming into you, again, likely for budgetary reasons.

Overall, this game can easily be described as repetitive and basic, which only those who really enjoy the simplicity of it can go through for more than an hour or two.

MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 7/10

No voice acting. Sound design is so-so, with some good and some awful sounding effects. The music is only present during boss fights, the outro and the title screen (great track). Instead of music during gameplay, all you hear is a sound that I could best describe as a mix of a heart-beat and a cat's purr, but alien sounding. Definitely adds to the atmosphere.

GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 5/10

I don't mind the top-down perspective one bit. I did mind the bland, grayish levels though and the same aliens over and over again with the littlest differences in color based on the level you're in. The only level I truly found worth highlighting was the final one, which looked positively disgusting, as it depicted the Queen Alien's lair.

ATMOSPHERE/IMMERSION | 8/10

Very commendable job done here. The lack of music during gameplay, the sound that plays constantly instead and the timer that starts whenever you finish your objective and have to exit the level as soon as possible make for a stressful, tense, atmospheric experience at times.

CONTENT | 5/10

You go through about more or less 10 levels that all are basically the same. Very repetitive, but you will all have your own perspective on that depending on how much you enjoy the core gameplay.

LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 5/10

I liked the maze-style layout of the levels, but the creativity with that can only go so far, if the gameplay features are lacking. What I didn't like was getting stuck in certain parts because I didn't have enough keys.

CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 4/10

Nothing innovative about this game. The most unique part about it, in my opinion, is the atmosphere it manages to create.

REPLAYABILITY | 1/5

No motivation given to replay this game after having beaten it the first time.

PLAYABILITY | 5/5

Worked well at all times.

OVERALL | 54/100

An average score for a game that is slightly below average in gameplay, slightly below average in graphical presentation, but notably above average in the atmosphere it manages to create. If you enjoy the simplicity of the gameplay, this could be something you can spend a few mindless hours on and enjoy yourself doing so.

Reviewed on May 23, 2023


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