The Digest: Famously known for their Worms franchise, developer Team 17 has gone back to their roots. This remake of the Amiga classic does what the title suggests. While improving upon the originals top-down view with an isometric camera angle and improved graphics and sound, Alien Breed Evolution will have you wishing Ripley was right by your side.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: December 16th, 2009
PUBLISHER: Team 17
DEVELOPER: Team 17
ESRB RATING: T (Teen)
GENRE: Action
PRICE: $10 (800MSP)

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:

Alien Breed™ Evolution (Episode 1) marks the rebirth of a gaming legend that has laid dormant for years. While the core gameplay remains intact, the technology, online component, and production values have improved immeasurably for your pleasure. The first episode of three has you battling alone or partnering up against the “breed,” offline or online over five action-packed single-player levels and three multiplayer levels. Including bar-raising visuals and immersive gameplay, Alien Breed Evolution (Episode 1) is the definitive must-have action horror title you’ve been waiting for!

PRODUCT FEATURES

• Gripping storyline: The first thrilling episode of a trilogy relays the events of what happened on the doomed space station and just how the “breed” was unleashed.
• Top-end graphics and audio: Experience high quality and attractive visuals, all rendered in high-definition resolution, and rich, atmospheric sound effects. Epic’s Unreal Engine3 powers the game and sumptuous visuals.
• Extensive single-player content: Battle your way through five challenging levels of horror and action as you reel with fear at what’s happening before your very eyes.
• Multiplayer action: Get together with a friend and work as a lethal two-man unit in order to combat the “breed” from the same console or online with Xbox LIVE®.
• Intelligent enemies: Swarms of highly intelligent enemies not only see and hear the player, but also smell their blood! Brain and brawn will be required to defeat them.
• Realistic environments: The rich game universe is populated with the savage and bloodthirsty breed, and interactive non-player characters to help, hinder, and advance the story.
• Show me more-ability: Each episode concludes with a cliffhanger, drawing you into the full story.
• Weapons system: Six destructive, high-impact, visually stunning weapons are at your disposal to wipe out the horrors.
• Stylised storytelling: Lush comic-book style panels carry the story and characterisation as the narrative unfolds.
• Rankings and leaderboards: Co-op multiplayer, online stats, and leaderboards are all featured.

The Amiga would be proud Upon loading up Alien Breed Evolution (ALB) for the first time, something didn’t seem right. I hate to admit it, but I got the creeps. In creating a mood of darkness and heightened anxiety, Team 17 managed to pull me into the story of ALB without having hit the start button, and that’s how I played the game. I was constantly walking slowly and watching my back because I always had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. Team 17 clearly drew inspiration from James Cameron’s Aliens movie and managed to emulate the atmosphere perfectly.

The game is broken up into 5 chapters which each take roughly an hour to complete. The story of Alien Breed Evolution is presented in comic book style panels and revolves around Conrad, one of a handful of survivors on the spaceship Leopold. The Leopold has collided with another ship and has now been overrun by aliens who have pretty much killed off everyone. Though not very well explained, Conrad’s story begins here as you’ll have to battle your way through hordes of Aliens to escape this predicament. ALB starts off with a tutorial-type intro of the controls as you begin to navigate through the corridors of the Leopold (which has seen better days). You start off with a flashlight and a hand gun which has unlimited ammo but is weak unless you encounter some of the smaller aliens. Even then, I found the melee attack far better to use. Eventually you’ll pick up other weapons such as a machine gun, a cannon gun, flame thrower and a laser rifle along with grenades (both frag and stun). Switching through weapons is a bit too clunky. I found myself sticking with one weapon during alien encounters rather than switching and using grenades felt even clunkier as it takes too long to deploy one and during a heavy encounter, there just wasn’t any time to use them. You’ll be able to search for items either on dead corpses or lockers which can include additional ammo or health packs. You’ll actually spend far more time exploring the environment for items such as ship logs than you will finding your way around. That’s because everything is pretty much laid out for you on your map which doubles as a motion detector. You’re given waypoints and sometimes the hardest part will be trying to find your way around an obstacle. This is where the camera system in ALB works great. By pressing the left or right shoulder buttons, you can rotate the camera in several different directions. So, an area that you may have missed from one angle because there wasn’t enough light, you’ll be able to see now.

The main objective for all 5 chapters revolves around getting the elevator working again. This made ALB become too repetitive as you’ll go to point A to find out you have to go point B, then back to A then to C. Along the way, you’ll surprisingly encounter some aliens. This is where the game really keeps you on edge because you’ll think everything is fine until you start seeing red dots popping up on your map and making their way toward you. The aliens pretty much all charge at you except for a few that have projectiles. When they charge at you from one direction, it’s not that big a deal but, when you’re put in a corridor that has aliens attacking from two different directions, things get tense. Running is an option but, similar to Gears of War, you can only run for a few seconds. Getting into a corner and firing off the flame thrower or machine gun will be your best bet. This wasn’t all that bad playing on Normal or Veteran difficulties but, playing on Elite is a whole new ballgame. Enemies attack in some serious waves and you’ll find yourself having to use health packs more regularly since the health doesn’t recover as quickly.  Enemies also took a lot more ammo to kill in Elite mode which made it a more strategic experience.  Having to watch my ammo and health packs made for a much more tense experience while having to battle upward of 6 aliens at one time.  Playing Elite mode gave me the impression that this is the way Alien Breed was meant to be played, while giving the five mission more length.

Co-op play has also made its way into this remake in the form of CO-OP Assault. Here you’ll play the role of two additional survivors over 3 levels and although it’s great and I had a lot of fun with it, I also found a few missed opportunities. In this mode, you lose the ability to rotate the camera and you’re limited to being in the same space as your teammate, so going off on your own is not an option. However, the action is more intense, difficult and faster. My main gripe with the co-op is that there isn’t an option to play through the story’s 5 episodes with a friend via XBL or local play.

Alien Breed Evolution isn’t revolutionary nor does it claim to be. It’s a pure throwback to a fun action game. Fans of the original will love this remake as well as the new co-op functionality. While missions can be repetitive and co-op functionality is lacking in story mode, there is no denying that Team 17 has crafted a gaming atmosphere that I haven’t felt in quite some time. It’s a fun experience that doesn’t come around often…at least until Episode 2.

Single Player: 7/10 | Multi-Player: 7/10