Reputation Polish studio City Interactive, as we know , has long been tarnished by such “masterpieces ” as the Code of Honor, Battlestrike, Terrorist Takedown, Alcatraz, and other Eastern European budget shooters . After the release of Quest Art of Murder Sniper Ghost Warrior , and the situation seems to be beginning to change for the better. Today, City Interactive has positioned itself to be quite a respectable publisher. On their site you will not find mention of the low-brow Code of Honor, but there are advertised vengeance future next-gen -RPG from the second producer of “The Witcher » Lords of the Fallen and fresh colorful shooter Alien Rage. Last in the trailers and the screenshots look so impressive that there was little doubt he would only strengthen the reputation of the new Polish studio .
Classics of the genre
Authors Alien Rage really wanted to make the ” old school ” hardcore action with role-playing elements and unusual weapon – a sort of mixture of Doom 3 , Bulletstorm and Painkiller. And technically , these conditions seem to be met. The entire game takes place in the corridors of spaceships and aliens stations that compete with people for access to powerful sources of energy found on a distant planet. We’re fighting the aliens and collect the record from which we learn how to cooperate first two races , and then had a falling out due to unauthorized access to military technology “them.”
For killing enemies give experience . And if in doing so we aptly sadim enemies in the head , and even a few times in a row, or destroying several villains with a single shot in any detonating an explosive capacity, then it is given even more. A certain amount of ” exp ” will unlock new line of passive skills , among which we can at any time freely switch , activating different bonuses – increased magazine capacity , reducing damage from beam weapons , anti- stun and so on.
Aliens may destroy not only the usual , “human” weapons , but also alien “guns ” that fall out of defeated each carcass. And almost every “trunk” there are alternative modes of fire : one is transformed into a grenade launcher , the other shoots fireballs , shoot down enemies to the ground and stun them …
No surprises
However, Alien Rage far from Doom 3 , Bulletstorm and Painkiller. Here, everything is much more uniform , simple and boring . First, the level design can be called the standard method of ” copy-paste”. Reproduced here entourage alien ships and stations banal to the obscene. Throughout the game you ‘ll see the same corridors, rooms with computers and the doors that we are one and the same scheme explode or strained open.
Role-playing system is primitive , opening up new skills long and dreary . And the alternative firing modes too predictable and not give that fun that was in Bulletstorm or Painkiller, where it was possible to destroy enemies the most sophisticated and fun ways and still combine the effects of different ” guns” .
In general , the main problem Alien Rage is a banality , predictability and secondary . The plot, enemies, shooting , Arsenal, large “bosses” – all we ‘ve seen. Suffice it to say that the fight with the first ” boss ” forces the player to 10-15 minutes of real time to just sit for a primitive shelters and occasionally fire intermittently into a monster. It’s very exciting ! Game sorely lacking some interesting , unexpected events and surprises. It can not and does not seek to surprise. Yes , you can ride a trolley , shooting aliens with a machine gun , and even manage a ” fur ” , destroying everything that moves – but for shooters is as much a cliche as the repair of a switch board for quests. Although during these episodes would still like to say thank you – without them it would be very very sad.
Of course , someone like that the game throws quite a serious challenge – to survive in the Alien Rage at times very, very difficult. But it is not all smooth. Most enemies behave too primitive even by the standards of classic ” old school ” shooter , where they have never been very specific intelligence and wit . For example, the aliens are long and aimlessly running from place to place. Or climb ahead, even in spite of the sad fate of his colleagues , in many situations, you can survive if you just hide somewhere and methodically shooting at aliens rushing at you . Really really pleased that the presence of invisible enemies that are very unexpected and not just materialize under your nose or directly behind .
Alien Rage like a return to the ground and the very City Interactive, and we , the players, who believed in the fact that the Polish studio has moved to a new level of development. We once again have a primitive, secondary to the bone and banal shooter that is very similar to some of the same quality Russian games like Creed: they are doing their best to imitate the best, but instead to give due attention to the diversity and depth of the game, the more eager to hit the player graphics.
Pros: increased complexity of some of the episodes , the ability to climb into the cockpit walking robot , to the best of nice graphics .
Cons: boring and predictable plot, a monotonous design locations ; blunt enemies ; total banality of everything.
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