Let’s start with a controversial point; watching the “Alien” series and the universe built by HR Giger has always been part of my life as an adult who loves movies, but I actually don’t like James Cameron. What the “Alien” movie did to the platform built by Giger and Ridley Scott.
Despite being carefully crafted and very beautifully practiced, I always feel that James Cameron’s “Alien” overexposes this alien creature, making the tall alien, which is hailed as the most intimidating character on the screen, almost immediately degenerate To the outdated and old-fashioned situation. Just like when our stereotyped Marines entered their lair on LV-426, its haunting, spooky and unworldly qualities were erased.
Alien should be almost extraordinary, a purely terrifying creature; it should go beyond destruction, or Darwin’s analysis of these worldly things. However, it degenerates here so quickly that it is on par with any other predator mindset.
The previously released “Alien: Isolation” can understand this part of the universe it explains, and maintain such a sense of vulgarity, and therefore is still my favorite horror game. However, “Alien: Tactical Squad” produced by Cold Iron Studios is very obvious. After playing the game for about 30 seconds, I did not exaggerate, let you use a gun to bring down at least 30 alien creatures, these creatures blindly flock in groups Rushing towards you, the game gives up all the feeling of predators, because they are just driven to the direction of your gun.
This is the experience brought about by “Alien: Tactical Squad”, although, at some moments, the game does try to capture the iconic low-fi atmosphere and atmosphere of this series, and even when it does a good job, but in a nutshell, you Most of the time will still be used to eliminate hordes of aliens. Until you feel as numb to it like a colonial marine that has to serve in the dark space for many years.
In structure, it is similar to some other recent cooperative games, with a set of operating foundations, and you can slightly customize your role, abilities, and positions. From here you begin to perform tasks, these tasks are packaged into separate battles, each battle is composed of several tasks connected together. You can roam freely in the limited physical space, but this is mainly a lobby where you can invite other players to form a 3-person team with you.
Before we arrive at the Katanga refinery, let’s talk about careers. There are currently 4 professions in the game: Gunner, Destroyer, Technician, Medical Officer, and Scout. Each has two different abilities. Connect these together to create explosions, traffic jams, and increase shooting capabilities. Or support is crucial. Too many cooperative games have a smooth career system, so that every player can basically complete all tasks satisfactorily, so it is reassuring to see that a suitable career-based system can be arranged here.
In addition, you won’t run out of items in a hurry to make adjustments. There are 4 types of weapons, each of which consists of several models. These can be further customized through accessories, challenge cards and even weapon shapes. These shapes cannot be purchased through microtransactions. Please note that the game does not have a microtransaction system.
So, here you are, 23 years after the original “Alien” trilogy, the colonial task force stationed on the American Federal Space Force Endeavour will play a key role in the new epic event and stand up to the terrifying alien threat. And as mentioned above, it is second nature to shoot at anything that moves quickly, which eliminates many of the inherent fears even the Marine Corps will feel when exploring LV-426. When cannon fodder (those aliens) rush toward you from all directions, you can use class-based abilities such as overclocking, miniature rockets, and even reliable sentry guns. There is a meaningless cover system, because 95% of the enemies always run towards you in melee range. Oh, there are also different types of aliens.
Spitter sprays acid at you; Drone comes out of nowhere, causing you to lose a lot of health and then hides in the vent; Prowler takes the sneak route and prefers to sneak attack from behind. But more than that, obviously, every different alien requires a special tactical understanding to deal with them. In particular, Warrior really exudes some of the frightening feelings I said before. When it stands on its hind legs, it looks almost indestructible, so there is still a trace of real scary presence here.However, these moments are rare and often appear, and they quickly lose their sense.
You know, “Alien: Tactical Squad” is versatility and offers a lot of tricks, and it was spread out to you in the first few missions. Waiting for the elevator to evacuate you and your squad, gradually turning on the generator, restarting or shutting down the machine to achieve propulsion, all this feels familiar, and there has never been a proper narrative dimension. This is built for replayability, which is certain, so it seems that Cold Iron restricts itself to a rather boring goal, and there is rarely anything other than “going to this part of the station” or “defending this position”. How to play. You are investigating in Katanga, but there are not many investigation tasks to be done. The player is more like a beautified exterminator, eliminating the inconvenience one by one, rather than carrying out sinister tasks.
The control feels a bit clumsy, and it lacks the physicality of some of the best zombie games such as “Evil Force 2”, but this game seems to draw inspiration from it. The system is not broken. In the cooperative mode, sometimes you will let your pulse rifle split, stand beside your teammates, and even stand in awe of your own destructive ability. But most of the time, the alien will rush towards you very quickly, even a trace of the front line will be erased in a few seconds, the rest of the time you are running around like a headless fly, just trying to avoid the alien one. Bo attacked another physical attack.
This is a pity, because Cold Iron makes very delicate things both visually and audibly. Of course, “Alien: Tactical Squad” does not seem to be particularly characteristic of the next generation, but a strong atmosphere can be found here. Even if Katanga does not provide much in terms of appropriate visual diversity, the studio uses some Smart ways to change the situation, for example, make red warning lights appear throughout the station, adding a layer to the original gray background. Frankly speaking, the music is very good, echoes the original “Alien”, and is very well done. Combine this with all the sound designs in your favorite movies, such as the electrical impulse of a rifle, and the beep and buzz of the iconic old computer.
With the promise of free seasons and free next-generation upgrades in the future, “Alien: Tactical Squad” is likely to have a good and long gaming career. Obviously, Cold Iron’s team really likes Alien, so maybe it can change in time. But for now, the actual part of playing the game feels too repetitive. It lacks any tension and there is no brewing. This is because the game does not know how to entertain the players, just keeps on putting more on you. Alien passed by.
With a game like “GTFO”, we know that it is possible to design a cooperative shooting game that maintains a sense of tension, fear, and moves in an area full of enemies, and if you are not careful, there is no perfect synchronization. Your character will most likely lose his life. Although “Alien: Tactical Squad” was not completely completed, there are still moments of inspiration that make you very much hope that it would be done.