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2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
3 stars
Version: Alien Arena 2007 6.10
"Nothing New, But Does it Well"
Pros: What are you expecting for a free game? Peanuts?
I honestly can't say this would be my full opinion, however, because this game still plays exactly like Quake II...except with a few more shots you can take to the body before your alien bites the dust. Quake II was a good game, to be fair, but that was in 1998. But I'll get my fair share of ranting in later; this is the pro section.
I run a fairly nice laptop, but it really can't handle much other than the occasional Rise of Nations campaign due to a lacking video card. Alien Arena has a sweet tooth for taking whatever computer its on and making the most of it, so even on a GeForce 2 this baby will shine. Things that I would have to turn off in most other games (I'm looking at you, Nexuiz) can stay on and the game is still playable.
The community is a nice bunch, if a little earnest (I got sick of hearing the nonstop happiness and see-no-evil attitude that the forums are bathed in). Help is a few mouse clicks away, and the documents are very professional.
In fact, the entire game is very professional. From this release the entire game gets to the point that they could see it for the $5 jewel case rack and no one would be disapointed, and soon even the $10. For a free game, it beats down the competition in terms of polish, because the devs have been constantly polishing the spots that most people will want to see.
Cons: But the people saying this game looks "Next Gen?" Where are your eyes? Certainly not looking at Crysis, World of Conflict, or Bioshock, I'm sure. For a laptop standard this game is a worth the grins and giggles, but past that if you really must go to this level then you need a new computer. This is more of a fault of the Quake II engine, which is fien for the laptop, but, again, if you're looking for top-of-the-line this is not the place to be.
Again, the gameplay. It's Quake II, with a little bit of the speed of Quake III. Certainly not as fast as, or faster, than Quake III, which I actualy prefer. The weapon set isn't very likable and do much too little damage (compared to the Unreal games), and many of the smaller weapons make the game horridly unbalanced. Once a level one bot gets a rocket launcher, I noticed quickly with a grimice, the game turns into a dodge and run. You're only hoping that you can grab another weapon similar to the rockets, because the blasters are laughably weak.
That, as well: it's newb un-friendly as well. If you want a good FPS to start the genre for, go play something like OpenArena or Quake III. To play this game competively, you must start learning the maps very well and get deep into the roots of the game itself, something that most casual FPS gamers will not want to do.
I said that the devs are polishing the game; the problem is the places they polish. The GUI, the HUD, and the graphics are all great. The sound is excellent, the game oozes cool...for a few minutes. Then you realize that it's just the same game you played nine years ago, and we go back to playing Unreal Tournment 2004, Nexuiz, and Halo. What it does, it does extremely well, but what it does well isn't exactly the best you can get on the internet these days.
- 1 reply to this review
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This game is a twitch game, which is fairly rare these days. So yeah, it's quite similar to older Unreal and Quake games. In particular it was directly inspired by UT2004. Compare to something like Halo, where you fall asleep waiting to reach the other end of the map, or Crysis, where you set a brick down on the "forward" button, aim your guy away from the general direction of the enemy, and then go make yourself coffee.
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