X-Com: Enforcer

This is the most fun I've had with shooters in a long, long time. It's just pure carnage that never lets up. The levels are interesting and each has different objectives to prevent the killing from getting stale. The upgrade system is fantastic too. The buffs each upgrade gives you are huge so you end up flying around the levels at ridiculous speeds within a few missions. The full game is about 3-4 hours long on normal mode so it doesn't last long enough to get boring. If it wasn't for the XCOM name people would have loved this.

Forget the rest of the X-Com series; Enforcer plays like the third-person love child of Alien Shooter and Painkiller (with maybe a touch of Mobile Suit Gundam). In this third-person shooter, you are the "Enforcer," a machine built specifically to destroy alien invaders. Wave after wave of aliens come at you fast and furious while you try to eradicate every green-blooded baddie and the transporters they're warping in while also rescuing hostages, collecting weapons upgrades, health upgrades, and bonus letters (that unlock special, alien-free bonus rounds). To make things even more frantic, you're only allowed to carry one weapon at a time. Each kill drops collectible "data points" that can be used between rounds to purchase permanent improvements to your weapons and mech suit. Like the Alien Shooter and Painkiller series, Enforcer is completely brainless, but an absolute blast to play. Turn down the in-game techno soundtrack, crank up the metal, and go spill some green blood!

Don't expect anything true X-Com in here. It's a short, fun, and quirky arcade shooter to kill a little bit of time. It's good fun in small doses though camera isn't perfect and the doctor never shuts up.

I'm honestly surprised by how much fun I had playing through this. The game is just pure chaos. Some of the earlier weapon pickups you're saddled with aren't enjoyable at all, such as the flamethrower and freeze gun. But once you get a hold of the mass driver, a weapon that fires these high-intensity bolts and looks a bit like a portable rail gun, things definitely pick up. There's also this spinning saw weapon which is a lot of fun at close range when you're dealing with dozens upon dozens of enemies surrounding you. On top of the fast paced gameplay you'll hear some humorous monotone lines from the cyborg you're playing as and encouraging words from the scientist who created it, which do a good job of injecting a nice amount of character into the game. There's also a pretty good soundtrack. The whole thing felt like a third-person Smash TV at times. I'd say the game is definitely worth checking out if you're interested. It's only 3-5 hours long anyway.