I received all three alien breed games for free, I've only played this one so far. It didn't impress me, I doubt I'll play the rest of the series any time soon. I only played the single player, I imagine it's more fun in co-op, but I also imagine there are better co-op twin stick shooters. It's got good things going for it. Most of the weapons sound nice and are fun to use. The environments are fairly well done, there are dark industrial parts that feel claustrophobic and you'll see movement in the distance only to discover it's just some debris rolling around as the ship sways, and then there are more futuristic sic-fi parts that are bright and open and lend themselves to arena combat, there are some scripted events where you see people getting mauled by aliens or parts of the ship explode, and there are a few special areas like a poison-filled greenhouse or a ghost ship that's been taken over by this strange alien biogrowth. The biggest problem is the repetitive gameplay. There are lots of different enemy types, but the strategy for all of them is shoot it until it dies. And the first few times aliens burst out of the floor to ambush you are tense, but it's less fun when you realize this is the entire game. Plus the mission objectives are dull, they're basically "go to point A to push a button, then backtrack to point B to push another button, then go back point A to go through the previously locked door." Oh and you can only save at designated save stations, so if you die you could get bounced back 5 or 10 minutes and you'll have to redo all that stuff you just did.
I received this product for free, and I'm not really a platformer fan so I wouldn't have played this game if I hadn't received it for free, but having now played through it I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere was charming and I liked the music, exploring the world and hunting for secrets were great, there were some fun puzzles, there were some difficult parts but I got through them and I generally enjoyed the challenge. I should note, I played most of the game with assist mode on, and I recommend playing that way. Basically, the game's default mode is when you die you get bumped back to the last bonfire. In the early game this is fine, and it creates some great tension where every point of damage you take is dire (you have 3 hit points) and it's such a relief when you see the next bonfire. But then the game starts introducing insta-death hazards, and at that point getting bumped back every time you miss a jump can get tedious. Assist mode lets you restart at the room you died in rather than at the last bonfire, you'd have to be a major masochist to to play the game 100% without assist mode. And the game's still fairly difficult even with assist mode enabled, bosses are still very challenging. As far as gameplay goes, if you've played a metroidvania before then you'll recognize this game. You go through areas, unlock shortcuts, find secrets, encounter dead ends, unlock powers, go back to previous areas with your new powers to discover new areas. There are three spells to unlock plus some upgrades and powerful items to acquire. The spells are the things you'll use most and they are: creating a block that can be jumped on and pushed around (helps with mobility and switch puzzles), creating a bubble that floats up and you can jump on it as a mobile platform, and shooting lightning bolts (very important for boss fights). Combat is mostly about evading enemy attacks and choosing the best moment to counterattack, so the mobility spells are also very important in combat.
So I could only play the game in widowed mode and there was no music. What's the point of playing a Quake game without the music? I'm sure there are workarounds I could use to get the game working properly, but I shouldn't have to go through extra hoops to get a product to work. Will attempt to refund.
