Sega's Alien Syndrome for the Wii is a lesson in striving for mechanics that work in this style of action game and coming up short. In essence, the game's main flaw is that pitted against other refined titles there's no shortage of complaints. With that said there is still fun to be had and you would be surprised at the depth of combat in a simple isometric view shooter. A combining element of on the fly RPG upgrading and simple shooting mechanics offers more than mediocrity...
Edge: The Passing's sell – two groups of survivors – could have led to an array of new mechanics: dual-level survivors, split by geography but working together, or eightplayer sessions. Instead, we have a shorter campaign topped and tailed with a few phrases of incidental dialogue and updated character models. It cuts a nice line in set-pieces, presenting three straight from the top drawer, but pacing decisions make it feel a little less rounded than L4D2's existing campaigns. Really, it's just a shame that this unique combination of still-alivers didn't result in something truly innovative.
The original Alien Syndrome, released in the mid-80s by Sega, was blatantly influenced by both Aliens and Gauntlet, and while the home games based on the Aliens license weren’t bad, the arcade game released by Konami was a pretty simplistic shooter. Alien Syndrome had large sprawling maps to traverse, which made for a more interesting adventure. In each area, you had to rescue hostages and fight a boss, all with a pretty strict time limit, all while under near constant attack.
Alien Syndrome was ported to pretty much every machine under the sun at the time, but, other than a 3D remake for the PS2 some 15 years later that never saw the light of day in Europe, the series vanished without a trace. That was until 2007, when, when, with virtually no fanfare, a brand new game was released for the Wii and PSP.
SEGA has today added a number of new titles to their warmly received PSN Essentials Spring Sale. Launched back in late March, the PSN Essentials Spring Sale continues to offer a number of top-tier PlayStation Portable titles at a greatly reduced price, as well as PlayStation 3 downloadable content (DLC) and some ports of classics Mega-Drive games.
Shame Crazy taxi is for PSP only :( Would love DC port to PS3. Ah well will have to wait for E3 hope we get the... Oh almost let it slip there :).
sega, how about brining out-run to NA. seriously, the lack of PSN store support from these devs are stupid.
I picked up Gunstar Heroes in this. Already got it on about for systems, but come on - It's Gunstar Heroes for £2.39!!!
I'm so sick of the ports. Luckily for me, and my wallet, I have strayed away from all ports. I do here good things about RE4 and its priced accordingly. To have a PSP port priced at $49.99 is ridiculous and insulting to true gamers out there.
I'm excited that this trend is slowing down and the REAL titles are on their way, starting with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption this month!