Review: Alien Rage – Unlimited / Developer: CI Games / Publisher: CI Games / Platform: PC Game / Release Date: Out Now
With a generic sci-fi setting, plenty of guns and a storm of clichés and bullets, Alien Rage – Unlimited looked to be a throwback to what the modern FPS has been often missing. Openly advertised as such, it placed heavy emphasis on promotions, with its variety of weaponry and rewards for accuracy as players pull off skill shots.
Said skill shots, along with the physics and destructible environments, are likely what players will remember the most coming out of this one. With a scrolling series of numbers in the top left corner, players are encouraged to pull off the most overt kills they can manage ,with occasional markers showing up to indicate what certain attacks are classified as. It worked in Bulletstorm and it manages to work here as well, despite some flaws we’ll get into, with players encouraged to continually switch between guns and spend time seeing what they can pull off.
Despite the point system however, the weapons themselves are a mixed bunch, even with additions like alternate fire modes. The shotgun especially turns out to be useless with its short range, while others, like the minigun, can be a lifesaver in the right situation, especially when the enemies can so easily blend into the environments.
The true shame of Alien Rage is that it feels as if the developers were going for a classic FPS approach, but were caught between two stools. It suffers from the Duke Nukem Forever issue of trying to contain many of the fun elements of old shooters, but never going far enough and keeping too many elements of modern military FPS titles. A lack of a health bar, emphasis on cover, iron sights and lack of any real durability prevents it from becoming a budget Bulletstorm.
Matters aren’t helped by an unfortunate number of glitches and zerg rushes of braindead foes, both of which prevent the game from becoming truly engaging and at times make it frustrating. The latter especially as, rather than providing a real challenge, Alien Rage just opts to throw mobs of gun-wielding aliens at you in the hopes sheer attrition will take you down.
While there are definitely nice elements here and there, like fighting the Vorus God Mech or some of the better planned battles, Alien Rage ultimately comes off as a confused mess. There’s definitely worse out there, but it just doesn’t deliver what it promises. Even accepting shortcomings as a result of budget constraints, we’ve seen the idea of classic throwback FPS done far better in recent years with the likes of Hard Reset. Stick to those over this.
