''Aliens: Infestation'' is a 2011 2D sidescroller game for the
Nintendo DS handheld console. It was developed by
WayForward Technologies
WayForward Technologies, Inc. is an American independent video game developer and publisher based in Valencia, California. Founded in March 1990 by technology entrepreneur Voldi Way, WayForward started by developing games for consoles such as ...
and
Gearbox Software
Gearbox Software is an American video game development company based in Frisco, Texas. It was established as a limited liability company in February 1999 by five developers formerly of Rebel Boat Rocker. Randy Pitchford, one of the founders, s ...
. It is a tie-in to the ''
Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'' franchise. The cover art as well as the character designs and avatars were drawn by comic book artist
Chris Bachalo
Chris Bachalo (born August 23, 1965) is a Canadian comic book illustrator known for his quirky, cartoon-like style. He became well known for stints on DC Comics' ''Shade, the Changing Man'' and Neil Gaiman's two Death series. Chris has also illus ...
.
The game received generally positive reviews, with many calling it a successful callback to the original ''Alien'' series and an improvement over the previous games, with particular praise towards the atmosphere, graphics and art design.
Gameplay
Gameplay of ''Aliens: Infestation'' is comparable to the ''
Metroid'' video games, where players are encouraged to search and backtrack for weapons, upgrades, and keys. The player controls one of a party of four marines and explores the U.S.S. ''Sulaco'' as well as LV-426 and
Phobos in order to investigate the Union of Progressive Peoples (UPP) and Weyland-Yutani's involvement in
Xenomorph
The Alien (also known as a ''Xenomorph XX121'' or ''Internecivus raptus'', or simply a xenomorph)Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report is a fictional parasitoid, endoparasitoid Extraterrestrials in fiction, extraterrestrial species that serves as the ...
development. The game incorporates a permadeath mechanic. If a marine falls in battle, another in the party will take their place. The player loses if the entire party is wiped out. Fallen characters can be replaced with any of fifteen displaced marines found throughout the game, each with their own unique dialog.
Plot
The USS ''Sephora'' has discovered the USS ''Sulaco'' adrift in space after the events of ''Aliens'' and ''Alien 3''. The Colonial Marines are sent aboard the ''Sulaco ''to investigate and recover the life form detected aboard the ship.
Development
''Aliens: Infestation'' was developed by WayForward Technologies and Gearbox Software and was originally intended to be a tie-in to the PC and console ''
Aliens: Colonial Marines'' game. When doing their research, game director Adam Tierney focused heavily on
Ridley Scott's ''
Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'' and
James Cameron's ''
Aliens'' as inspiration. To capture the films' slasher appeal, while still keeping the player emotionally invested, the development team created 20 unique characters, with the game's dialogue re-written 20 times, to make sure it offered the biggest 'gut-punch' when one dies. In conjunction with the game's 'party of four' mechanic, the developers wanted players to grow attached to their favorites, which, in-turn, increased the likelihood of getting one killed.
Reception
''Aliens: Infestation'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to the
review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
.
[
'' Digital Spy'' gave it four stars out of five, saying, "In many ways, it feels like the ''Aliens'' game we should have been given back in the 16-bit era when the movie series was still relatively new. Whether it has been worth the wait is debatable, but this is certainly a worthy addition to the DS library." However, ''The Digital Fix'' gave it seven out of ten, saying that "It can be uneven at times in terms of quality but it is highly enjoyable, especially if you are fan of either the franchise or even if you are just a fan of ']Metroidvania
Metroidvania is a sub-genre of platform video games focused on guided non-linearity and utility-gated exploration and progression. The term is a portmanteau of the names of the video game series ''Metroid'' and ''Castlevania'', with games in the ...
' games."[
]
References
External links
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{{Authority control
2011 video games
Alien (franchise) games
Fiction set on Phobos (moon)
Nintendo DS games
Nintendo DS-only games
Sega video games
Side-scrolling video games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games featuring female protagonists
Gearbox Software games
Metroidvania games
Single-player video games
WayForward games