Alien Breed Evolution: Episode 1

Alien Breed: Evolution, a descendant of the game that made developers Team 17's name back in 1993, has the player take control of a gruff-voiced marine in charge of saving himself and the occupants of the good ship Leopold; after an outer space collision leaves them facing a swift descent into a planet's atmosphere. It's all round death unless systems are brought back online, and that's before you factor in the invasion of the monsters currently terrorising the ship's occupants!

The top down view has been carried forward from its predecessor, but the aesthetics have benefited from a bit of visual glossing thanks to Unreal 3 engine. For an arcade game, Alien Breed sure looks pretty, well as pretty as a burnt out space vessel can be at least, and the shadowy, grim art style puts a lot of emphasis on tense shoot-outs with the breed. Your marines' trusty torch is about as useful in dark areas as a car headlight in a black hole, and you will constantly be switching directions in an attempt to illuminate as many of the bad guys as possible.

Alien Breed does two things very well, difficulty and atmosphere. This game is hard as nails, even on an easy difficulty. After a simple first level, the game throws ever increasing waves of bad guys your way, and whilst being rushed by wave after wave of deadly, nimble beasties it's hard not to feel the tension rack up. Every reload becomes a painful delay in your killing spree and on harder difficulties every corpse and locker must be raided for precious ammo and med kits. Using medical supplies also takes time, which means there's no instant healing in the heat of battle.

This brings us on to the incredible atmosphere throughout Alien Breed. There's hardly any moments of respite from the onslaught, and when you get one, you certainly don't feel at ease. The anticipation of the next assault is gruelling, and on the highest difficulty it becomes almost too much to bear. We've even had to pause the game after a particularly brutal encounter just to catch our breath!

That's not to say it's a perfect game; the tasks often feel repetitive and there's only so much you can do with shock tactics, but despite these points Alien Breed Evolution (Episode One) feels more than just an XBLA port-for-profit, it feels like a real game! That's even before you factor in the Co-Op campaign; a section of the single-player adventure refitted for two, both online and offline.

For 800 points this game is cracking value, a genuinely enjoyable and inspired title for just a few quid and personally we cannot wait for the other two parts of the trilogy. Get it, and get blasting!