All it needs is a mediocre plot, big guns, humans fighting aliens over some sci-fi generic natural resource, and you’ve got your excuse to shoot aliens.  That’s all Alien Rage is and that’s all it needs to be a good game. Not many games can do that lately without presenting themselves as knock-off version of some blockbuster title that you’ve already played before.

"Aside from the lack of involvement within the game’s universe and the people that inhabited it, one thing that did grab my attention was something pretty simple, and was something that was executed quite well. It's there to remind you that this is just a game and games are essentially about challenge. That's the scoring system."

But Alien Rage does it well. It does place hints throughout the game to remind you that there’s an actual plot to the game, and this is done through the use of audio logs left behind by casualties. It’s a minimal addition that provides no real benefit as there’s never any emotional connection to the characters in the game, and that includes the one you play as…What was his name again? Generic grunt guy? …I think.

Aside from the lack of involvement within the game’s universe and the people that inhabited it, one thing that did grab my attention was something pretty simple, and was something that was executed quite well. It’s there to remind you that this is just a game and games are essentially about challenge. That’s the scoring system. Many gamers don’t care or even take note of points and scoring systems anymore unless you include online multiplayer head-shots. But the integration of a scoring system that presents itself at the end of each level looks almost amazing to see.

Considering that the majority of games recently throw this out the window in favour of an impactful and well thought out storyline, the scoring system is based on how much points you can rack when taking part in combat, and this is evident as numbers appear across the screen for each enemy you down. These scores are then uploaded to an online leader board at the end of the level.It uses this feature along with a few more in an attempt to look old school. The only problem with its obvious ploys in trying to be an old school shooter is the fact that there’s a regenerating health bar and a fading red border around the screen, rather than a floor highlighting a box of med kits.

"The character animations in Alien Rage are pretty believable in the sense that the character has weight to him, and this is seen throughout all of his movements.Weapons shrug from left to right, sprinting causes a jerky sense of speed, and equipping different weapons displays a noticeable change in weight and control."

Despite the many points the game receives for integrating heavy action with an old school scoring system, it falls short due its inability to establish its own visual personality. Alien Rage could have been something much greater but because it plays on the Gears of War-like aesthetics of a gorilla sized man covered in an armoured vest and large artillery, it comes off as ShadowGun clone had it been revamped for home consoles with a first-person perspective. It would have been nice for Alien Rage to hold its own visual presence to go along with its efforts in its gameplay features.

First person shooters tend to be a funny bunch when they’re trying to distinguish themselves from one another. Game modes tend to be the same with the differences lying in their titles and the graphical differences are always an obvious factor. But the real things that stand out tend to be those of the smallest things and it’s when you’re paying real attention during the gameplay that you start to notice these things. Alien Rage does this through its character animations and such effort has to be acknowledged since many shooters tend to forget about things such as weight and body balance.

The character animations in Alien Rage are pretty believable in the sense that the character has weight to him, and this is seen throughout all of his movements.Weapons shrug from left to right, sprinting causes a jerky sense of speed, and equipping different weapons displays a noticeable change in weight and control. Seeing how the character is geared up from head to toe in visually heavy attire, the sense of weight adds realism to the game to the point where the jump mechanic is essentially useless. Jumping is more like tip-toeing and should have been removed altogether. Since you’re never required to actually jump anywhere the alternative such as a kicking action may have been better suited.

"Alien Rage seeks to be a game of run in guns blazing. But because of the game's odd difficulty spike in which enemies can deal a significant amount of damage on the player while being able to move and take damage of their own, this cannot happen."

Aside from the obvious jaggies that are present, Alien Rage is a good looking game.The essence of sci-fi is clear throughout the entire game and this extends out of game directly into its menus and HUD elements. Colour grading, environmental assets, enemy boss designs, the universe that the game is going for here is clear. As to how well it exceeds on that is another story entirely. The game manages to get its portrayal across but the lack of exploration and corridor level design kills its message.

Another one of the most obvious things that’s clear about the game is that it’s built upon the Unreal Engine. You’ve seen one Unreal Game you’ve seen ’em all. So expect slow loading texture to creep in and pop-ins to arrive left, right, and center. However unlike earlier titles developed with the UnrealEngine, the improvements that the game displays with this engine is evident. The engine serves the game’s visuals well and there’s really nothing to be discouraged by or excited by. It’s purely neutral.

Alien Rage seeks to be a game of run in guns blazing. But because of the game’s odd difficulty spike in which enemies can deal a significant amount of damage on the player while being able to move and take damage of their own, this cannot happen. The amount of damage the character can receive in comparison to his enemies is highly unbalanced. Until you become familiar with the game and get used to running while shooting, death is going to become a reoccurring factor during your first section of the game.

"Explosive objects within the games dark yet luminous environments allow for a brigade of visual effects. Seeing how the game is littered with these explosive treats, the idea of waiting for an enemy to run towards you as patiently have your trigger finger, at the ready is as much a treat for the eyes as it is satisfying to initiate."

With the addition of exploding limbs and a greater sense of weight in contrast to movement, Alien Rage carries that same brutal mentality from that of the Killzone series. Had City Interactive expanded upon the game’s melee mechanics the combat itself would be more appealing. But because of the brutality and beastly immersion factor you get from wielding the guns, you still feel satisfied knocking back an enemy grunt with the tip of your rifle.

Explosive objects within the games dark yet luminous environments allow for a brigade of visual effects. Seeing how the game is littered with these explosive treats, the idea of waiting for an enemy to run towards you as patiently have your trigger finger, at the ready is as much a treat for the eyes as it is satisfying to initiate. This isn’t to say that game’s A.I. is bad, more like a common mistake made by confidence of overpowered enemies.

Items that appear to be of interest are actually non-interactive and simply serve as props. Objects such as 3-D computer HUDs, glowing platforms and holographic terminals all give the idea that they can receive damage or stop functioning if fired upon, but it’s simply not the case. Other objects in the game such as barriers and fences to be used as cover are destructible, but only to a degree.

"The best thing that Alien Rage manages to pull off although this may seem like a complete flaw to some, is its emphasis on placing a challenge on the player. Enemies swarm you aggressively and you're forced to remain quick on your toes."

The transition of going from one stage to the next is either impressively synchronous or very poorly designed. You never know when you’re finishing a section of the game or when you’ve reached some form of a midway point. Everything appears ongoing and because of the game’s resilient nature to not introduce anything other than a semi-open corridor level with similar traits to the last. The sense of progression is largely unknown to the player.

This continues into its method of dealing with mission failure. Having to repeat a mission near enough to the beginning of the level puts a halt on the player’s enjoyment as you’re forced to repeat the exact same scenario. Since death is a common thing in Alien Rage this aspect of the game becomes repetitive and frustrating.

The best thing that Alien Rage manages to pull off although this may seem like a complete flaw to some, is its emphasis on placing a challenge on the player. Enemies swarm you aggressively and you’re forced to remain quick on your toes. Although the variety of enemy type is at a minimum you’ll find yourself not really bothered by this. As you’ll be entirely frustrated by the onslaught of enemies shredding you to bits as you hide behind cover.

"Multi-player feels like it’s been placed here as a requirement, or an expectation of something that should be in all modern games. Despite the horrible and common terminology that’s been corned for this case, it has to be said. The multi-player was “thrown in”."

It should be noted that there is a multi-player component to the game, but that’s it, noted. It’s not really worth the time or investment if not for the sake of curiosity as it contains the most basic of options and lack of variety. The multi-player community the game may possibly receive will in no-doubt be a small one. Anybody who finishes the single-player campaign not impressed by what they experienced won’t find it here. Multi-player feels like it’s been placed here as a requirement, or an expectation of something that should be in all modern games. Despite the horrible and common terminology that’s been corned for this case, it has to be said. The multi-player was “thrown in”.

Alien Rage is a game that some will deem as a worthy and challenging experience, while others will cast the game as mindless and difficult shooter with lackluster enjoyment. The combat design within the game is largely love or hate, and it’s easy to see why when looking at both sides of the table.

Enemies take a visual influence from other games in the shooter genre such as Killzone. But the underwhelming and non-caring plot of the game distinguishes it, coupled by its focus on non-stop action, the only thing you actually care about is shooting aliens and watching things explode.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Alien Rage sees space marine Jack travel to an asteroid in which the Vorus, an advanced race of aliens, have suddenly taken over after sharing the promethium energy source with humans. For whatever reason, they aren’t having any of that peace and harmony crock any more and it’s up to Jack to stomp them down, one bullet at a time. A simple, yet effective set-up.

Check out our official review of the game here. Alien Rage is currently available for PC on Steam.

Eight years later, there’s still no sign of a proper sequel to Quake IV, or the long-awaited DOOM 4, and even when these type of games do appear, they’re often watered down by modern trends or their own ambitions, and better off forgotten, like Unreal Tournament III, or Duke Nukem Forever. Even brands that once proudly carried the flag of the arena shooter, like Halo, have all but given up and surrendered to  linear level design, create-a-class, and killstreaks. Sure, every now and then we’re thrown a bone like Tribes: Ascend, and you can always find a match on Quake LIVE, but by and large, the days of awesome weapons, alien menaces, skill-based, arena multiplayer seem to be behind us.

That’s where CI Games’ Alien Rage comes in. Unfortunate title aside, this game has no pretenses. It wants to be an old-school shooter, complete with crazy sci-fi weapons, a variety of different aliens to fight, intense boss battles, and lots of levels.

It starts off simply enough. It’s the far future, and humanity is in the middle of an energy crisis. Luckily, we’ve  just discovered an asteroid that’s chock full of promethium, a remarkable energy source capable of providing an incredible amount of energy. Naturally, mining operations are set up and soon, we’re harvesting it by the truckload. Everything’s going smoothly until the Vorus, an advanced alien race, show up. Turns out they need promethium, too, but they’re more than willing to share. For a while, everything goes great. Then, without warning, the Vorus attack us and quickly take over the asteroid.

"While the two weapon limit has become the genre standard, it seems like a rather arbitrary limitation in a game that puts so much emphasis on its weapons the way Alien Rage does."

Enter Jack, a lone marine sent in to figure out what the heck is going on.  That’s pretty much all the set-up you get in Alien Rage, but it works. After all, this isn’t a game about story. It’s a game about shooting aliens in the face with crazy guns in a sci-fi setting. And, to the game’s credit, it mostly delivers on that premise.

Alien Rage’s gameplay is a mix of old-school and modern FPS design. The game features 10 weapons, all with a primary and secondary fire function. Guns range from FPS staples, like an assault rifle with an underslung grenade launcher, to the unique and ridiculous, such as the Vorus Blaster. The Blaster’s primary fire functions as an extremely powerful shotgun that will cut enemies in half at close range, while the weapon’s secondary fire shoots a large ball of plasma that explodes on contact. Genre standards such as the rocket launcher provide the firepower necessary to go toe to toe with bigger enemies, but the real standout is the minigun, which tears through nearly everything in the game, even on higher difficulties.

While certain guns will undoubtedly spend more time in your inventory than others, each fills a role, and there’s a lot of fun to be had in discovering how to combine the primary and secondary fire of each weapon to best take out the Vorus horde.  Unfortunately, the game only allows you to carry two weapons at a time, aside from your pistol. While the two weapon limit has become the genre standard, it seems like a rather arbitrary limitation in a game that puts so much emphasis on its weapons the way Alien Rage does.

"Thankfully, Alien Rage delivers enemies in spades. Some have jet packs, others heft heavy grenade launchers and explode on death, and still others make use of cloaking fields to get behind you and stun you with their melee weapons."

The rest of the gameplay is fairly standard. Jack can sprint, crouch, melee, and aim down the sights of his weapons with the best of them. What makes Alien Rage stand out, however, is the ability to slide while sprinting. This allows you to move from cover to cover quickly, slide under obstacles, or dodge missiles or grenades. Combine this with Jack’s unlimited ability to sprint, and combat becomes fast paced and frantic. Believe me, there’s nothing like sliding up to an enemy, getting a shot off with your Blaster at close range, and slide away before his friends even have time to react.

If that was all Alien Rage offered, it would be enough. However, the game also scores you on how well you’re doing, offering bonus points for headshots, explosive kills, multikills, and streaks of kills performed in a specific way. It adds another dynamic to the game, and you’ll often find yourself risking death to try and land just one more headshot to continue your streak. Best of all, the points you’ll earn from kills allows you to unlock perks, such as extra weapon damage, an upgrade for your pistol, or more health.

But, as any veteran FPS player will tell you, it doesn’t matter how fun the weapons are to use if the enemies you’re using them against aren’t fun to fight. Thankfully, Alien Rage delivers enemies in spades. Some have jet packs, others heft heavy grenade launchers and explode on death, and still others make use of cloaking fields to get behind you and stun you with their melee weapons. The sheer variety on display means that you’ll never get bored of fighting the same enemies over and over again, and each enemy requires you to change up your tactics, making engagements dynamic and exciting, even against the starting enemies. Of course, the real standouts here are the boss fights. There’s eight in all, and each is varied enough to make them feel fresh. The game isn’t afraid to place them in the middle of a level, or leave them out of some entirely, so you never know when you’ll run into them.

"The sound design is just as good as the environment design. The Vorus sound genuinely alien, the weapons are loud and satisfying, and the background music is enjoyable."

And since we’re on the subject of levels, fear not: the level design in Alien Rage is fantastic. The game runs on Unreal Engine 3, and everything looks great. Levels themselves are varied, and you’ll guide Jack through a variety of environments as the game progress. You’ll find yourself trudging through a promethium refinery, infiltrating a Vorus ship, and piloting a mech on the surface of the asteroid before it’s all said and done. Of course, there are collectibles scattered about each area, but finding them is worth it. Some simply offer bonus points, making it easy to rack up a high score, while others are audio diaries that reveal what happened on the station before Jack arrived. The audio logs are surprisingly well done, and flesh the story out quite a bit.

The sound design is just as good as the environment design. The Vorus sound genuinely alien, the weapons are loud and satisfying, and the background music is enjoyable. Between (or sometimes during) encounters, Jack will banter with Ray, another marine, and Iris, their AI, both of whom remained aboard their ship. As you’d expect, they’ll point out mission objectives, and provide helpful hints, but they’re also a great source of comic relief, and there are a lot of memorable exchanges: Iris and Ray make bets on whether or not Jack will survive an encounter, Iris imitates a GPS, and Ray makes a Metal Gear Solid reference or two. All of this contributes to the tongue-in-cheek nature of the game, and greatly aids the pacing.

For all its successes, however, Alien Rage isn’t without its flaws. Texture pop-ins are frequent, the checkpoint system is inconsistent and occasionally frustrating, and the game’s decision to utilize regenerating health is bizarre given its ambitions. The biggest problem, however are the bugs.

"For all its successes, however, Alien Rage isn’t without its flaws. Texture pop-ins are frequent, the checkpoint system is inconsistent and occasionally frustrating, and the game’s decision to utilize regenerating health is bizarre given its ambitions."

Sometimes, the game wouldn’t allow me to pick up weapons in the environment, and there were points were I was forced to reload a checkpoint because the game simply wouldn’t allow me to open a necessary door to progress, or trigger a scripted explosion to create a path. Once, I even had to restart a level to make the necessary trigger appear. These instances were infrequent, and I never encountered anything I couldn’t get around, but when they did crop up, they ground all progress to a halt.

Ultimately, however, Alien Rage is an extremely fun game. It took me about 11 hours to complete the game on hard mode, which is impressive considering the $20 price tag. The game also features leaderboards, and a multiplayer mode. Unfortunately, the servers were not up at the time of this writing.

CI Games set out to make a great old-school shooter with Alien Rage, and in spite of the game’s flaws, that’s exactly what they did. The game feels like a return to a simpler time, when space marines were cool, weapons were insane, and an alien menace was all you needed to have a good time. And, considering the state of the genre right now, maybe a return to that mindset is exactly what we need.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

City Interactive have released a two minute gameplay trailer for its upcoming first person shooter: Alien Rage which is powered by Unreal Engine.

The game is scheduled for an autumn release for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Alien Rage will feature fourteen different levels and will let players equip ten weapons. Each of these weapons will have two different firing modes. The developers have also promised a challenging enemy AI. Furthermore the game will feature 21 types of enemy and eight destructive bosses, alongside beautiful vistas, something that City Interactive is known for.

Additionally, City Interactive will be showcasing  a demo build of Alien Rage at Gamescom. Are you looking forward to Alien Rage? Let us know in the comments section below.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more news and updates.

City Interactive, the developer behind the Sniper Ghost Warrior have revealed a new video for its upcoming next generation role playing game: Lords of the Fallen.

To accompany the video, City Interactive have also released some new screenshots from the game.

The developer describes the game as a demanding and strategic third-person action-RPG experience. The game will be released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC sometime in 2014.

The development team is being led by Tomasz Gop, former Senior Producer of  2011’s excellent role playing game:  The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings. Lords of the Fallen will be shown off during GamesCom and PAX East next month.

For now drool over these shiny screenshots:

City Interactive have released some fascinating screenshots of the game. As you can see, these in game screens look absolutely fantastic and it is  shame that no gameplay video has been released yet.

Another title that they had on display was Alien Rage, an intense arcade first person shooter. The game promises to include a rich arsenal of weapons, various firing modes, 21 types of enemies including 8 bad-ass bosses. The gameplay video below shows a lot of promise, but we will see how it turns out to be in the coming months.

City Interactive has released official information today regarding their main character Harkyn from their upcoming next-generation third-person action RPG game Lords of the Fallen.

Harkyn will be shaped according to how you play the game and how you decide to use his abilities and skill trees throughout your monster-slaying adventure in Lords of the Fallen.

This is what Tomasz Gop, Executive Producer on Lords of the Fallen revealed today about Harkyn.

“Harkyn is not your ordinary hero. Our team is committed to creating a distinct character and a gameplay experience unique to every player, as well as a deep, secretive history that players will be rewarded for upon discovering. We’re excited to show Lords of the Fallen, our main character, Harkyn, and the advanced combat mechanics for the first time at E3 next week.”

Lords of the Fallen sounds really promising, and a next-gen action RPG is always welcome. I will personally be covering this game next week at E3 so keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested.

Let us know if you’re excited for Lords of the Fallen in the comments below.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for our coverage of Lords of the Fallen next week.

City Interactive have announced that they will be revealing more information about the game during a  Q&A session at the upcoming Role Play Convention. The event takes place in Cologne, Germany on June 1-2.

Tomasz Gop, the Executive Producer of Lords of the Fallen will be talking about several gameplay elements in the game.

“A challenge in games can be measured with the difference between randomness and skill. Our goal is to make a game that rewards players for doing what it takes to cross that gap. A game where learning skills and ultimately mastering them is the basis of fun and entertainment,” said Tomasz Gop.

As usual, we will keep you updated on any new information during the above mentioned event.

The game is due for the PC, PS4 and Xbox One in 2014.

Alien Rage was previously known as Alien Fear but has recently gone under a name change. City Interactive has announced the new name today and has released a teaser trailer along with screenshots for the new downloadable PC, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade title. The game will be playable for the first-time at this year’s E3 and will be coming out this fall.

The game is using the ever-popular Unreal Engine 3 and packs in stylish beautiful graphics all around. Alien Rage is described as a “hardcore Sci-Fi shooter,” with “the DNA of the best classical FPS games.” One of the biggest features the game has are the variety of weapons and firing modes.  Alien Rage will also feature co-op and 21 types of enemies “including 8 bad-ass bosses.”

Screenshots:

The game looks beautiful in my opinion and I am looking forward to trying it out.

Let us know if Alien Rage has intrigued your interest in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more media and gameplay updates for Alien Rage as we get closer to E3 2013.

According to the press release information below Lords of the Fallen will be a next-generation hardcore action-RPG that will have advanced combat features, interesting class skill trees and will be set in a deep and immersive fantasy experience. In the game players will take control of a human hero named Harkyn, Harkyn will be fighting against some sort of supernatural force and will journey across the entire world during his epic quest.

Here are some details from the press release:

“Lords of the Fallen is a hardcore action-RPG featuring an advanced combat systems and robust class skill trees. Set in a richly created fantasy world, players will take on the role of a human named Harkyn who sets out on a quest to stand against an apparently unstoppable supernatural force. Players travel across a world that is deeply dived by those that follow and others that resist. Along their journey they will be faced with a series of decisions that will alter both the world and their character thus dramatically impacting the storyline.

Playable version of Lords of the Fallen will be presented live at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 11-13, 2013.”

Sounds quite exciting, more next-gen RPGs is always a good thing.

Let us know if Lords of the Fallen has peeked your interest in the comments below.

Check back on GamingBolt for more updates regarding this new IP and E3 media in the coming weeks.