Shade's Review of Aliens Infestation

Side-scrolling video games can be so much fun.
They remind me of my time as a kid when I played the Sega Genesis, and

watched friends play games on their SNES consoles like Alien 3.

I remember one of my friends controlling Ellen Ripley shooting aliens, and saving prisoners from facehuggers.

I never I got the game myself when I was that age, but it's on my list to add to my video game collection.

I did, however, get a more recent side-scrolling Alien game: Aliens Infestation.

Aliens Infestation was developed by WayForward Technologies and Gearbox Software with Sega as the publisher.

It was released only for the Nintendo DS at the end of September 2011 in Europe and Australia, and in North America on October 11, 2011.

The game's story takes place after Aliens when the US Colonial Marines find the USS Sulaco.

The marines have a mission of finding alien life, and searching for information on the involvement of the Weyland-Yutani company.

The story is told through text without spoken dialogue.

Four marines are available at the beginning of the game, and the player chooses which one to play through the level.

If the chosen marine dies, that marine is dead for the rest of the game, and the next marine takes his/her place.

The game is over if all four marines die.
There are fifteen more marines that can be found in various parts of the game to replace the ones who've died.

Since this is a side-scrolling game, the left and right buttons on the d-pad move the marine with the R button to run.

Pressing A with the left and right buttons makes the marine roll.

The up button points the equipped weapon up, and the down button is to crouch.

The up and down buttons are also used to climb ladders and move elevators.

The A button interacts with objects such as doors.

The marine jumps when B is pressed.

Y fires the equipped firearm, and X throws explosives.

The only issue I had with the controls is that I kept pressing the wrong button, but it's not a fault of the game.

I'm used to the A, B, X, Y button layout on the Xbox controller.

The Nintendo DS and 3DS have the same right thumb button layout as the SNES controller where the A and B buttons are swapped, and the X and Y buttons are switched from the Xbox controller.

Of course, the SNES controller was around before the Xbox controller, but I haven't held a SNES controller since I was a little kid.

I've played many Xbox games over the past 10-12 years, and that's the A, B, X, Y button layout that I'm used to.

There is a Heads Up Display in the upper left corner of the screen with the heath gauge in green, stamina gauge in red, and shows the ammo count.

It also shows the firearm and explosives equipped.

All the action in the game happens in the top screen of the Nintendo DS/3DS.
The touch screen displays the unit of four marines as well as the inventory of weapons and items.

The touch screen can be switched to the map of the current level you're playing, and it will pinpoint exactly where you are along with the locations of enemies as flashing dots.

Sometimes it will have the goal location pointed as a gold dot.

If you reach an area that you will need to return to later, it helps to leave a flare behind, which will show as a red dot on the map.

The enemies in the game include the aliens (obviously), facehuggers, robots, and some humans.

Most of the game consists of running and shooting along with collecting items and exploring hidden areas.

There are a few parts that break away from running around such as shooting aliens with a tank.

The game is short with only five levels including the Sulaco and LV-426.

It can be played in two to three hours if you know what to do.

Aliens Infestation is a very fun game.

If you have a Nintendo DS or 3DS/2DS, and you like old school side-scrolling goodness then I highly recommend Aliens Infestation.

I was able to find my copy for $10 brand new, which is a good deal for it's short length.

If it's a used copy, I would suggest getting it for less than $10.