Customer Reviews

Alien Syndrome

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The storyline is average with below average voice acting. Cut-scenes are done in a comic book style without the borders.

You get to play as Aileen, even in multiplayer. Choose from 5 classes but they will still appear to be Aileen in multiplayer but it doesn't really matter after you get your armor on. Graphics are a low polygon rate and is maybe below that of a gamecube but this is because the Wii's processing power is not so great; I've had a few slowdowns when there were 7-8 monsters on the screen with explosions going off.

You can use the melee weapon or ranged weapon. The melee weapon uses the B button and wiimote swings, which can also be combined to form combos after you upgrade your melee proficiency. Ranged weapons are aimed with a crosshair on the screen and your character is moved using the nunchuk. Controls aren't that intuitive but it'll take 30 min or less to get used to. Managing your inventory and character is pretty simple as you can scroll through the panels and each skill and stat is explained.

Camera control is done by tilting the nunchuk. Harder to do in multiplayer since almost everyone has to be huddled up or the camera will not turn or spin. Not much of a problem most of the time.

The game is fairly easy but you need to pay attention as to not get mobbed and casually check your health points. You have energy points which powers Energy weapons and your shields which are activiated by C button. The shield absorbs an amount of damage or until the time runs out. There are destructible objects but they are simple boxes or explosive gas tanks. There are also 3 mini games which require a few different movements and a few tries to understand how the mini game works, after that, it depends on how quick and steady your hands are.

Item variety in the game is great, probably the same as Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance. You also get a robot, called a SCARAB, that occasionally shoots at enemies. You can equip it with 2 items to help it or you. You can also buy items from it, the items vary according to what you scrap(sell to the SCARAB). There's money and stuff, the right kind of ammo is hard to come by in multiplayer games but can be bought and given to other players.

Multiplayer gameplay is better than most games but could be improved. As I said, the characters look pretty much the same even with different armor on. You are distinguished by different colors with 4 triangles surrounding your character. It gets confusing with 3 or 4 players. Some classes are also stronger than others in different parts of the game so that hinders gameplay quite a lot. Importing characters to other files are simple, but you can't name your files or characters, they are just listed by level and class. Very hard to distinguish one save file from another. Also need to be careful when overwriting save files as characters and progress are in the same file.

Sounds are decent, voice acting is a bit below average, weapon sounds are on par, monster sounds are also decent. Explosions sound the same, so do all the doors. Nothing out of the ordinary in this department.

The level design is average, giving different objectives but in the end, you have to go to the exit after exploring all the cracks and indents and plow through monsters.

This game is fun to play with a friend or two. I don't think this game was intended for solo play. Gameplay is kind of repetitive but you get new monsters and the occasionally sub-bosses and bosses. There is always monsters spawning off of the screen, sometimes for long amounts of time. This game can be played through once or twice at most (about 15-20 hours of gameplay).

Sega's re-imagining of their classic arcade title ends up being sadly disappointing, as Alien Syndrome comes to the Wii. Playing as gun-toting heroine Aileen, you blast your way through hordes of repetitive mutant aliens. What really hurts Alien Syndrome the most is said repetitiveness, and it comes in more ways than just alien blasting: from the level design to the combat elements, Alien Syndrome recycles itself from beginning to end. The Wii controls sort of work well when it comes to aiming and shooting, but it doesn't take long for pure boredom to set in. The RPG elements that are inserted don't really amount to a whole lot either, and actually seem as more of an afterthought for the most part. All in all, Alien Syndrome may seem like a little bit of fun at first, and it is for a brief time, but sadly wears down into an exercise in monotony. It may be worth checking out for fans of the original arcade game, but all others should avoid.

It really reminds me of the Gauntlet games, which were great for their simplicity. You and some friends gather 'round and kick the snot out of an endless supply of baddies. The diversity of character development allowed in the game helps, too. Things get easier if you use some brains, which is always nice, but if you just feel like plowing through, it's more than possible. Playing single player really isn't the game's strong point, as it's too repetitive and the cut scenes are too lame to engage you. If you've got the controllers and the friends (even just one), this game is well worth your time. It may not be worth the money, though, due to the lack of replay value, so this is probably a rental.

This game definitely has some flaws, but it's really fun.

The Good:
+ Really cool inventory system with tons of variations on items.
+ up to 4 players can join the brawl.
+ Melee combat as well as ranged.
+ Leveling up lets you increases status and proficiencies of your choice
+ a cool, challenging variety of enemies.
+ you can choose a class at the begining of the game (Seal, Sharpshooter,
Tank, Firebug, Demolition expert)
+ you have a little robot that you can use to craft items. he is also a portable turret.
+ switch between melee weapon, Main weapon and secondary weapon with the push of a button.

The Bad:
- Very little storyline.
- Sub-par graphics
- Crappy, annoying sound.
- difficult to execute special melee attacks.
- Cutscenes are boring

The good features of the game makeup for the bad.
Overall this game isn't very high quality, but very fun, though if you hate the game gauntlet, this game is not for you.
also, the graphics are better than they appear in Screenshots.

I rented this for my buddies Wii. He didn't like it.. I did. He crashed and I played all night. I never figured out how to save and shut down the system. Is this due to my friend's Wii not having an additional memory card? I don't know.

The mini-games aren't that bad once you figure them out, basically zap infections with lasers and keep beneficial microorganisms from getting eaten by invasive ones or hitting electrified walls. Minigames are not great for multiplayer, as they disrupt play.

The in game character interface screen could've easily been improved, but isn't that hard to figure out. There are too many screens with scroll down menus, and some stuff, like character info, should be displayed as soon as the interface is opened.

Upgrading armor and weapon with the vast number of variables is complicated, and the item development screen needs to be checked way too often. It is a bit of an overload, and some items are ambiguous as to what they help out. Picking up dropped items and converting them to upgrade resources is overly time consuming, and the encumbrance system isn't shoot-em-up friendly.

Game control is pretty good, with character movement controlled by the required nunchuk, and with Duck Hunt style aiming and shooting. Popping med and shield energy packs is easy with the plus pad, but switching between aimed and melee weapons has periodic issues.

Gameplay pretty much requires all characters pretty to fight with melee, but I couldn't figure out the better attacks and finishing moves. I hopelessly hit buttons and swung the controllers trying to do so, and eventually settled on repeatedly hitting the simple A button attack, which was effective enough when low on ammo. Using the nunchuks to twist the screen perspective is not reliable, with the screen rotating when you don't want it to, and when you do want it to, it doesn't work -- however, the screen perspective can be mostly ignored.

Overall, I like the game, but the gamestyle is more retro (think Gauntlet), and probably didn't take full advantage of Wii capabilities. Nonetheless, I would've liked figuring out how to save my progress for later play.

Bought this game remembering playing something similar years ago, however after 5 minutes taking the game back. Needless to say it is a frustratingly pointless game where one fights aliens with bad weapons. If you are looking at buying this realize there is good reason amazon only pays 50 cents to trade it in.

I was a fan of the old Alien Syndrome arcade game - one of my favorites when I was a kid. This game borrows the name, and keeps the basic premise (blasting lots of aliens) but turns it into more of an action RPG ala the PS2 Dark Alliance or Norrath games, but in a scifi setting. There is some fairly detailed character & weapon upgrading, but the basic action is pretty much run & gun, which is good if you like that sort of thing. The camera isn't ideal at times, but it never is in this sort of game, but it's mostly "good enough", and it's not enough to hamper enjoyment of this game.

Overall this is a fun, fairly deep action RPG-ish game, of which there aren't many (any others?) on the Wii. This would likely have more of a fanbase if it had a fantasy setting. The association with an old arcade game probably helps this in some ways but hurts it in others, as I just mentioned. Definitely worth the bargain bin price I paid, but I would have been happy had I paid more, as well.

PROS:
- Addictive mindless alien slaughtering!
- Multi-player co-op madness.

CONS:
- Odd and frustrating "mini-games".
- A few non-intuitive controls.
- Awkward camera control/angles.
- Unengaging plot.

This game is pure and simple top-down shoot-'em-up fun! I found this game difficult to put down. You can run around 40 levels jam-packed full of alien creatures with up to 3 of your friends blasting everything in sight. It's a simple formula that works amazingly well. Even my wife, who never plays video games, was found begging to "shoot some aliens" with me! The difficulty gets to be quite high in single player, but if you add in another strong player or two, the difficulty and frustration go down significantly.

One of the best parts of this game is the multiplayer co-op feature. You can add, drop, and swap players and characters around very easily any time you load the game. This flexibility also allows you to keep your characters around by importing them into new games or other saves that you have. It's nice to be able to take your hard-earned characters anywhere you go in the game.

Some of the controls are perfect, while others are a bit confusing. Movement and aiming on the Wii is extremely easy. You just point where you want to shoot, use B or A to shoot, and use the nun-chuck to move Aileen around. When you get to the menus and inventory screen, though, "-" takes you to the inventory screen, but B gets you out. Then to add points to your stats or proficiencies, you need to carefully hover your pointer over some tiny arrows. One wrong slip and you'll waste your proficiency point on basket weaving or some other unwanted skill. Camera zoom level is controlled via the "1" and "2" buttons, but the range of zoom is so small that it makes no difference.

As a bargain bin Wii game with an unpromising cover image, I had low hopes for this game. However, after giving it a good play through, it has become one of my favorite Wii titles and, in my opinion, one of the most underrated games ever for the Wii.

I was searching for a good 4-player game and the told me about Alien Syndrome, that is an RPG, action, shoot 'em up game, I invited some friends to play and test the 4-player gameplay and we liked. Before buying the game I read some of the reviews in different wed sites, some say good, others is bad, but I like. I only recommend this game for RPG action shoot 'em up and this game is 4-player local, no online option.

i just recently bought this game and have only had a few chances to play...so far i'm pleased. the controls are a little awkward and take some getting used to but overall i like the game. the graphics are decent...not the best or worst i've ever seen. this is a fun game for the $20 you pay.