I pixelled the bosses! Also some backgrounds and vehicles. Oh and the knife mini-game. Getting to design the King Alien was so fun. I was a freelance artist for Wayforward for several years. I tattoo now.
Yes, I second that. This game had gorgeous pixel work. It was also the Aliens game I always dreamed about as a 90s kid, but had to settle for stuff like Alien 3 Genesis/SNES. Little on the short side, but I still go back to it from time to time. Shat all over Colonial Marines, which I was more hyped for at the time. This definitely softened that blow. It'll never leave my collection. Amazing work, thank you. Wayforward has never disappointed me. Great devs.
I am shock you never mention that you lose a marine,they are technically are still alive. They are taken to a hive and you have to save them. If you ignore them then they will die.
that’s only happened to me once and if they die again a chest bursted comes out. it’s not guaranteed though, i get marines killed for ones whose design look better so i’ve had a lot of them die
15:48 fun fact, lots of the blueness in Cameron's older movies is a by-product of upscaling the movies to HD. You can also see this in Verhoeven movies, Robocop especially.
@@BunkerDweller it's definitely there in dark scenes, the intensity just gets increased by the upscaling. you can see it in the scene with the T1000 talking with John's foster parents, old standard definition has very warm lighting in the house, but after upscaling the warm orange lighting becomes neutral white from the blueness
So, I don't know if this is the emulator issue or if this is... Well, I don't want to say "Skill Issue," because I feel like that's being a jerk, but when I played this on DSI, I didn't notice any of these issues, bar the aiming issue. The game is much better on New 3DS though. I played through about three times on DSi, and the last two times, I didn't lose any Marines I didn't choose to lose. I think I finished the game with all of the characters except Whistler on my second and third playthrough. The Marines are supposed to be expendable, and it's why there's 30+ of them across the entire game. So, if you lose a Marine, no big deal. Just go get one of the ones that you had already found. That said, Marines do have some unique dialogue. Some of them will repeat others, but there are snippets of it here and there. For a DS game, that's actually pretty significant. For your aiming critique, I noticed that the game will lock your legs in place if you hold the Bumpers. This can help a lot with getting consistent damage out without moving and getting grenades right on target. I think I got through a few bosses with no damage a few times by using this to dish out huge amounts of damage. For the backstep shooting critique, I do agree it's an issue, but I played the game in a very different fashion from how you did so. I dodge rolled constantly when enemies got close to me, and I made it a game of avoiding Xenos who got too close and dishing out damage. Save Rooms also replenish ammo and health (as well as enemies), so you can use these to get yourself back to full. Other weapons do suck, and I get a feeling this is a Dead Space 1 situation. The intention was that the player would probably use the Pulse Rifle for most of the game, and whip out the Specials when they had to. The Pulse Rifle is just so strong, especially when you bring in it's GL and grenade combos. I think part of this was expectation (how could you do Aliens WITHOUT the Smart Gun?) and part of this was probably parity with Colonial Marines, which released contemporaneously with this. I overall really liked Aliens Infestation and I consider it one of the best Aliens games ever made. It's especially far, far better than its sister game, Aliens Colonial Marines. Given that good Aliens games are few and far between and most are FPS games (or shared with those dreadlocked bores), this one is something special, at least to me.
I made it my goal last playthrough to recruit every marine in the game, so I actually had to purposely kill most of them to keep making room. I only missed one by the end! But yea, I agree that this game is fantastic. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it's nice and cozy for me.
I know. But if they obeyed that fact, as well as what the video said about Alien blood, there would be no fighting at all! Not an exciting film or game! LOL!
OH MY GOD. That ending song rules so hard. It hit me with lots of nostalgia. I heard it a lot, but never played this game. Always seemed to be really cool from a distance, shame that it wasn't as great as it looked.
The issue with that type of aiming on a DS game is that on the DSi, it's really difficult to aim diagonally on the d-pad. Not sure what Nintendo did with the d-pad, but it's very difficult to have both up and right or left clicked at the same time, most of the time it only detects either up or to the side instead of diagonally.
Super rare case where I find a video and sub to a channel 1/3 into the vid. I checked your list and I see that you take time and effort with specific taste into what you talk about. It's an interesting take. This vid was really enjoyable. Thanks!
The thing with acid blood, as shown in aliens 1: it stops, eventually the chemical reaction does stop biting through material, and they comment on that. Otherwise everyone would of died in alien 1. Now, it definitely should be something marines should take caution of when they’re close enough to the exterior of the ship to not have blood eat that wall away. And it would honestly be really cool to see that be implemented in a Alien game, having aeras of the map where you cannot shoot because you will get acid all over the exterior of a ship and having it suck all the air out (or suck everyone out)
you can breed xenomorphs and implant a self destruct chip in each one. Send them to combat, and when the work is done, use satellite and activate the self destruct chips to kill them all +/- use their acid blood to weaken defenses and barriers/walls by sending them as the first line infantry which will be expendable.
6:20 My only explanation would be that the materials used in those locations are not affected by the type of acid the aliens have. Yes its technically and oversite, but you could simply go with the idea that some materials don't react to certain acids. I remember way-way back before Aliens:CM came out one of the devs talked about ideas they had about using bleach as an in-game item to cancel the acidic effects of alien blood. There was gonna be an in-game mechanic about it.
I remember scouring ebay for months way back during the DS years to snag a halfway affordable copy of this game - absolutely a fantastic little title back then, far as I'm concerned. This era of Wayforward was fascinating - they genuinely gave their work-for-contract tie-in games their all back then. Their Thor DS game wasn't half bad either for example.
Having the best part of the game in the second half probably helped with a good lasting impression on those that played through it. Seems to be a fair bit of nostalgia for it out there.
but can't the quantity of it affect how much damage it can do before it stops burning? Think a drop of acid, for example, versus an entire body's worth of it
@@BunkerDweller Yes, you're right. But the whole concept is whimsical though. If an acid is so ridiculously strong, there's no way an organic body could harmlessly carry it. We're not talking about a little bit of sulfuric acid in the stomach. One scratch anywhere and metal-melting chemical fire is spilling from your wound. That's not evolutionary prudent. If the whole thing isn't affected by oxidation then... it would need to have some very unorthodox physiology, actually. It couldn't have any DNA, for instance. All life on Earth needs oxygen, but here we would be dealing with a life-form that is somehow getting by without it. Needless to say, that's not the lore. Science fiction these days is not written by the people who actually take interest in science.
You shoot the queen in the head. You notice how its head flashes whenever you hit it? Once you hit it enough, it falls over, allowing you to shoot it more easily for a few seconds.
Bees are actually trained specifically for detecting explosives, they're put in harnesses, then given sugar while exposed to the smell of explosive substances so that they're trained to stick their tongue out when near said explosives, activating sensors to alert the operator/bee wrangler. I think it'd be neat to see Weylan-Yu succeed with it's plans via androids or using Alien blood for something specific (Anti-Ship Weapons?), then have the protags have to destroy all data on the project along with any prototype to send them back to the beginning, could make for an interesting sequel hypothetically.
Hey man I’ve only been a subscriber for the past month. I really enjoy your content and the games you choose. I’m working my way through your backlog and it’s been so much fun, thank you for your service
Cameron is an obvious reference to the Aliens director, but it's also possible "Paulson" is a reference to Meat Loaf's famous character in Fight Club, which was by Alien 3 director David Fincher. I was looking for Jean-Pierre Jenuait, Ridley Scott and Paul Thomas Anderson overlaps, but couldn't see anything which jumped out.
20:27 I don't know man touching off major fires willy-nilly in an enclosed atmosphere would be like a fire starting in a submarine- you're a long way from rescue and can't really just leap into a life raft so if you don't resolve the casualty and get the fire under control in a couple of minutes it's likely you won't be able to get it under control without just sealing the compartment off and hoping it doesn't spread; while underway modern submarines keep oxygen levels lower than 20% to reduce the likelihood of fires despite how much it increases fatigue, reduces cognitive ability and slows the healing of injuries- the reduced capability of the crew is worth the extra time to control a fire before it becomes established even if measured in seconds or tens of seconds. A small confined, pressurised space would fill with smoke and other toxic combustion products pretty quick and the pressure differentials created by solid material turning into extra gases would start to interfere with how doors and vents work and in an extreme event might just rupture the pressurised compartment.
This is actually super interesting! I always thought a metroid game that focused more on the horrer aspect where you were weaker would be so cool. kinda like beginning of fusion and the end of zero mission. And specifically I always thought it would be neat to play in the shoes of a federation grunt which samus always seems to see the gruesome end off like in prime 2 and AM2R. Then I always thiught it could be contrasted with seeing samus bullrush through shit that could kill you easy or you would otherwise have to be roundabouts with. Kinda having her being a background character, her doing her mission as you do yours. This game totally, at least in concept kinda embodies that feel! its super weird that my headcanon game kinda exists. I mean, it totally makes sense in retrospect that an aleins game might take inspiration from metroid just like metroid took some tonal notes from Alien. If nothing else, really cool retrospect on a little known game, thanks. Also, just a really well put together review period. really deserves a lot more attention.
@Lunaradical Yah. Its not very "horror and mody" and more "light hearted team party game". WHich sucks, since the bad reception means we are unlikely to get a federation based game, which I think has SO much potential for a spin off Metroid game.
Yeah, I'm late to this but to address the acid blood in games. My guess is that it's a better game mechanic to have it as a risk factor if you get too close while shooting them than to program the headache it would be to have environments melt and possibly actually cut your route off like in Bro-Force. However, in the Aliens DLC in Bro-Force, that mechanic worked well.
43:00 I can't tell wut metroid song that sounds familiar to but it kinda sounds like the megawatt's theme from the og ben 10 series too, gettin alot of different feels from it
To answer your question about why the alien's blood doesn't burn through the Hull... Wizards, just plain old wizards. In fact if anything in a story doesn't seem to make sense it's usually wizards.
I can’t believe no mention of Alien Isolation….THATS the game to play for Alien fans. It’s different, but it’s probably the closest to what it would actually be like to have to deal with a Xenomorph following you around
I'd say some surface level mechanics are shared, but overall they're pretty different beasts. The Mummy is very much a traditional metroidvania, and I mean that in a good way. More open and explorable, feeling similar to super metroid with very little scripted moments. Infestation is very linear, basically split into 5 levels, and only on the last one are you given mostly free reign to explore (even if two of the levels are completely locked off to you once you beat them the first time). I'd talk more about the Mummy but then I'd just be repeating talking points for an upcoming video
Wish Nintendo would release their DS games on the Switch E Shop it’s insane that their just sitting on hundreds maybe thousands of titles from the DS era and just letting them rot away.
Playing it on the 3DS is easier as the left shoulder button roots your marine on the spot and you can aim around. Makes it easier to aim for those hard shot. Also ducking and looking up affects how the thrown grenade acts. Also the guns do perform well when you get the upgrades. It might not be noticable but you really do notice it whe you take notice of your weapons as well as the kill time. As for why Wey-Yu want them is because they believe not only can they make cheap effective troops but the DNA could be used to improve their own forces. Wey-Yu operate a PMC and they make EVERYTHING. From kids toys to weapons. The UPP also want them to buttfuck the United Americas and the Three World Empire. Also Weyland Yutani may hold a place on the 3WE government they are a separate entity. Also this marks the first time the UPP was used in official media with Aliens RPG and Fireteam elite fleshing out the UPP. Also since we are talking about interplanetary conflict it happens all the time. The middle heavens region is MASSIVE as is the Outer RIm and the Frontier.
I do love the comic book style character portraits of the Marines. Which fun fact, this game was actually supposed to be Aliens Colonial Marines for the DS. But Gearbox, from what I heard, said nah.
4:58 I can see EXACTLY where you're coming from with that comparison. It really does, I'm looking at Metroid Fusion on a Gameboy Advanced SP right now and the background is REALLY similar in style. Also, side note said Gameboy hasn't been turned on or charged in over a year at least and it just turned on immediately, like Nintendo's old stuff is Built to Last.
43:02 It sounds a bit like Super Metroids Title but it also sounds like Brinstar Depths in a different key and maybe one of the Maridia themes? It sounds familiar, but I can't place the exact track.
You can stun the alien queen in the Airlock fight with grenades. Gives you enough time to hit one of the switches. Don't worry if you run out of grenades, your next marine will have plenty ;)
6:32 I dunno but the Colonial Marines gamemode for SS13 at least takes place on a planet... For the most part, unless the Marines at the dropship LZ have really screwed up or the Aliens have utterly stomped them then the Aliens shouldn't be on the Marine's ship so the acid blood shouldn't be a worry. 7:09 Don't gotta wory about the acid on land, it's go time. 7:36 Maybe they developed materials resistant to the Xenomorph's (Read the bold in the voice of the guy from Halo 2 who says your shield's are extremely resilient) *extremely acidic* blood?
Flamethrowers have never killed adult Aliens, not even drowning one in fifteen feet of hot lead in Alien³ alone could do it. But it is great at killing the immature forms though.
I really hope they can remaster this gem for current consoles and pc. Actual legit copies of Aliens Infestation have gone up in price. Definitely better than that dumpster fire that was Randy Greaseford's Aliens Colonial Marines 2013. Wayforward made another decent Metroidvania back in 2017, The Mummy Demastered. It, unlike Aliens Infestation, is available on pretty much every gaming platform.
@Andy - Insp. Magnum, I recommend playing the Colonial Marines campaign from Aliens Vs Predator 2 2001 if you can get the game to work. It mainly focuses on fighting Xenos and was definitely better than both Aliens Colonial Marines 2013 and AVP2010.
Loved the video. Played this game a few years ago and it's still fresh in my mind for some reason. I wanted to ask how you approach script writing? I make roughly similar content but my shit's weak in comparison, and finding ways to improve it is difficult because of the niche. If you had any tips or guidance, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Thanks for the compliment! Well I don't really consider my scripts to be anything special and they're pretty simple. The way I approach these kind of videos (niche game retrospectives) is by essentially combining the style of a voiced over walkthrough and a game breakdown/review together. Like the framework will be a summary of my playthrough of a game. Notable moments, funny encounters, just a general story of my progress through to the end. Then I'll have sectioned off categories where I talk about game design elements, almost like a review (gameplay, graphics, level design, etc.), but only for stuff that I think is noteworthy. I just weave those in and out of me talking about my playthrough, and then tie in any tangents or weird thoughts that I had playing the game. Scatter some jokes throughout, and that's about it. So my script will literally look something like Walkthrough -> Talk about Graphics -> Walkthrough -> Talk about music -> Walkthrough -> Funny/Geeky tangent Scripts do take time to make and I've literally spent months (and embarrassingly even a year) for quite a few of them. So it's just a matter of constantly working on them, adding to them, even little pieces at a time. Not sure if that was any help, but that's just an outline to how I tackle writing video scripts.
@@BunkerDweller It does help a lot. It's funny you mention a the videos being a walkthrough mixed with a review. I consider them a heavily edited let's play. Josh Strife Hayes calls them "Was It Any Good? - Game Title", Ross calls them "Ross's Game Dungeon: Game Title", and I Finished A Video Game calls them "Retrospectives". They're all essentially the same format, just with a different wrapping. How to nail that format in a way that's enjoyable and expressive, is something I'm finding difficult. So yeah, super appreciate the reply. I'll see what I can do.
Oddly enough if you want Aliens and Metroidvania i think Alien³ for the SNES is the best way to go. It might have the name and the setting of that movie but everything else is Aliens. You are getting swarmed by Aliens and have a huge arsenal at your disposal. There isn't much for upgrades. You can get better fuel for the flamethrower to do more damage but if you ran out that's it. Back to regular. Also the missions can get repetitive. But there's a nice strategic element to which missions you chose when. For instance the levels have med bays, or armories. If you are low on health or ammo you can retreat there, stock up and get back out. But sometimes there's a mission to seal areas off and once you sealed a med bay there's no getting back in there and you'll have to make due. So i usually keep these missions for last. Also i think dark descent which released recently is a great game.
ii know this is random, am enjoying your vids, but i am really curious what you think of another horror DS game called Moon. Have you ever played it? i think i'd love to see you review it. Maybe alongside the Nameless Game. Another horror game for the DS. Also, Edit: the funny thing is, the Alien novel the Cold Forge is kind of an answer to your question about why would people use the Xenos at all. Their rapid biology at making human hosts could mean the Aliens have a chance at being harvested for a cure for ANYTHING thanks to their CRISPR like capabilities.
What these games need 1-weapon and enemies rebalance 2-A lock on mode that let you toggle It dark souls style while you focus on positioning and dodging 3-a way to recover ammo or ditch the system 4-music fix
29:45 Their only use is to be a Terror Weapon like the Chryssalids from XCOM, and pardon my language but can I just say fuck that Site Recon mission in Canada from Enemy Within in particular?
AVP2 was probably the best Aliens FPS that came out, too bad it's the one game in the series, you cannot readily purchase, and even if you scrounge up a copy, you still have some patching to do. Too bad, AVP2 really felt like the perfect combination of storytelling and action, and had some really well done scripted sequences. What other games has you fight no enemies at all all the way into the middle of the second level, and still feel tense and scary. Or maybe that's just nostalgia. Please consider doing AVP2 at some point, i'd love to see more people talk about it.
I was always curious about this one given the weird pairing of license and genre, but never was able to track down a copy. Sad to hear that it doesn't hold up. Try Aliens: Neoplasma for a decent Xeno-Metroidvania. Also, Fireteam: Elite had a throwaway line about Xeno blood possibly melting into the hull. The Marines' synth states that their acid-proof hive resin would stop that from happening. Not sure about un-infested ships, though.
That's exactly what it is! The Xenomorphs do know of their Acidic Blood and thus their Drones make that resin in order to prevent the destruction of their Ship-based Colonies But it's not just the Xenomorphs who know it. But also the Scientifics of Weyland-Yutani. Aliens (and thus the Games that are based on it) is set 200 years after that fateful day of Ripley's first encounter with the Xenomorph. So it's completely likely that an Acid resistant Alloy could have been developed and implemmented at the time
The top priority of any game is for the enjoyment it delivers. I played this back in the day, and it was just a complete frustrating slog and ball ache. Never went back to it,and don't intend to,either. Just because it''s an Aliens game is not good enough. My advice:Give this pain-in- the-arse a wide berth.
35:08 My people. Is this why the kiddies talk about representation a lot now? Anyway I've been curious about this game for years but never got around to it. Not thr biggest Aliens fan, but I like metroidvanias a lot.
14:07 you said it right. the reason why i dont play all alien games because its too much action and too many human enemies and aliens are just treated as big cockroaches that takes only 1/4 of your magazine to kill them. I want a game where aliens are powerful, this is why alien isolation will always be superior.
My gripe with a lot of alien games dont weaken the amazing weapons just make ammo limited i mean in this game even fully upgraded the pulse rifle isnt quite as deadly as it should be and game has loads of little gripes but is excellent still and unfortunately just obvious it was rushed
6:26 "How come none of those games address the fact that the acid blood would simply eat away through the bulkhead and create a hull breach?" Let me answer your question with another question: Why does the alien blood fall down onto the ground? A ship or space station in space is in zero gravity. And the ships are never depicted as spinning to simulate gravity via centrifugal force. Obviously they have some sort of sci-fi artificial gravity generator to create a comfortable, earth-like environment, which simply was never important enough to discuss in any of the movies, probably because _there were aliens on board._ So the simplest explanation that this created 'force of gravity' is centered _somewhere within the ship._ No matter how much alien blood is spilled, it will never eat through outer hull to the vacuum of space if there's no force pulling it in that direction.
Hell yeah I had this on the DS XL would play it on the train and to school. I felt like they wanted to do Dead Space on the DS. Crazy should have never sold it 😢.
About the weapons question, drop an egg, and just wait. Xenos have very short life cycles. Eggs last a long time. Just wait for their life cycles to end, and fry the eggs.
I was like wow this game looks pretty aight maybe I'll try n get a physical copy it's probably like 30 somethin bucks at most I've never even heard of it so I look it up and no its ~$100 like everywhere. Man...
I have no problem with human enemies in aliens games. thats kind of the point of the aliens universe is that everything sucks. the main heroes are always part of a western hyper capitalist, basically cyberpunk society (with grittier looking tech and soldiers with a space vietnam look). The soldiers are there to fight other humans, thats what armies are for, it just so happens that they ran into aliens. they're constantly fighting with other human nations and even the corrupt corporations. In a pure aliens horror game, there probably shouldn't be human enemies, but in action focused ones its a nice change of pace for enemies and it fleshes out the Aliens universe.
I feel the same way about using mods on a first time playthrough, as in, I don't beyond very rare exceptions. Dsfix for dark souls was one exception due to the game being downright unplayable without it, but the only other time in memory was for oblivion, where I downloaded a mod to adjust the levelling system to give the max possible amount of stat points when levelling up, which was still totally possible in the vanilla game, but would normally require me to keep a ridiculous spreadsheet and record every stat point gain by hand to do so. I felt this was an acceptable thing to do to still enjoy the game as per the devs intention, but to avoid the tedious min maxing spreadsheet bullshit, and avoid having a gimped character that could never reach their max potential. Screw that. Again, totally possible in the vanilla game, but annoying as hell to actually accomplish.
I wish people would stop calling them metroidvania. That's like me saying elden ring is a nioh-souls game. From did it first so it's soulsborne or souls like. The term should me METROID-LIKE. metroid did it first and best years before sotn copied the formula
So… you’re definitely wrong. Metroid on NES was absolute garbage, and the original Castlevania improved on that formula (locking progression behind upgrades). The genre is called “metroidvania” because they use and improve upon the strengths of those two games. It has zero to do with SotN. You sound like a giant dummy complaining about things you don’t know about, in the comments of a youtube video, about a game you’ve likely not played. Hopefully, after 11 months, you’ve quit your whining.
The permadeath mecanic reminds me a lot of games like Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and Ghost Recon. Too bad each character is the same and doesn't have a special ability like in Trine or how you can custom them like in Helldivers.
I pixelled the bosses! Also some backgrounds and vehicles. Oh and the knife mini-game. Getting to design the King Alien was so fun. I was a freelance artist for Wayforward for several years. I tattoo now.
The pixel art in this game is gorgeous, well done
@@-Monad- thanks! Yeah Some really talented people were involved in this one. Lots of big names.
Yes, I second that. This game had gorgeous pixel work. It was also the Aliens game I always dreamed about as a 90s kid, but had to settle for stuff like Alien 3 Genesis/SNES. Little on the short side, but I still go back to it from time to time. Shat all over Colonial Marines, which I was more hyped for at the time. This definitely softened that blow. It'll never leave my collection. Amazing work, thank you. Wayforward has never disappointed me. Great devs.
Great job, I love this game! It was so much better than colonial marines
Your sprites are really god damn good
I am shock you never mention that you lose a marine,they are technically are still alive. They are taken to a hive and you have to save them. If you ignore them then they will die.
that’s only happened to me once and if they die again a chest bursted comes out. it’s not guaranteed though, i get marines killed for ones whose design look better so i’ve had a lot of them die
15:48 fun fact, lots of the blueness in Cameron's older movies is a by-product of upscaling the movies to HD. You can also see this in Verhoeven movies, Robocop especially.
hm, I did know this happened to T2, but I could have sworn even older releases of his movies still having those distinct blue gels
@@BunkerDweller it's definitely there in dark scenes, the intensity just gets increased by the upscaling. you can see it in the scene with the T1000 talking with John's foster parents, old standard definition has very warm lighting in the house, but after upscaling the warm orange lighting becomes neutral white from the blueness
@@BunkerDweller Yep they definitely were. I clearly remember it from before HD even existed.
@@dikasmusha6194 And this right here is why I have started to look for cinema / VHS releases now :/ I don't care about the quality hit.
So, I don't know if this is the emulator issue or if this is... Well, I don't want to say "Skill Issue," because I feel like that's being a jerk, but when I played this on DSI, I didn't notice any of these issues, bar the aiming issue. The game is much better on New 3DS though.
I played through about three times on DSi, and the last two times, I didn't lose any Marines I didn't choose to lose. I think I finished the game with all of the characters except Whistler on my second and third playthrough. The Marines are supposed to be expendable, and it's why there's 30+ of them across the entire game. So, if you lose a Marine, no big deal. Just go get one of the ones that you had already found. That said, Marines do have some unique dialogue. Some of them will repeat others, but there are snippets of it here and there. For a DS game, that's actually pretty significant.
For your aiming critique, I noticed that the game will lock your legs in place if you hold the Bumpers. This can help a lot with getting consistent damage out without moving and getting grenades right on target. I think I got through a few bosses with no damage a few times by using this to dish out huge amounts of damage.
For the backstep shooting critique, I do agree it's an issue, but I played the game in a very different fashion from how you did so. I dodge rolled constantly when enemies got close to me, and I made it a game of avoiding Xenos who got too close and dishing out damage. Save Rooms also replenish ammo and health (as well as enemies), so you can use these to get yourself back to full.
Other weapons do suck, and I get a feeling this is a Dead Space 1 situation. The intention was that the player would probably use the Pulse Rifle for most of the game, and whip out the Specials when they had to. The Pulse Rifle is just so strong, especially when you bring in it's GL and grenade combos. I think part of this was expectation (how could you do Aliens WITHOUT the Smart Gun?) and part of this was probably parity with Colonial Marines, which released contemporaneously with this.
I overall really liked Aliens Infestation and I consider it one of the best Aliens games ever made. It's especially far, far better than its sister game, Aliens Colonial Marines. Given that good Aliens games are few and far between and most are FPS games (or shared with those dreadlocked bores), this one is something special, at least to me.
I made it my goal last playthrough to recruit every marine in the game, so I actually had to purposely kill most of them to keep making room. I only missed one by the end! But yea, I agree that this game is fantastic. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it's nice and cozy for me.
20:14 I think the flamethrower would also eat up all the oxygen, which would be pretty bad on a space station with (presumably) limited air.
I know. But if they obeyed that fact, as well as what the video said about Alien blood, there would be no fighting at all! Not an exciting film or game! LOL!
OH MY GOD. That ending song rules so hard. It hit me with lots of nostalgia. I heard it a lot, but never played this game. Always seemed to be really cool from a distance, shame that it wasn't as great as it looked.
Since editing and uploading this that damn song has literally been stuck in my head the whole time
using the d-pad to press up and right or left has been industry standard since the late 80's.
The issue with that type of aiming on a DS game is that on the DSi, it's really difficult to aim diagonally on the d-pad. Not sure what Nintendo did with the d-pad, but it's very difficult to have both up and right or left clicked at the same time, most of the time it only detects either up or to the side instead of diagonally.
This game is beautiful, kudos to the team. Thanks for posting.
I think trying to train an entire of bees is the actual plot of the newest Jurassic World movie but with locusts
lmao shit you're right
I did not forget about this game.
Super rare case where I find a video and sub to a channel 1/3 into the vid. I checked your list and I see that you take time and effort with specific taste into what you talk about. It's an interesting take. This vid was really enjoyable. Thanks!
The thing with acid blood, as shown in aliens 1: it stops, eventually the chemical reaction does stop biting through material, and they comment on that. Otherwise everyone would of died in alien 1.
Now, it definitely should be something marines should take caution of when they’re close enough to the exterior of the ship to not have blood eat that wall away. And it would honestly be really cool to see that be implemented in a Alien game, having aeras of the map where you cannot shoot because you will get acid all over the exterior of a ship and having it suck all the air out (or suck everyone out)
you can breed xenomorphs and implant a self destruct chip in each one. Send them to combat, and when the work is done, use satellite and activate the self destruct chips to kill them all +/- use their acid blood to weaken defenses and barriers/walls by sending them as the first line infantry which will be expendable.
How does that work when they propagate from bacteria in the chest cavity though?
"can't have an alien game without shooting aliens"
Alien: Isolation: "ahem."
6:20 My only explanation would be that the materials used in those locations are not affected by the type of acid the aliens have. Yes its technically and oversite, but you could simply go with the idea that some materials don't react to certain acids. I remember way-way back before Aliens:CM came out one of the devs talked about ideas they had about using bleach as an in-game item to cancel the acidic effects of alien blood. There was gonna be an in-game mechanic about it.
I remember scouring ebay for months way back during the DS years to snag a halfway affordable copy of this game - absolutely a fantastic little title back then, far as I'm concerned. This era of Wayforward was fascinating - they genuinely gave their work-for-contract tie-in games their all back then. Their Thor DS game wasn't half bad either for example.
Having the best part of the game in the second half probably helped with a good lasting impression on those that played through it. Seems to be a fair bit of nostalgia for it out there.
Great vid. Your rant about xenomorph ls being useful as weapons was more interesting than the game itself.
Perma death is a good incentive to play well. I mean, if this mechanic bugs you then I hope you never play Fire Emblem...
Or at least games prior to awakening
I mean, that’s just your opinion…
@@vhscopyofseinfeld spoken like a low skill skrub
@@vhscopyofseinfeldyeah and this trash review is just this youtube guys opinion. They're like assholes, we all got em. Mine is that this game rules.
Acid doesn't burn indefinitely, you know, it spends acidity in the process.
but can't the quantity of it affect how much damage it can do before it stops burning? Think a drop of acid, for example, versus an entire body's worth of it
@@BunkerDweller Yes, you're right. But the whole concept is whimsical though. If an acid is so ridiculously strong, there's no way an organic body could harmlessly carry it. We're not talking about a little bit of sulfuric acid in the stomach. One scratch anywhere and metal-melting chemical fire is spilling from your wound. That's not evolutionary prudent. If the whole thing isn't affected by oxidation then... it would need to have some very unorthodox physiology, actually. It couldn't have any DNA, for instance. All life on Earth needs oxygen, but here we would be dealing with a life-form that is somehow getting by without it. Needless to say, that's not the lore. Science fiction these days is not written by the people who actually take interest in science.
@@varvarvarvarvarvarThe Alien's carbon based, and it's truly artificial.
@@BlueMarsalis All life is carbon based!
You shoot the queen in the head. You notice how its head flashes whenever you hit it? Once you hit it enough, it falls over, allowing you to shoot it more easily for a few seconds.
Bees are actually trained specifically for detecting explosives, they're put in harnesses, then given sugar while exposed to the smell of explosive substances so that they're trained to stick their tongue out when near said explosives, activating sensors to alert the operator/bee wrangler. I think it'd be neat to see Weylan-Yu succeed with it's plans via androids or using Alien blood for something specific (Anti-Ship Weapons?), then have the protags have to destroy all data on the project along with any prototype to send them back to the beginning, could make for an interesting sequel hypothetically.
Hey man I’ve only been a subscriber for the past month. I really enjoy your content and the games you choose. I’m working my way through your backlog and it’s been so much fun, thank you for your service
Kennedy saved this game and you KNOW it.
Indeed
Kennedy is best girl
Man, I loved this game. I'm lucky to have gotten a copy back when it first came out because I think it's pretty pricey to buy physically now
Cameron is an obvious reference to the Aliens director, but it's also possible "Paulson" is a reference to Meat Loaf's famous character in Fight Club, which was by Alien 3 director David Fincher. I was looking for Jean-Pierre Jenuait, Ridley Scott and Paul Thomas Anderson overlaps, but couldn't see anything which jumped out.
His name is Robert Paulson
I appreciate the effort man! Love your style of content.
ok for the space walk part the music clip you played sounded a ton like one of the creepier songs from super metroid Brinstar.
20:27 I don't know man touching off major fires willy-nilly in an enclosed atmosphere would be like a fire starting in a submarine- you're a long way from rescue and can't really just leap into a life raft so if you don't resolve the casualty and get the fire under control in a couple of minutes it's likely you won't be able to get it under control without just sealing the compartment off and hoping it doesn't spread; while underway modern submarines keep oxygen levels lower than 20% to reduce the likelihood of fires despite how much it increases fatigue, reduces cognitive ability and slows the healing of injuries- the reduced capability of the crew is worth the extra time to control a fire before it becomes established even if measured in seconds or tens of seconds. A small confined, pressurised space would fill with smoke and other toxic combustion products pretty quick and the pressure differentials created by solid material turning into extra gases would start to interfere with how doors and vents work and in an extreme event might just rupture the pressurised compartment.
This video is amazing, can't wait for the other ones you've promised.
This is actually super interesting!
I always thought a metroid game that focused more on the horrer aspect where you were weaker would be so cool. kinda like beginning of fusion and the end of zero mission. And specifically I always thought it would be neat to play in the shoes of a federation grunt which samus always seems to see the gruesome end off like in prime 2 and AM2R. Then I always thiught it could be contrasted with seeing samus bullrush through shit that could kill you easy or you would otherwise have to be roundabouts with. Kinda having her being a background character, her doing her mission as you do yours.
This game totally, at least in concept kinda embodies that feel! its super weird that my headcanon game kinda exists. I mean, it totally makes sense in retrospect that an aleins game might take inspiration from metroid just like metroid took some tonal notes from Alien.
If nothing else, really cool retrospect on a little known game, thanks. Also, just a really well put together review period. really deserves a lot more attention.
@Lunaradical Yah. Its not very "horror and mody" and more "light hearted team party game".
WHich sucks, since the bad reception means we are unlikely to get a federation based game, which I think has SO much potential for a spin off Metroid game.
Yeah, I'm late to this but to address the acid blood in games. My guess is that it's a better game mechanic to have it as a risk factor if you get too close while shooting them than to program the headache it would be to have environments melt and possibly actually cut your route off like in Bro-Force. However, in the Aliens DLC in Bro-Force, that mechanic worked well.
43:00 I can't tell wut metroid song that sounds familiar to but it kinda sounds like the megawatt's theme from the og ben 10 series too, gettin alot of different feels from it
Looking forward to all 4 videos.
Good to see again! Awesome video
Kennedy enjoyer
To answer your question about why the alien's blood doesn't burn through the Hull... Wizards, just plain old wizards. In fact if anything in a story doesn't seem to make sense it's usually wizards.
I can’t believe no mention of Alien Isolation….THATS the game to play for Alien fans. It’s different, but it’s probably the closest to what it would actually be like to have to deal with a Xenomorph following you around
Is it quite similar to Watforward's Mummy demake released a few years ago?
I'd say some surface level mechanics are shared, but overall they're pretty different beasts. The Mummy is very much a traditional metroidvania, and I mean that in a good way. More open and explorable, feeling similar to super metroid with very little scripted moments. Infestation is very linear, basically split into 5 levels, and only on the last one are you given mostly free reign to explore (even if two of the levels are completely locked off to you once you beat them the first time).
I'd talk more about the Mummy but then I'd just be repeating talking points for an upcoming video
@@BunkerDweller Ah, fantastic thanks! I fished Infestation out of a bargain bin years ago, but never got around to actually trying it. :(
Id say the acid blood is either overlooked or ignored. Cool video. I might check this game out
if you get facehugged you can save your marines and saves though, you also have a dodge roll which is sick
Love this game! Glad someone is doing a video on it
Wish Nintendo would release their DS games on the Switch E Shop it’s insane that their just sitting on hundreds maybe thousands of titles from the DS era and just letting them rot away.
Playing it on the 3DS is easier as the left shoulder button roots your marine on the spot and you can aim around. Makes it easier to aim for those hard shot. Also ducking and looking up affects how the thrown grenade acts. Also the guns do perform well when you get the upgrades. It might not be noticable but you really do notice it whe you take notice of your weapons as well as the kill time.
As for why Wey-Yu want them is because they believe not only can they make cheap effective troops but the DNA could be used to improve their own forces. Wey-Yu operate a PMC and they make EVERYTHING. From kids toys to weapons. The UPP also want them to buttfuck the United Americas and the Three World Empire. Also Weyland Yutani may hold a place on the 3WE government they are a separate entity. Also this marks the first time the UPP was used in official media with Aliens RPG and Fireteam elite fleshing out the UPP. Also since we are talking about interplanetary conflict it happens all the time. The middle heavens region is MASSIVE as is the Outer RIm and the Frontier.
Yes, the acid should eat through the hulls.
WY would probably drop only one or two aliens as terror weapons.
I do love the comic book style character portraits of the Marines.
Which fun fact, this game was actually supposed to be Aliens Colonial Marines for the DS. But Gearbox, from what I heard, said nah.
Comment for engagement
4:58 I can see EXACTLY where you're coming from with that comparison. It really does, I'm looking at Metroid Fusion on a Gameboy Advanced SP right now and the background is REALLY similar in style. Also, side note said Gameboy hasn't been turned on or charged in over a year at least and it just turned on immediately, like Nintendo's old stuff is Built to Last.
It's hard to describe. It's that compressed, pixel art shading, with not a lot of gradient colors
43:02 It sounds a bit like Super Metroids Title but it also sounds like Brinstar Depths in a different key and maybe one of the Maridia themes? It sounds familiar, but I can't place the exact track.
Was the end song by five finger death punch?
This reminds me of the metroidvania: The mummy demastered
So, what are you saying is if I already played Metroid Fusion I can skip this Alien game? Loved the cameo of Aliens/Alien 2 for FDS tho xD ⭐⭐⭐⭐
You can stun the alien queen in the Airlock fight with grenades. Gives you enough time to hit one of the switches. Don't worry if you run out of grenades, your next marine will have plenty ;)
6:32 I dunno but the Colonial Marines gamemode for SS13 at least takes place on a planet... For the most part, unless the Marines at the dropship LZ have really screwed up or the Aliens have utterly stomped them then the Aliens shouldn't be on the Marine's ship so the acid blood shouldn't be a worry.
7:09 Don't gotta wory about the acid on land, it's go time.
7:36 Maybe they developed materials resistant to the Xenomorph's (Read the bold in the voice of the guy from Halo 2 who says your shield's are extremely resilient) *extremely acidic* blood?
Flamethrowers have never killed adult Aliens, not even drowning one in fifteen feet of hot lead in Alien³ alone could do it. But it is great at killing the immature forms though.
I really hope they can remaster this gem for current consoles and pc. Actual legit copies of Aliens Infestation have gone up in price. Definitely better than that dumpster fire that was Randy Greaseford's Aliens Colonial Marines 2013.
Wayforward made another decent Metroidvania back in 2017, The Mummy Demastered. It, unlike Aliens Infestation, is available on pretty much every gaming platform.
Well damn I guess everyone is just predicting what one of my other halloween vids is
@Andy - Insp. Magnum, I recommend playing the Colonial Marines campaign from Aliens Vs Predator 2 2001 if you can get the game to work. It mainly focuses on fighting Xenos and was definitely better than both Aliens Colonial Marines 2013 and AVP2010.
Reminds me of Contra and Metal Slug on the DS.
Loved the video. Played this game a few years ago and it's still fresh in my mind for some reason. I wanted to ask how you approach script writing? I make roughly similar content but my shit's weak in comparison, and finding ways to improve it is difficult because of the niche. If you had any tips or guidance, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks.
Thanks for the compliment! Well I don't really consider my scripts to be anything special and they're pretty simple. The way I approach these kind of videos (niche game retrospectives) is by essentially combining the style of a voiced over walkthrough and a game breakdown/review together.
Like the framework will be a summary of my playthrough of a game. Notable moments, funny encounters, just a general story of my progress through to the end. Then I'll have sectioned off categories where I talk about game design elements, almost like a review (gameplay, graphics, level design, etc.), but only for stuff that I think is noteworthy. I just weave those in and out of me talking about my playthrough, and then tie in any tangents or weird thoughts that I had playing the game. Scatter some jokes throughout, and that's about it. So my script will literally look something like
Walkthrough -> Talk about Graphics -> Walkthrough -> Talk about music -> Walkthrough -> Funny/Geeky tangent
Scripts do take time to make and I've literally spent months (and embarrassingly even a year) for quite a few of them. So it's just a matter of constantly working on them, adding to them, even little pieces at a time. Not sure if that was any help, but that's just an outline to how I tackle writing video scripts.
@@BunkerDweller It does help a lot. It's funny you mention a the videos being a walkthrough mixed with a review. I consider them a heavily edited let's play. Josh Strife Hayes calls them "Was It Any Good? - Game Title", Ross calls them "Ross's Game Dungeon: Game Title", and I Finished A Video Game calls them "Retrospectives". They're all essentially the same format, just with a different wrapping.
How to nail that format in a way that's enjoyable and expressive, is something I'm finding difficult. So yeah, super appreciate the reply. I'll see what I can do.
I forgot all about that ridiculous song.
Oddly enough if you want Aliens and Metroidvania i think Alien³ for the SNES is the best way to go. It might have the name and the setting of that movie but everything else is Aliens. You are getting swarmed by Aliens and have a huge arsenal at your disposal.
There isn't much for upgrades. You can get better fuel for the flamethrower to do more damage but if you ran out that's it. Back to regular. Also the missions can get repetitive.
But there's a nice strategic element to which missions you chose when. For instance the levels have med bays, or armories. If you are low on health or ammo you can retreat there, stock up and get back out. But sometimes there's a mission to seal areas off and once you sealed a med bay there's no getting back in there and you'll have to make due. So i usually keep these missions for last.
Also i think dark descent which released recently is a great game.
This is the best Alien game.
Prove. Me. Wrong.
Alien isolation...
@@ghostspider7619 nuh uh
ii know this is random, am enjoying your vids, but i am really curious what you think of another horror DS game called Moon. Have you ever played it? i think i'd love to see you review it. Maybe alongside the Nameless Game. Another horror game for the DS.
Also, Edit: the funny thing is, the Alien novel the Cold Forge is kind of an answer to your question about why would people use the Xenos at all. Their rapid biology at making human hosts could mean the Aliens have a chance at being harvested for a cure for ANYTHING thanks to their CRISPR like capabilities.
The Alien bioweapon nonsense comes from the extended media, and yeah, love Zoe Cutter Kennedy.
isnt the first and the third boss that u fought a praetorian and not a queen?
What these games need
1-weapon and enemies rebalance
2-A lock on mode that let you toggle It dark souls style while you focus on positioning and dodging
3-a way to recover ammo or ditch the system
4-music fix
43:06 Sounds similar to a theme in Metroid 2.
So... what about knife mini-game? Is what I think it is?
29:45 Their only use is to be a Terror Weapon like the Chryssalids from XCOM, and pardon my language but can I just say fuck that Site Recon mission in Canada from Enemy Within in particular?
AVP2 was probably the best Aliens FPS that came out, too bad it's the one game in the series, you cannot readily purchase, and even if you scrounge up a copy, you still have some patching to do. Too bad, AVP2 really felt like the perfect combination of storytelling and action, and had some really well done scripted sequences. What other games has you fight no enemies at all all the way into the middle of the second level, and still feel tense and scary. Or maybe that's just nostalgia. Please consider doing AVP2 at some point, i'd love to see more people talk about it.
I was always curious about this one given the weird pairing of license and genre, but never was able to track down a copy. Sad to hear that it doesn't hold up. Try Aliens: Neoplasma for a decent Xeno-Metroidvania.
Also, Fireteam: Elite had a throwaway line about Xeno blood possibly melting into the hull. The Marines' synth states that their acid-proof hive resin would stop that from happening. Not sure about un-infested ships, though.
Definitely gonna have to check out Neoplasma, looks neat
That's exactly what it is! The Xenomorphs do know of their Acidic Blood and thus their Drones make that resin in order to prevent the destruction of their Ship-based Colonies
But it's not just the Xenomorphs who know it. But also the Scientifics of Weyland-Yutani. Aliens (and thus the Games that are based on it) is set 200 years after that fateful day of Ripley's first encounter with the Xenomorph. So it's completely likely that an Acid resistant Alloy could have been developed and implemmented at the time
The top priority of any game is for the enjoyment it delivers. I played this back in the day, and it was just a complete frustrating slog and ball ache. Never went back to it,and don't intend to,either. Just because it''s an Aliens game is not good enough. My advice:Give this pain-in- the-arse a wide berth.
35:08 My people. Is this why the kiddies talk about representation a lot now?
Anyway I've been curious about this game for years but never got around to it. Not thr biggest Aliens fan, but I like metroidvanias a lot.
14:07 you said it right. the reason why i dont play all alien games because its too much action and too many human enemies and aliens are just treated as big cockroaches that takes only 1/4 of your magazine to kill them. I want a game where aliens are powerful, this is why alien isolation will always be superior.
My gripe with a lot of alien games dont weaken the amazing weapons just make ammo limited i mean in this game even fully upgraded the pulse rifle isnt quite as deadly as it should be and game has loads of little gripes but is excellent still and unfortunately just obvious it was rushed
Beautiful game
Oh man I highly recommend Fireteam Elite. I don't know about it being the "best" but it's fun imo.
45:54 Watch Rubix Raptor's video of it, it looks very fun.
6:26 "How come none of those games address the fact that the acid blood would simply eat away through the bulkhead and create a hull breach?"
Let me answer your question with another question: Why does the alien blood fall down onto the ground?
A ship or space station in space is in zero gravity. And the ships are never depicted as spinning to simulate gravity via centrifugal force.
Obviously they have some sort of sci-fi artificial gravity generator to create a comfortable, earth-like environment, which simply was never important enough to discuss in any of the movies, probably because _there were aliens on board._
So the simplest explanation that this created 'force of gravity' is centered _somewhere within the ship._ No matter how much alien blood is spilled, it will never eat through outer hull to the vacuum of space if there's no force pulling it in that direction.
Had this as a kid, best game ever.
You were a child 11 years ago? Man I feel old 😂
You’re only a pro if you beat the game with no deaths and every marine unlocked like I did 😎
Hell yeah I had this on the DS XL would play it on the train and to school. I felt like they wanted to do Dead Space on the DS. Crazy should have never sold it 😢.
A complete in box copy is still only like $20 so its easy enough to get your hands on
hah, they had a "my bff Jill" meme. nice.
About the weapons question, drop an egg, and just wait. Xenos have very short life cycles. Eggs last a long time. Just wait for their life cycles to end, and fry the eggs.
Aliens can live pretty much indefinitely, the short lifespan concept only existed in the original film.
@@BlueMarsalisSeveral films have adhered to it. James Cameron was even talking about it in DVD extras.
I was like wow this game looks pretty aight maybe I'll try n get a physical copy it's probably like 30 somethin bucks at most I've never even heard of it so I look it up and no its ~$100 like everywhere. Man...
What does internet says about goth people dying?
I have no problem with human enemies in aliens games. thats kind of the point of the aliens universe is that everything sucks. the main heroes are always part of a western hyper capitalist, basically cyberpunk society (with grittier looking tech and soldiers with a space vietnam look). The soldiers are there to fight other humans, thats what armies are for, it just so happens that they ran into aliens. they're constantly fighting with other human nations and even the corrupt corporations. In a pure aliens horror game, there probably shouldn't be human enemies, but in action focused ones its a nice change of pace for enemies and it fleshes out the Aliens universe.
I feel the same way about using mods on a first time playthrough, as in, I don't beyond very rare exceptions.
Dsfix for dark souls was one exception due to the game being downright unplayable without it, but the only other time in memory was for oblivion, where I downloaded a mod to adjust the levelling system to give the max possible amount of stat points when levelling up, which was still totally possible in the vanilla game, but would normally require me to keep a ridiculous spreadsheet and record every stat point gain by hand to do so. I felt this was an acceptable thing to do to still enjoy the game as per the devs intention, but to avoid the tedious min maxing spreadsheet bullshit, and avoid having a gimped character that could never reach their max potential. Screw that.
Again, totally possible in the vanilla game, but annoying as hell to actually accomplish.
Based.
I wish people would stop calling them metroidvania. That's like me saying elden ring is a nioh-souls game. From did it first so it's soulsborne or souls like. The term should me METROID-LIKE. metroid did it first and best years before sotn copied the formula
So… you’re definitely wrong. Metroid on NES was absolute garbage, and the original Castlevania improved on that formula (locking progression behind upgrades). The genre is called “metroidvania” because they use and improve upon the strengths of those two games. It has zero to do with SotN. You sound like a giant dummy complaining about things you don’t know about, in the comments of a youtube video, about a game you’ve likely not played. Hopefully, after 11 months, you’ve quit your whining.
done better by alien 3 for genesis and the mastersysytem alien 3 was even better than that.
Nice
Union of Progressive Peoples: "I'm escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by capitalism...SPHESS!!!!"
You said you never played Fire Team Elite...I highly recommend it. It's what Colonial Marines really should have been.
Fireteam elite is literly more fun than most if the aliens games out there. Too bad it died like every other co-op shooter out there.
This is a game not real life or based on realism. If 100% of games were based on realism you would be dead in 90% of them.
Kino game
The game kinda sucks
This game fucking rules. Top 5 on the system for me.
The permadeath mecanic reminds me a lot of games like Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield and Ghost Recon.
Too bad each character is the same and doesn't have a special ability like in Trine or how you can custom them like in Helldivers.