Alien Syndrome (Wii) Review
Posted by Morakoth Tang on 10.06.2007
Alien Syndrome is indeed a classic at the Arcades. The game was entertaining and offered great gameplay elements similar to Robotron, fast forward to the present Alien Syndrome is a new beast. The Arcade shooter is now an Action RPG. Alien Syndrome has seen its home on a few different consoles let’s see if its current home brings nostalgia or pain.
Title: Alien Syndrome
Type: Action RPG
Publisher: SEGA
Players 4
Graphics:
A snowball’s chance in hell is the probability that I will ever show Alien Syndrome off as what the Wii can do graphically. The game is an obvious port of the PSP title. The textures are low res, the models are low poly and the lighting is horrible. The lack of love this version received is disheartening and deserves some hugs and kisses especially for this franchise. The character design is a bit lacking and the same assets appear too many times in the game. The repetitive occurrence of the worm like creature is nothing short of annoying. The interface looks like it would work on a small screen, but on the big screen it’s a bit strange. The red font even though laid on blue is harder to read than Chinese. The minigame that was developed to upgrade the player’s ability had the potential to be fun, except its down fall was the Art; The icons that represented each characteristic (e.g. Health, Speed, etc) was completely difficult to differentiate. The graphics in the game is definite evidence that the developers took the PSP assets and plugged them into the Wii.
Game Play:
The main difference between the PSP title and the Wii’s build are obviously the game’s controls. The game uses the Wii’s IR capability just fine and works pretty well; however, when it comes down to the camera mapping the controls turn out to be a nightmare comparable to that dream you had in high school where you walked around naked on a cold day in gym class. If you couldn’t relate to that analogy just understand that there’s nothing worst than mapping the camera to the Nunchuck - the controller you hold with the hand that would probably move the most involuntary during in-game combat. I can’t tell you how many times I have suffered unnecessary damage (physically and in-game) due to the “infamous” rotating camera. After playing for fifteen minutes my left wrist hurt trying to constantly adjust the camera’s angle. It’s a ridiculous control scheme and for veteran designer to sign off on this is amazing and should be noted in Ripley’s Believe it or not. Moving on to the combat system, the combat system is a bit repetitive as well, the tap, tap, and thrust forward just don’t work correctly…well it doesn’t feel right either. Trying to finish off an enemy with the double downward thrust of the Wii Remote and Nunchuck was frustrating and lame. Not only did the camera move whenever I tried it, the finish moves animations are anticlimactic. The one element that I found interesting was its RPG element, but then again the minigame that builds your stats was also a mess. The icons as I explained in the graphics section are terribly design. When I first encountered this minigame I was confused and didn’t know what to do. The game needed some more loving in this department, and I don’t say that lightly.
Sound:
The soundtrack, sound effects and voice work are a bit lacking. The soundtrack is as expected filled with spacey poppy techno sound. The music was not bad nor was it any good. It was there to fill the void between sound effects and did so but without style. On that note the sound effects in gamr are typical of any space shooter. The sounds of lasers shooting, lob grenades exploding, and aliens hissing are all a bit repetitive; even more evidence of space saving tactics on the PSP carried over to the Wii. The only thing that sounds a little decent is the voice acting work that play through the cinematic or anamatic which ever way you choose to view it as. The voice acting for a moment is convincing and portrays the current story well, but after its over you fall back into the techno space beats and all is bad again.
Lasting Appeal:
The game is pretty straight forward, and I can’t imagine anyone playing through it again for the sake of getting all the upgrades. The upgrade system is suppose to be a lure to keep players addicted, but as detailed earlier the minigame to upgrade your character is not amusing. The icons are difficult to read on a big screen (yes that’s correct a big screen) so replay value is low. The game is a basic hack and slash but without the high score leader boards to keep you coming back for more, its senseless.
Fun Factor:
To be honest I can’t find anything fun about this game. Minigames are suppose to simple and easy to understand, but this upgrade minigame failed. The story is nothing interesting and cliché, the graphics…are awful, the sound is nothing to tout about. Where does this leave the game in the fun department? No where, the game is an absolute waste of time.
The 411:
I honestly gave this game a fair chance. I went into it expecting nothing, knowing nothing about it except its arcade history. As soon as I popped the game into my Wii the horror that bestowed my eyes are unmatched by any game I have ever played. The graphics are crap and dull, green rooms and big worms that multiply everywhere. Repetitive gameplay mechanics is expected from Alien Syndrome, but the way it was executed turned out bad. I must say 411 readers this game is a complete waste of time and money. I don’t understand how this game got out of the door. Well yes I do understand how this one got through. Riding the Wii bandwagon of success is popular now and day. PSP to Wii ports are common and I don’t have a problem with it unless it’s clear that the parallel development is aim at the minimum spec console. Alien Syndrome is a prime example of how it can go severely wrong. The graphics suffered, the story being told through storyboards is fine, but it could have been fully animated. The interface would have been readable. The minigame would have worked. The game could have gone a totally different direction if it was made for the ground up for the Wii, or maybe I wouldn’t have, but at least the game would have looked a bit better than what we have here, PSP assets on a Wii. Guys avoid this one and move on to other things, unless you really hate your left wrist…
Graphics
3.0
PSP level graphics...
Gameplay
4.0
Repetitve and boring
Sound
3.0
There's nothing amusing with this space techno
Lasting Appeal
3.0
I can't imagine playing this again
Fun Factor
2.0
There are moments of fun when my wrist cracks while correcting the camera.
