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> Results: Alien Syndrome
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The ESRB Says
Fantasy Violence: GamerDad helped Aileen and Tom wipe out every crazy monster in their path. Mild Suggestive Themes: The heroine is a very attractive young woman in love with another soldier, and there are some minor scenes involving romance. This game reminds me very much of a toned down version of Shadowgrounds or Alien Shooter: Vengeance. All three feature top-down perspective and have you running around various areas killing loads of enemies. But while the former was a straight-out shooter and the latter was a blast-fast shooter with RPG-lite elements, this is a pure action-RPG. Unfortunately, the surgery that removed all of the extreme violence and gore from those other games seems to have removed the personality as well, leaving a pretty generic experience in its' place. The bottom line of whether or not you'll like this game is decided in the first half-hour of playing. In that time you will meet a couple of different types of enemies, get to experiment with different weapon types and shields, create your own items, level up and choose new skills, and battle a boss creature. When I cleared the second boss creature I realized I had seen pretty much all the game had to show - but I kept right on going. This is one of those games that lives or dies based on the gameplay, because the rest of the game is quite bland. I have come to love these top-down shooters, so this was a blast to roam around and blast everything, and it was nice that I could do so anywhere without worrying about streaming strong language or overly gory scenes. If you have played either of those games and enjoyed them, this is a game I can easily recommend - but only if you can get it for a bargain price. It really just isn't a very good game - there is some fun to be had with blasting stuff and working your skill-tree, but it isn't a game that I would ever recommend for someone to go out of their way to buy.  
In my review of Shadowgrounds I speculated how the game could have been altered to be appropriate for teens. A game like this is the result of someone doing just that - the strong language, blood, gore and extreme violence of those M-rated games have been removed, leaving behind a very tame experience that barely deserves a T rating. The only things that makes this questionable as a 10+ recommendation are the complete focus on killing everything you meet and the relationship between Aileen and Tom. They are in love and a long distance apart, so there are some minor suggestive elements - but this is nothing that a child wouldn't see between loving parents on a regular basis. So I will stick to the 14+ GamerDad Age Seal, but this is one that is easily playable with younger kids - use your judgment as always, but it is a very 'soft' T rating.
Other Platforms: PSP: Reviewed here - best version. Wii: worse graphics and lousy controls Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us | Buy This Game Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Alien Syndrome |
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