Alien Rampage (PC, 1996)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-6 Control-6.5 Challenge-7.5 Story-5
Level Design-6 Frustration-8/9* Fun-6 Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*Shoot 'em up levels, last phase of the first boss
+
Decent enemy variety
Various hidden paths and items
Shops (usually these hold one weapon type at a time)
Pretty satisfying sfx
Some cool weapons (homing missiles, flamethrower-like weapon, freeze gun - flying enemies fall to the ground and break)
Detailed stats after each level
Weapon inventory and weapon select hotkeys
Temporary invincibility power ups (can't keep these for later use though)
Decent puzzles at times (rescued NPCs can help you progress (have one follow you and use them as a platform at one point), movable blocks to reach higher, shoot while standing on a block on top of water to make the recoil move you backwards - Monster World 4)
Pretty cool moving platform+shoot the targets segment in lvl 4
Health upgrades which carry over to the next level
Transform into a small gargoyle to reach new places in some levels (can't attack though)
Difficulty options (easy/"like to hide"-very hard/"just a psycho")
Bosses have multiple phases (they're not that good though as there's some unavoidable damage and cheap moments)
Decent final boss
Decent teleporter mazes (marked teleporters)
+/-
Save in-between levels (seven slots)
Various maze-like levels and most make you search for keys and switches to progress
2+ mid-level checkpoints per level (lose some money from dying, ammo and locked door progress is kept)
Can choose to aim lock while moving or aim freely while still - could've used a toggle button instead
Ammo-based weapons besides the default laser which recharges over time (a bit too slowly for some later segments)
Can grab and climb ledges however the animation is kinda slow (sometimes the level design could've been tweaked to make platforming flow better)
Gore (looks kinda cheesy when it's the same blood and guts explosion for various enemy types - some later ones do have unique ones though)
Exploding barrels however they don't help much with taking out enemies
Only get one shot at falling platform challenges unless you reload the level from the beginning
The spread gun has a weird trajectory
Jumping is faster than walking
Can't run, dodge roll/slide or block
No health refill after beating a level
Borrows a couple of hazards and gimmicks from Shadow of the Beast and Turrican (bouncing spikeballs/rocket platforms)
-
Huge difficulty spike at the boss after lvl 6 (can't buy ammo before it, camera glitch during the third phase and you pretty much have to use the flamethrower or an equal weapon to take it out quickly here or it will stomp you to death, can't go back and collect missed health upgrades). Two more at the shoot 'em up levels and they're not that good in general (your ship is too large, no auto-fire, unavoidable damage, they end abruptly and have no bosses, no checkpoints)
Control/interface issues (can't look down (can look up) - various blind jumps into enemies and other hazards already in the first couple of levels (can manually hang from ledges to check below whch helps but you tend to get hit while doing it), somewhat awkward non-45 degree diagonal shooting angle, the screen doesn't scroll while you're jumping, can't shoot straight down unless basically still in mid-air or standing still, can't cycle through weapons backwards - can map the first to a button though, no invincibility time after taking a hit, can't speed up the score countdown after a level, slower turning while crouching, occasionally can't hang from a ledge, horizontal scrolling issue during the latter "boat" part of lvl 6, slow rope/vine climbing, can't shoot straight up while climbing a vine - sucks when you get swarmed by bats in lvl 12, kinda sloppy hit detection on health pick ups)
Can shoot enemies that are off screen (kind of required considering the above though)
Trial & error (messy visuals in various lvls after lvl 7 (first boss) - bats+some switches and some other things blend into the environment (the devs also start hiding the main path behind walls, gets even worse in lvl 12; setting the visuals to low detail helps a bit but it's still an issue), see can't look down, some hard to detect traps, some unavoidable damage, climbable vines kind of blend into the background, the game doesn't show you what hitting a switch unlocked, one of the turrets in lvl 9 can shoot you from off screen for a long stretch if triggered, switch code puzzle in the submarine lvl that you have to brute force because there's no solution to be found, last phase of the spider boss)
Bullshit falling traps in level 4-5 - they even hurt if you have invincibility. Bullshit submarine segment in lvl 5
Takes a bit too long to introduce new weapons
Some tedious aspects (too much stop and go action with groups of fairly simple enemies or waiting for platforms or traps to move in various levels. The odd diagonal shooting angle and lack of effective weapons to shoot enemies below you exacerbate the problem (can generally place yourself right at the edge of a platform to shoot straight down into the enemies though which sometimes helps), some backtracking after failing a jump, too much key searching and switch flipping in maze levels later on and not enough ammo - can use a cheat to skip the key searching part though, somewhat spongy enemies, level 10 is too long)
Some cheap enemy placements near the edges of platforms or to trap you after falling into a room
The axe wielding skeletons can hit you through walls
No in-game music
Dated pre-rendered visual elements which clash with the pixel art visuals
Unskippable logos on boot/startup
Cutscenes are just text on a plain background and there's no storytelling in-game - including the ending
Notes:
-Used the infinite ammo cheat a few times
Bugs:
-If you look up while riding a platform upwards the camera glitches out
-Crashed once in lvl 11 while on the boat
Level Design-6 Frustration-8/9* Fun-6 Originality-6
Overall Score-6
*Shoot 'em up levels, last phase of the first boss
+
Decent enemy variety
Various hidden paths and items
Shops (usually these hold one weapon type at a time)
Pretty satisfying sfx
Some cool weapons (homing missiles, flamethrower-like weapon, freeze gun - flying enemies fall to the ground and break)
Detailed stats after each level
Weapon inventory and weapon select hotkeys
Temporary invincibility power ups (can't keep these for later use though)
Decent puzzles at times (rescued NPCs can help you progress (have one follow you and use them as a platform at one point), movable blocks to reach higher, shoot while standing on a block on top of water to make the recoil move you backwards - Monster World 4)
Pretty cool moving platform+shoot the targets segment in lvl 4
Health upgrades which carry over to the next level
Transform into a small gargoyle to reach new places in some levels (can't attack though)
Difficulty options (easy/"like to hide"-very hard/"just a psycho")
Bosses have multiple phases (they're not that good though as there's some unavoidable damage and cheap moments)
Decent final boss
Decent teleporter mazes (marked teleporters)
+/-
Save in-between levels (seven slots)
Various maze-like levels and most make you search for keys and switches to progress
2+ mid-level checkpoints per level (lose some money from dying, ammo and locked door progress is kept)
Can choose to aim lock while moving or aim freely while still - could've used a toggle button instead
Ammo-based weapons besides the default laser which recharges over time (a bit too slowly for some later segments)
Can grab and climb ledges however the animation is kinda slow (sometimes the level design could've been tweaked to make platforming flow better)
Gore (looks kinda cheesy when it's the same blood and guts explosion for various enemy types - some later ones do have unique ones though)
Exploding barrels however they don't help much with taking out enemies
Only get one shot at falling platform challenges unless you reload the level from the beginning
The spread gun has a weird trajectory
Jumping is faster than walking
Can't run, dodge roll/slide or block
No health refill after beating a level
Borrows a couple of hazards and gimmicks from Shadow of the Beast and Turrican (bouncing spikeballs/rocket platforms)
-
Huge difficulty spike at the boss after lvl 6 (can't buy ammo before it, camera glitch during the third phase and you pretty much have to use the flamethrower or an equal weapon to take it out quickly here or it will stomp you to death, can't go back and collect missed health upgrades). Two more at the shoot 'em up levels and they're not that good in general (your ship is too large, no auto-fire, unavoidable damage, they end abruptly and have no bosses, no checkpoints)
Control/interface issues (can't look down (can look up) - various blind jumps into enemies and other hazards already in the first couple of levels (can manually hang from ledges to check below whch helps but you tend to get hit while doing it), somewhat awkward non-45 degree diagonal shooting angle, the screen doesn't scroll while you're jumping, can't shoot straight down unless basically still in mid-air or standing still, can't cycle through weapons backwards - can map the first to a button though, no invincibility time after taking a hit, can't speed up the score countdown after a level, slower turning while crouching, occasionally can't hang from a ledge, horizontal scrolling issue during the latter "boat" part of lvl 6, slow rope/vine climbing, can't shoot straight up while climbing a vine - sucks when you get swarmed by bats in lvl 12, kinda sloppy hit detection on health pick ups)
Can shoot enemies that are off screen (kind of required considering the above though)
Trial & error (messy visuals in various lvls after lvl 7 (first boss) - bats+some switches and some other things blend into the environment (the devs also start hiding the main path behind walls, gets even worse in lvl 12; setting the visuals to low detail helps a bit but it's still an issue), see can't look down, some hard to detect traps, some unavoidable damage, climbable vines kind of blend into the background, the game doesn't show you what hitting a switch unlocked, one of the turrets in lvl 9 can shoot you from off screen for a long stretch if triggered, switch code puzzle in the submarine lvl that you have to brute force because there's no solution to be found, last phase of the spider boss)
Bullshit falling traps in level 4-5 - they even hurt if you have invincibility. Bullshit submarine segment in lvl 5
Takes a bit too long to introduce new weapons
Some tedious aspects (too much stop and go action with groups of fairly simple enemies or waiting for platforms or traps to move in various levels. The odd diagonal shooting angle and lack of effective weapons to shoot enemies below you exacerbate the problem (can generally place yourself right at the edge of a platform to shoot straight down into the enemies though which sometimes helps), some backtracking after failing a jump, too much key searching and switch flipping in maze levels later on and not enough ammo - can use a cheat to skip the key searching part though, somewhat spongy enemies, level 10 is too long)
Some cheap enemy placements near the edges of platforms or to trap you after falling into a room
The axe wielding skeletons can hit you through walls
No in-game music
Dated pre-rendered visual elements which clash with the pixel art visuals
Unskippable logos on boot/startup
Cutscenes are just text on a plain background and there's no storytelling in-game - including the ending
Notes:
-Used the infinite ammo cheat a few times
Bugs:
-If you look up while riding a platform upwards the camera glitches out
-Crashed once in lvl 11 while on the boat