Originally posted at Dailyjoypad.com

Remaking a classic title, such as Alien Breed, is always a hit and miss venture. Not only do you have to appease to fans of the original shooter without too many dramatic changes, but also bring in a whole new audience to entertain which is tough to do with an old concept. Being the first of three downloadable episodic packs for Alien Breed Evolution, this first entry introduces out-dated and irritating game conventions which should have been left in the past.

Alien Breed Evolution is certainly one of the prettier titles to release on XBLA. The ship’s control lights flicker as you wander around dark, empty corridors. There are explosions constantly going off in the earlier levels, alongside fires and sparks from the walls. You really get a feel of dread as you wander around the evacuated areas of the ship. The fires and explosions are also used to destroy walls and to clear debris from an area, giving them a more practical use rather than just for aesthetics.

Controls are simple which use your left stick to move and your right to aim, right trigger to shoot and the left to throw items such as grenades. Alien Breed Evolution falls prey to another one of those ‘hold a button to run’ concepts that just infuriate me. I don’t understand why games still do this; nobody wants to walk around constantly.

There is no checkpoint system, only save terminals you must access to save your progress. These are few and far between which can become frustrating if you take a fall and find yourself replaying 20 minutes of gameplay over again. With the gameplay being quite repetitive, it is not always a joy to reload and replay the last moments of grinding through alien hordes and collecting keys and loot from the many dead bodies which are dotted over the floor. While I understand the save system is following the original, gameplay has changed dramatically since then and with this genre, it doesn’t sit right against today’s standards.

Combat feels smooth, dual analogue sticks makes combat pretty comfortable and quick. You can switch weapons easily with the d-pad and there is a whole range of machine guns to flamethrowers. You can even pick up turrets which attach to certain power points on the floor. There is plenty to play around with which is a real shame as battles never really switch up too much. Single player is all about survival while the co-op missions’ change up the levels to action filled blast feasts in comparison to single player’s quiet but deadly campaign.

The main issue with Evolution is that while the combat and aesthetics have received a dramatic amount of polish, the core gameplay just detracts from that. If you are looking for a simple shoot and loot experience, then this has you covered. The game does nothing more than have you searching for items, unlocking doors and spamming bullets to hordes of alien forces. While there are moments where you are escorting doctors around and protecting them from incoming attacks to mix up the gameplay, you are doing the same thing over and over. It gets terribly boring from the get go.

The comic book styled cut scenes are enjoyable, but with most of the game drenched in same electric blue, it couldn’t have hurt for them to input a little colour during those scenes. Add in a rather forgettable cast, nothing seems to really stand out for Alien Breed Evolution. Hopefully Team 17 will have enough time to work on the variety of missions before Episode 2 rolls out onto XBLA. Without that, I can only see it falling into the same trap.

A simple title which doesn’t live up to the hype it was receiving. Again, if you love to loot and shoot then you won’t find yourself too disappointed. If you were looking for something more than a door opening shooter, then Alien Breed Evolution is certainly not for you.