Hands-on Alien Syndrome

via ign

Last week IGN Wii stopped by SEGA of America's San Francisco headquarters to play its new Wii undertaking, Alien Syndrome. Veteran gamers will undoubtedly remember the franchise, whose roots date back to the 1987 Sega Master System original, known today for its frantic top-down, two-player-compatible gunplay. The two-decade-old effort told the story of Troopers Ricky and Mary, elite members of the Earth Command Soldiers charged with the task of defending the planet from an extraterrestrial threat that could mutate man and machine alike into dangerous and grotesque abominations. The project delivered relentlessly fast twitch-finger shooting action and eventually made its way, in various updates, to everything from the Atari ST to NES and Game Gear.

The new Wii title, developed by Totally Games, takes place approximately 100 years later. This time, gamers control Lieutenant Aileen Harding, a 21-year-old soldier who is just as tough as she is beautiful. There are several differences between this new and improved sequel and its aged predecessor, the first of which is that the franchise is no longer restricted to the action genre. Rather, the game branches out into the realm of the RPG, enabling players the option to upgrade Harding's abilities as she runs-and-guns her way through alien-infested interiors and exteriors. Another key separator is the fundamentally changed (for the better) Wii control setup, which we'll get to momentarily. And finally, the new build features a four-player cooperative mode, as opposed to a two-player one.

Before we go over gameplay specifics, though, let us first take readers into the world of Alien Syndrome. The title unfolds thousands of years into the future as humankind is regularly finding and terraforming distant planets so that they may become inhabitable. Somewhere out in the darkness, the Seti-Alpha 5 Terraforming Station has gone quiet. Despite repeated attempts to communicate with the facility, Earth Command receives no response. And that's where the seasoned Harding comes in. Only after the soldier arrives on site does she discover that the age-old Alien Syndrome is behind the mystery, and she takes it upon herself to rid the galaxy of the enemy once and for all. It's basic sci-fi exposition, to be sure, but there's history here and SEGA has stuck with it.


Players control the game with the nunchuk and shoot in any direction with the Wii remoteReaders may not realize it, but there's much more to Alien Syndrome than meets the eye. Sure, it's packed full of traditional top-down shooter mechanics, but it's also got a meaty single-player mode. There are 15 diverse levels that range from the insides of infested ships to factories and more, and each presents individual side-quests, too. There are some 100 different enemies, five major bosses and 15 sub-bosses scattered throughout those many levels. There's a lot. In fact, SEGA is promising more than 20 hours of uninterrupted gameplay.
The Wii game is controlled with the nunchuk - both its analog stick and the attachment itself. The stick moves the character about the universe and tilting the nunchuk manipulates the camera. The configuration requires a mental rewire, in our experience, because players will instinctively want to hold manual control over the camera with a traditional stick. However, as soon as the functionality becomes familiar - it took us several minutes - Harding will be able to whip through stages even as the perspective remains stable. Shooter fans will be happy to learn that the Wii remote is used to direct the gun of the soldier as she blazes through the various stages. Players simply point in the direction they want her to shoot, tap the A or B button the device, and she will quickly gun down her opponents. There is really no comparison between this new configuration and an analog stick because the precision and speed gained by using the pixel-perfect accuracy of the Wii remote puts it in a class of its own. The controls feel both spectacularly responsive and speedy - two musts for an endeavor of this type.

A droid hovers alongside Harding though the levels and acts as the heroine's personal locker and swap shop. Not only does it store items she picks up along the way - it also houses weapons, armor and energy. It can drop out or store new items at any time and, when it's not simply carrying necessary equipment, it even acts as an AI backup of sorts. It's not a terribly impressive fighter, but it does shoot off a few rounds here and there and will come in handy as a fighter from time to time.


Alien Syndrome moves quickly and features nice particle and lighting effectsThe robot is a necessity because Alien Syndrome is chock full of upgrades for equipment, items and - most important of all - for Harding herself. There are more than 80 weapons in the game that can be assigned to primary and secondary fire buttons. Gamers will get the X-d 99 Impulse Laser - some may remember it from the original game - which shoots laser beams that have a long range, but inflict less damage than some of the more powerful arsenal upgrades. Weapons require the use of energy, represented on-screen with a meter. As Harding shoots more and more beams, her energy will deplete, but it's constantly recharging. The Laser Rifle is the standard and requires less energy. The PB-1 Flamethrower, which outputs a destructive stream of pure fire, is good for short range attacks. And then there's the Nanobot Swarm, which becomes unlocked much later in the game. This devastating weapon more or less engulfs enemies in a cloud of bee-like nanbots and kills them instantaneously, but it's a huge energy suck and therefore can't be used very often.
Harding can upgrade herself as she goes along, too. She may start off slow as molasses and by the time gamers advance 10 hours in, she'll be speeding through levels. These character upgrades are based on a stat system that can be enhanced as gamers progress, enabling new abilities. Players also choose from initial character classes, such as demolitions export, firebug, seal, tank and sharpshooter, all of them pretty self-explanatory.

The Wii build of Alien Syndrome we recently played was unfinished. Totally Games only recently implemented visual upgrades to give the action-RPG more graphic punch. The title runs at a brisk framerate and supports both 480p and 16:9 widescreen modes. That being true, the overall visual presentation is the one area the game definitely still needs improvement, as the characters and environments generally lack geometrical and texture detail. SEGA indicated that it is currently concentrated on upping the graphic finesse for the project, which doesn't ship until May. A Sony PSP version is also planned.