Game #1045: Alienators: Evolution Continues

  Makes me wish it had ended.

 Alright, so I have to keep in mind I have played most of the really good stuff on GBA(Ninja Five-O, one day you'll be mine) and lately I've been playing licensed garbage, but... it feels like the GBA hasn't aged all that well, now has it? Alienators was a movie I watched at the cinema and the only bit I remember is that they used Head & Shoulders to eliminate the aliens. I remember that it somehow managed to get an animated offshoot, Alienators: Evolution Continues, but I didn't really like it... however, the fact that I knew it existed makes it a part of my childhood which means I wanted the game... even though I remembered it being quite unremarkable. Well, age hasn't done it any favors.

 The game starts off simple enough, move from left to right eliminating aliens with your guns. You might find that crouching is a bit cumbersome since it might take a while for your character to crouch. Plus, you might want to shoot too, but the game might read the input as shooting downwards. But it's not too bad... yet. You continue onwards and you start fighting alternate weapons, not too shabby... and then levels become mazelike in design. Now you have to fulfill objectives while moving left, right, up and down. I hate maze-like designs in 2-D games, they are almost never fun. But here comes the cherry on top... enemies respawn. Health pick ups are limited, ammo pick ups are limited, but enemies are not. So you are exploring relatively large levels while actively dealing with a never ending amount of enemies, with limited supplies, with controls that could've been tighter. And some levels feature multiple objectives, such as finding 12 vents, and if you die it's back to the start. And you continue pushing forward only to discover that enemy placement is incredibly annoying, everything and anything is out to get you and will get you. And mind you, the game isn't hard, I finished most levels on my first try, I think I had a single game over... but here's the thing, even though it isn't hard... it still feels like a chore to play. And no save slot, only passwords.

 Need I say more? It's not the worst game I've played on the advance, but Jesus, it wasn't fun, not one bit. The game could've been much better if it just tried being a Metal Slug clone, left-to-right non-stop action.

 3.5