''Alien Syndrome'' is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

Totally Games Totally Games was a video game developer located in Marin County, California. Their titles included the '' X-Wing'' series of games based on the Star Wars universe, a series of PC-based World War II flight combat simulations ('' Battlehawks 1942 ...

, part of the ''

Alien Syndrome is a run and gun video game developed by Sega and released in arcades in 1987, and later ported to the Master System the same year. The game utilizes a side-scrolling feature that allows the player to take control of either a male (Ricky) o ...

'' franchise created by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

. It was released for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

and

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

in 2007. This iteration takes place a century after the previous game and introduces

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

elements to the gameplay.

Plot

The story picks up approximately 100 years after the original ''Alien Syndrome''. The title is set in the far future, where interplanetary space travel is possible. Communication is lost with one of the stations on a distant planet, the Kronos, and Aileen Harding is sent to investigate. She quickly discovers that Alien Syndrome is behind the disappearance and decides to fight the enemy and find out what happened to her boyfriend Tom.

Gameplay

''Alien Syndrome'' is played as a top-down shooter, with players turning their characters the direction they would like to shoot. The game has 40 levels, with 5 bosses and 15 mini-bosses. Players customize their character to expand in-game strategy options. ''Alien Syndrome'' has 80 different weapons to use and hundreds of armor types as well as bonus items. Players are accompanied by a robotic drone (SCARAB) that serves as a storage space for items as well as a backup for the main character. As a constant companion, SCARAB can assist in fights and grant on-demand access to the character's cache of weapons and armors. Players have both a life meter and a constantly refilling energy meter, with the latter reflecting shield power. The game also features co-op multiplayer for up to 4 people on one screen for the Wii version. On the PSP version, the game features co-op multiplayer via a

WiFi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

connection. On the PSP, player movement and aiming use the analog stick; while a player is firing a ranged weapon, her facing is locked. On the Wii, movement is handled by the analog stick on the Nunchuk, while aiming is controlled by pointing with the Wii Remote. The Wii version emphasizes use of the Wiimote. Tilting the Nunchuk rotates the screen to change orientation. In addition, motion control-based minigames are available to the player to increase stats via DNA augmentation chambers found in various levels, defeat lock protection on golden chests with guided nanites to procure items with a variety of attributes as well as loot, and disinfect rare items afflicted by the Alien Syndrome with charged nanites to restore their attributes.

Reception

The PSP version received "mixed" reviews, while the Wii version received "generally unfavorable reviews", according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' called the PSP version "a flawed game with too many quirks to recommend. It's a passable single-player experience but if you can find some friends to play with, it just might help you kill an hour or two here and there."

Notes

References

External links

''Alien Syndrome'' at Sega of America
* {{Authority control 2007 video games Cooperative video games Multidirectional shooters Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation Portable games Sega video games Totally Games games Vicious Engine games Video game sequels Video games about extraterrestrial life Video games developed in the United States Video games featuring female protagonists Video games scored by Jared Emerson-Johnson Wii games