Alien Shooter 2 - Reloaded

The Short


Pros
- Keeps the arcade style while implementing more weapons
- Aliens look a lot better than the first game
- Has a sort of a story, I guess
- Improved graphics and animation

Cons
- The new gun system (taken from Zombie Shooter 2) is fine but boring
- Graphical assets are taken from Zombie Shooter 2 in the most obvious ways
- Involves a lot of standing around, waiting for people to do stuff for you
- Still repetitive, like all these games
- Has the two new stupid stats introduced in Zombie Shooter 2 that shouldn't exist

Yep, still plenty of blood. 

The Long

Alien Shooter 2 is solid. Unlike Zombie Shooter 2, which was a huge mess and a step back, Alien Shooter 2 seemed to learn from the shortcoming and try to fix the new stuff they put in Zombie Shooter 2 while still retaining the same arcade feel. And, for the most part, they pulled it off.

So we'll do this in brief because all these games are exactly the same anyway: is Alien Shooter 2: Reloaded worth getting? Well, for $5, why not?

The graphics have improved both technically and artistically

Just a reminder: these games are still repetitive, relatively mindless shooters. You shoot loads and loads of aliens from the get-go, and it just keeps getting crazier with blood and guts and bitsies everywhere. However, for stress-relief games, they tend to work pretty well. There's something weirdly enjoyable about just blasting through hordes of aliens without a scratch, and Alien Shooter 2 realized this is why people play these games (not to play a stupid survival horror experience) and pulled out all the stops for this release.

This is essentially the same game as Alien Shooter or Zombie Shooter. You level up (and the two useless points from Zombie Shooter 2 are back, but the game gives you a lot more points per level so progression is faster and funner) after shooting a bunch of dudes or completing objectives. You can buy guns from a shop (which is the exact same shop sprite from Zombie Shooter 2. Way to be.) but these one actually can kill stuff and pack a punch, so it's a lot funner. Also, play the game on Easy. Even though it might be a little boring at first, it seems to play best on this difficulty. At least for me.

I still hate all aliens. 

The graphics are a lot better, too. It manages to look more "realistic" while still having that old vibrant, arcade look. And still looking like Fallout, but in the best way this time: this is easily the best looking out of the four "Shooter" games that I own. Blood n' guts has also improved, and the monster designs look less cartoony and stupid (like Alien Shooter) and more menacing. Actually, this game looks a crapton like Diablo II, now that I think about it. The enemy designs, the blood, the graphical style...it really has a Diablo II feel. and I loved Diablo II's art, so maybe that's why I like it so much.

Sound is also decent, though the voice acting for the "story" is stupid. Luckily they didn't make the story the main focus this time around; it's just sort of a thing that happens. So your main point is blasting stuff, secondary objective caring about the story. It also does a better job invoking a feeling of being part of a team that is overrun, which adds a bit of flavor to the experience.

Plus, you get to go outside. Hooray for new locations. 

Out of all the shooter games I played, this one and Zombie Shooter (1) are the two I enjoyed the most. They are also unique in many ways (though both play the same) so you can get both and have a somewhat unique experience despite the similarities. Alien Shooter 2 is a good step towards the future of these types of games, though I find it weird it took them so long to figure it out. I mean, seriously, these types of games have been around forever. I can't believe they'd really be this hard to standardize.

Regardless, there's like a billion more Alien Shooters after this one, but this is the most recent one I own and I like it so...there you go. For $5, why not. 

Two out of five stars. 

At least you can equip more weapons this time around.