A Review: Alien Breed: Tower Assault, DOS 1994

This is the third game in the series and one of the better ones in my mind, with better looks, gameplay, and enemy AI. The same top-down, run-and-gun action remains, and the overall premise is nearly exactly the same. The player is stranded on a planet infested with hostile alien lifeforms trying to kill them. The goal is to survive and force the facilities on the planet's surface to explode with enough force to cleanse the planet of the alien presence.

This game was originally released for the Amiga, PC, and CD32 systems, with the Amiga version did the best out of the bunch. The CD32 version had full-motion, live-action cinematics and the occasional 3D FMV sequence that played at key points throughout the plot. While the others had lower-quality 3D FMVs only instead.  

I liked this one and thought it was a fair step up from the last game. I did find that the AI could still be outsmarted with a trusty wall or level object, but this time they could unstick themselves and eventually right themselves towards the player. The level designs were solid, though I did note a lack of bodies and bloodstains, most likely due to the trouble that the last game got into with the bleeding heart types. The aliens themselves were stronger, faster, and rather a challenge when they grouped together in the same direction. The puzzles were simpler, and I did note that it was nearly impossible to softlock yourself this time around. I also liked that the ability to brute-force doors open was retained, just in case the player screwed up. Boss battles were fun and much harder this time around and gave the player a sense of accomplishment for beating them, rather than the 'well, what's next?' feel that the last games bosses gave. The plot was a little tired, but it still worked well enough and seemed to make slightly more sense to me than the first games. My characters motivations and goals seemed to make a little bit more sense; this was very true in the later sections of the game. The larger number of enemies' was a good thing too; I actually felt like I was inside of an actual colony. The stages felt 'alive' for want of a better way to describe things. The way things played was also a lot more tense, and the suspense and thrills were far better portrayed. The audio is better this time around, and I liked the addition of random atmospheric sounds and noises, though the overlap issues remained.

Visually, this game was a marked improvement over the second. The textures had a higher pixel count and resolution. The shininess of the alien bodies also looked better, and the lighting effects for this game were much improved in general. Environments were darker and grimier and had a much more pleasing aesthetic overall, with better-looking objects and interactive points. The turrets and computers were cleaner and clearer, and the user interfaces were also much improved, making in-game navigation that much easier.


Yeah, I thought that this one was a pretty solid little game.


7/10 – Nearly There!

Signed Off – Leonardo – PSJ