Alien Storm is a strange one for me. I remember indifferent to it at first. It was rare to see it in the arcade and I only remember giving it a shot once or twice. I didn’t dislike the game but I thought nothing of it either. It wasn’t until the Genesis home port that I gave it a fair chance and came away liking it for what it is. It’s amazing what a dry release calendar can do. This version is a solid brawler but one that also suffers from many of the flaws of the genre.
With its three character setup you could fooled into thinking Alien Storm is similar to Golden Axe. That isn’t the case however. Aside from their special attacks all three heroes are more or less the same. It’s a bit disappointing, especially when you see each wields a different weapon. The special attacks are unique to each character in power and how much energy they use. Garth summons an aircraft that strafes the playing field. Its weak but can be spammed a number of times. Scooter summons bombs that blow up each alien on screen. Karen actually summons a nuclear warhead that is basically an instant kill. You won’t be spamming that one.
Although the characters look prepared to join the cast of Contra this is still a beat em up. Alien Storm is a bit unique in that you aren’t performing punch or kick combos but clobbering the aliens with your weapons in different ways. Once down you can juggle enemies until death which is the most effective. Next to your weapons you have a defensive roll and a dash for quick escapes. These can be used to perform a rolling attack that can boll over enemies, the game’s equivalent of tossing them around. Except your chucking yourself!
The limited repertoire of moves does grow old fast. Luckily the game does not linger on one style of gameplay very long. In addition to side scrolling combat there are first person shooting galleries and fast paced run and gun sequences. Most of the time light gun sequences are a recipe for disaster in your typical action game. Here they work due rapid fire and a fast cursor. It’s a bit mindless; if you turn on rapid fire in the options you can hold the button down and wreak havoc. While simple it becomes mandatory late in the game. The auto scrolling segments are a brief but welcome change of pace. The variety of these three styles and the frequency with which the game switches helps relieve the boredom.
There are a few changes between the Genesis version and the arcade. The player count has been reduced to just two. The arcade game topped out at six levels but two more have been added to the home port. The biggest but unwelcome change is the addition of two more boss battles. There was a single boss in the coin op that had three forms. Here each form is a separate encounter. I’m all for more content but these battles are incredibly frustrating.
That frustration does carry over into the game’s overall difficulty. Alien Storm’s arcade roots are on full display in terms of its challenge as the game can be brutal. Although the enemies aren’t the smartest they swarm in large numbers and in waves. By the later stages it becomes tiresome. Energy is probably in such ready supply so you can spam your super attack just to get it over with. Making matters worse is how completely stingy the game is with med packs. I saw maybe five during the course of the entire game. That is really bad considering you desperately need them. The difficulty is further exacerbated by giving only one life and three credits. I suppose it feels rewarding to finally complete the game on a single credit but the challenge should be organic and not artificial.
In Closing
Despite my frustrations at its arcade based challenge I really like Alien Storm. It has very tough competition in its genre but is a good 2nd pick. It’s also dirt cheap, meaning its worth picking up at the bottom of the barrel price it goes for.
