Alienation PS4 Review: "Repetitive, but chaotically addictive!"

Alienation PS4 Review

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Patch Version:  -- 1.06

It’s been a long time since a game with such a simple premise has allured and suckered me in so immensely.  I was intrigued by it and quickly became surprised by how addictive it is, but before I get into all that, let’s start at the beginning….

Alienation opens with a view of Earth from space, detailing a secret conflict that has been raging between humanity and a hostile alien force for decades. The cinematic intro then goes on to tell us that these aliens invaded with humanity barely even noticing; largely in part because early incidents were covered up by the world’s governments in an effort to avoid panic.  But the Great War is nearing its end and humanity has all but lost.

However, as alien forces close in on the last strongholds of humanity, we learn that the world government named UNX has developed combat exoskeletons that grant the user superhuman abilities, and you’ll need them... because the future of earth rests on your shoulders!



Having chosen the gamemode I wish to play in, of which there are two options:  Normal Mode and Hardcore Mode, the difference being: in hardcore mode you cannot re-spawn, so once you’re dead that’s it, mission over, I am then presented with a class section screen where I have three choices:  

• Bio-specialist, specialising in healing and bio weaponry.
• A Tank, who has superior firepower and strength.
• And lastly a Saboteur who is augmented with alien technology allowing warping and cloaking. 

Each class carries four abilities: one they share, (rush) the other three totally unique.

Instantly I’m drawn to the class that can heal, so having made my choice and chosen the colour of my armour I proceed to the map screen.

From here it seems I have two missions available.  I choose the training camp and quickly playthrough it.  It’s nothing special, but it will teach you the basics.  It’s worth doing to be honest to get the grip of things if you’re not used to top down shooters, but by no means should you judge the rest of the game by this tutorial. Once completed I embark without delay for the first real mission called: Blood on the ice, which is set in Barrow, Alaska.

However, before loading in I am presented with a few more choices.  Firstly, join or start a new mission.  Alienation being a co-operative game at heart, but rather than join a game, I choose to start a new one and set it to invite only since I want to experience things at my own pace first.

The second choice is the mission’s difficulty, of which there are three options available:  Rookie, Professional and Veteran.  The game showing the modifiers for each mode on the right, which details the bonuses and the enemy levels you will face depending on the settings you choose.  (The bonuses coming in the form of increasing your chances of better loot.)  I choose Professional; bold considering it’s been a long time since I played a game like this. There's also a further three difficulties, but they are greyed out at the moment.

Upon loading in I’m guided by a mission marker to my current objective that shows on the minimap in the top left hand corner. Instantly I’m surprised by how large the level is, and there doesn’t appear to be any restrictions in where I can go either regardless of the mission and the objective I am presently on, within the confines of the level boundaries of course.

Movement is easy, this being done with the left stick, and aiming done with the right.  It felt odd at first because I’m used to firing my weapon in the direction I am travelling, whereas in Alienation you will need to learn to move and shoot independently if you truly wish to master it.

Presently I only have one gun, a primary weapon, the ammo of which is limited, but ammo will often drop of enemies and can also be found in loot crates that you will find if you explore off the beaten path.  Though, as yet I never found myself running out; low, but not out.  I also have access to a grenade, which, with a single press of L2 will throw it in my current forward facing direction, and after a second press will detonate it if I do not wish it to explode by itself.  The game lighting up the AOE (area of effect) clearly in red to show me the radius of the explosion.
I also have access to a 360-degree style melee strike that can be activated using R1, this also having a slight cooldown, along with a rush ability bound to L1 that propels me forward at great speed.  Useful for getting you out of dangerous situations.

Initial Impression

Upon an initial cursory glance, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that Alienation is shallow in features.  As already pointed out you begin with very little, but blink and play a little further and before long you will realise there is actually quite a lot to this game that makes it just as much challenging as it is both addictive and fun.

To start with you can carry three weapons.  A primary.  A secondary and a heavy.  Swapping between them is smooth and done with the Y button (a long hold will switch to your heavy).  There is no cool down on this and you can do it as many times as you wish in and out of combat.  The weapons themselves drop either as mission rewards, or from enemies or from crates.  Equipping them is simple, and can also be done while still in game, either while you pick them up, or from the in game menu.  You can even upgrade some of the weapons, not to mention re-roll individual stats if you have the re-roll materials available. These being attained by salvaging unwanted weapons and items you loot.  But be warned.  Re-rolling does not guarantee your selected stat will increase.  It can go up just as much as it has the chance to go down.

It is also easy to see which weapon is better than the other in Alienation because it utilises a very familiar colour tier system for one, but also because it provides you with a rather detailed breakdown on the weapon's damage and it's stats.  Not only this, but each weapon will also add to your power bonus, this bonus increasing the elements of your suit’s abilities.

Equipment is similar in its design.  Yet you can only equip and use one at any given time, but like the weapons there seems to be a good variety of different types, each with their own benefits and uses.  You have unlimited ammo for them, and can use them as long as the cool-down is finished.

As yet though I have not been able to find any new armour, so I do not know if my suit can be improved or if I can loot totally new suits altogether for my class, but there is a menu that allows me to customise the appearance.  Whether that is the be all and end all of armour I will have to find out. (See the Overall Verdict section for the answer.)

In terms of abilities, which depends on the character you chose at the start, you gain access to them via a skill tree that is split in to Active and Passive.  The acquiring of the points to unlock them come as a reward every time you level up, which alternates between passive and active.  You also can deactivate spent points at any time, as long as you are not in active play, and then re-purpose them with no restrictions, which is nice as it allows you to experiment, but also learn your character to find what your desired playstyle is without a cost.

However, this also may mean that you cannot fully max out every ability, something I will make a point in finding out and reporting on later.

In the first two hours I have visited two different locations, but the Status Menu suggests there are nine locations in total.  Each area so far comprising of three story missions per location.  Each location housing a single map.  And it appears there is 20 story missions in total.  A fact also shown on the status menu, which must mean not all locations can have an even amount of missions, else the total would surpass 20.

In regards to the mission’s themselves, so far they have been varied in what they have tasked me with doing, varied but simple. Basically go here, blow this up or interact with that, etc...

The first three of which were set in the Alaska.  The next three the Ukraine, but each mission starts and finishes in a different place, and because the locations are large and varied it doesn't feel like I am just drudging through areas I have already been through. Further more, the two locations are completely different too. The first area being a snowy expanse, the second an overgrown city left to rot.

As well as the primary mission objectives, the levels also contain optional content in the form of:  Hitman, Challenge and Hideout Events.  Each unique and offering a substantial challenge, but also a decent reward for successfully completing them.  But be warned, failing one removes that particular event from the map, which means there are no second chances at completing ones you’ve failed.

• Hitman – A mini boss to kill.
• Challenge – Kill waves of enemies in a set time
• Hideout – Teleport to an enemy stronghold and clear it out (unlocks with world level 2)

In regards to the graphics, the environments look impressive.  They have environmental effects as well, such as falling snow, which adds to the atmosphere.  Speaking of which, Alienation does have some equally good graphical effect moments too, especially so for a top down arcade-like shooter.  Explosions are massive and not once has it affected framerate.

Though I’ve been alone in this hostile environment having chosen to play by myself thus far, Alienation does provide in game story moments in the form of fully voiced communication messages from various sources. These people detail your key goals, both before, during and after completing them.  The premise in regards to the story so far being a simple on:  carry out the assigned missions as they are presented.  I know I’m fighting a war, but other than that there’s been no more cutscenes to speak of detailing anything else.  As to if this will change we will see.

One aspect that has blown me away is the sheer amount of enemy archetypes in the game to say I’ve only played for two hours.  So far I’ve encountered 16 different types, and each one has a different attack for you to contend with.  It certainly makes the combat feel different when facing them, not to mention chaotic, and let me be clear, sometimes they come in a sheer horde that will see you fighting in a mad frenzy forcing you to use your wits as well as every ability at your disposal.  This all made more difficulty because your health does not regenerate.  The only way to replenish it is via health drops, or through skill abilities, if you have any that aid healing that is.

Another aspect to point out, is that right from the get you can choose to replay missions, there is no restrictions either.  So if you are finding a particular mission too hard and you’re on the lowest difficulty already, you can roll back to a previous mission to level up or attain better gear and try again.

So far I can say this: I’m addicted, that’s the truth, but I have to wonder... can all this be maintained to the game's conclusion considering it's all a bit repetitive?

Initial Score after 2hrs of play

Full Playthrough Score after 21hrs of play

Overall Verdict.

As stated earlier, it’s been a while since I played a top down shooter, but it’s also been a while since I felt an urge to keep playing a game over and over.  Especially so since Alienation’s gameplay in honesty is rather simplistic and repetitive.  So what makes it so appealing I hear you asking?  Well... for one, the loot.  But let me be clear, the grind and promise of better gear and weaponry should not be met with rolling eyes.  For in Alienation things drop like candy in a sweet-shop, a factor that is greatly enhanced depending on what difficulty you set before loading in on a mission.

The next to mention is the depth in configuration and specialisation the game allows for.  Not only is there a decent pool of weapons & equipment to use, but they themselves are very different too, some even having special effects that trigger when performing an associated action while using them.  Such as a boomerang style lightning attack that fires from your primary gun every time you land a direct hit, which seems to PROC all the time, which makes these types of weapons very sought after.

To add to all this, you can also upgrade weapons using power cores, these cores dropping as rewards as you play that increase the stats even further.  Not forgetting to mention that you can re-roll stats to max the weapon out using ingredients you collect when you dismantle unwanted items.  You can even re-roll the core slot types on the weapons too to further maximise attributes you want to enhance.  In the start though I was reluctant to re-roll anything, but after a while I had so much ingredients that this ceased to be a problem.

The re-roll ingredients can also be acquired from assignment missions as rewards for completing tasks while doing other missions.  These assignments unlock when you complete World Level 1, which consist of missions like: Kill X amount of Y using X type weapon, but in truth the rewards are not really substantial enough in the end game portion of Alienation considering you acquire so much loot while playing that I was swimming in the stuff.  It would have been far handier if these were available from the beginning because now I tend to just ignore them.

However, if I did happen to run out of particular type of ingredient, in theory the assignments would be the best way to specifically acquire what I want more quickly.  Still, it doesn't hurt to pick them up.  If you complete them while doing missions, cool.  You can never have enough ingredients I say.

In regards to the cores themselves, I was confused at first when I first started playing as to what the power cores were, especially because none of my weapons could make use of them. 

However, the second you attain weapons with core slots you should definitely start using them. You'll know if your weapon can use them becuase you'll see slots below the weapon in the gear menu. What’s more, when you assign a core to a slot, you can unequip that core with no penalty and use it in another weapon when next you attain one.  There are no restrictions whatsoever, and I loved this.

Alienation also allows you to build your own, more powerful cores by combining three lesser into one greater.  The higher the core the greater the effect when applied.  You should also pay attention to what core types you place and where.  Though there are no restrictions, if you place the same colour core in a matching core slot it will grant higher stats than placing it in a none matching one.  Furthermore, two special colour slots next to each other share synergy and will further grant higher stats.

TIP:  When deciding between two weapons, it's always best to remove all and any cores and then compare the base stats, whilst also checking the rerollable stats menu to see if you can boost them a little more.  This for me has always been the best way at deciding which weapon to use and maxing my damage output.

In conjunction with all this, there is the skill tree or ability tree if you are inclined to call it such.  As I early questioned, I was correct, you are not able to fully max it out, the game ceasing to offer points once you reach the level cap of 30, but you are free to move around points and re-spec whenever and however you wish, when not in active play that is.  Match this with the fact you have three character to choose from, and two gamemodes to choose when starting a campaign, I can easily see some people spending hundreds of hours with this game.  Personally I’ve racked up 21 hours so far, and even with this review complete I find myself wanting to go back and keep playing it.

Another interesting point to raise about the skill tree, is that in between each upgrade tier you have to spend a point first in a [+] slot.  There are two [+] slots between each upgrade.  Each [+] having a different effect. Alienation though tasking you to with choosing which effect you want to apply.  

For example:  Setting it to the top [+] could increase healing by 30%, whereas setting it to the bottom [+] could increase healing by 20% but make the ability last 10% longer.

Again, you are free to remove points from these [+]'s and reallocate at any time, so don't be afraid to spend and experiment.

In terms of the game's story, well... it ends once you reach the end of World Level 1, something that took me 7 hours to achieve, but having done so the game resets in a sense unlocking World Level 2, which in truth is a carbon copy of itself, both in terms of missions and story, but the content is that much tougher because enemies are higher in level.  You also start earning more XP for kills too, which I can't grumble about.

Note: once you’ve completed world 1 you cannot go back and replay the world 1 levels until you replay and unlock them again in world 2.  So if you don’t wish to unlock world 2 and want to keep playing world 1 until you're higher, hold off from completing the last mission in world 1.

Once you have unlocked World Level 2 though you also unlock new levels to participate in.  A UFO level and the ARKSHIP.  To enter both you need keys.  Key for the UFO level have a chance to drop from hideout events, and keys for the ARKSHIP have a chance to drop from participating in the UFO level.

Both levels are different to any story mission you will encounter.  The ARKSHIP being the toughest challenge you will face in Alienation.  It, serving as the endgame challenge for high-ranking players.  And let me be clear, the ARKSHIP is extremely tough indeed.  The early stage comprising of a mission that tasks you with clearing out 100% of the enemy presence before heading to a final teleportation room.  Once in side, you will find two portals, but only the Host can choose between which portal to use.

• One will advance the group to level 2 of the ARKSHIP, which ultimately resets the mission back to the start again, only this time with harder enemies, but with better rewards.
• Or... the host can choose the portal that will advance you to the reward room, which will bring about the end of the mission after you have looted the chests.

In total there are five levels to the ARKSHIP, and the end rewards are worth it in the sense that you're guaranteed to get a legendary, but be warned, if you do advance to a new level of the ARK and all die, that’s it, mission over!  No reward for completing ARK 1 or any other you may have completed along the way!  As I said, tough indeed.  You of course keep anything you picked up along the way so don't worry about that.

However, the fact that only the host can decide as to if you move to the next level or to the reward room is a dangerous implementation.  If you're playing with friends it's okay, but a group of random players?  No, this I did not like.  It would have been far better if Alienation allowed a voting scenario in the portal room.  Plus it would have been far clearer to me what the hell-was-going-on, because the first time I did an ARK mission, the host chose to advance to level 2, where upon we all died and we failed and we received no reward leaving me wondering what just happened, and why did I just waste 30 minutes of my time?!

In addition to these two new game levels, you also unlock a weekly mission too.  This again is far tougher than anything you would have faced thus far while doing normal missions, so teaming up is your best option.  Once you complete it you can replay it as many times as you like, and from what I can gather is the only way you can attain colour modifiers that apply to your suit of armour.  (I will talk about suits later.)

In terms of endgame longevity, once you reach the level cap of 30, that is not the end of it because Alienation unlocks Hero Levels.  The level cap for this being 300.  Each Hero Level increasing your overall health points.

However, once you complete all of the World Level 2 missions there is no World Level 3, and I must admit this was a disappointment.  I would have liked to see World Level 3, World Level 4 and so on, each world granting higher level enemies to face and better rewards.  As to why they did not do this, I failed to comprehend.  The content is all there, the system is all there, it seems like a logical & easy thing to have done, (it's just adding extra levels to the enemies, and increases weapons stats, which did not seem like much work to me?) 

Anyways, having reached this plateau I almost thought what’s the point in continuing, until that is I tried my hand at co-op for the first time…

Firstly, let me be clear, CO-OP brings its own challengers.  Sure, the content is the same, but with three other people in the mix to help you complete a mission you'd think it would be a walk in the park, but it isn’t, and with the additional difficulty modes available (Expert, Master and Legend, each unlocking once you’ve completed the former), it at times is truly chaotic; chaotic in a very good way though I assure.  (Check the gameplay video at the end of this review that showcases some cooperative gameplay to see what I mean.) But trust me, it’s thrilling and very fun.  And since reaching the end of World Level 2, co-op is now all I play.

However, one factor I found frustrating in regards to co-op was that there is no way to know how long a game has been running for in the game selection screen, and more often than not I joined games that were half or more complete.  I even joined a game that was on the very last stage, and within minutes claimed the end reward and jumped on to the chopper.  This felt a little weak, cheap and unfair to the players I joined who had done all the work, but on the flip side, if there was a timer or some sort of indication, people may be less inclined to join or worse, join when players were nearly at the end!  So I can understand perhaps why Alienation chose not to highlight current game progress in that respect.  The lesser of two evils I guess.

As well as this, the other downside to co-op is sometimes in the heat of battle when things are at their most chaotic, it’s hard to see what the hell is going on and what your character is doing.  It’s during these times where you hold down the trigger in the hope that when the dust settles you’re still standing. But, and impressively, not once did I see the game taking a frame rate hit because of this.

Another aspect that I found extremely annoying, was having played an entire level in a co-op group and died right before looting the last chest, because the group I was with had already boarded the chopper, and because they could not disembark to revive me, I could not access the chest and missed out on the end rewards.  This seemed needlessly punishing.  The rewards from completion should be guaranteed if your group are successful in completing the level.  This only happened once in all the hours I played, but I can imagine when you factor in how many people play Alienation that this must be a problem that has happened to many others.

For those of you who are a little shy, don't worry, there's a simple but effective in game communication system to use in co-op as well, which, with a press of the d-pad, allows you to quickly relay messages such as:  Nice. Thank you. Over here... to name but a few.  But to be honest, communications is not really needed.  The gameplay is simple enough as are the goals.

Another question I tasked myself with finding out was whether you attained better suits of armour.  And I can confirm that you do; each new armour coming equipped with modifiers that increase varying things.  From increasing drops in game of a particular type, to increasing recharge rates of a certain ability.  However, each suit also comes with a negative modifier as well, so choosing which suit you wear is important.

Sadly though it soon became clear that the suits of armour are a rather a weak addition to Alienation, which pales compared to other more thought about features.  And I’ll explain: each suit only has 1 positive and 1 negative effect, and once you find a suit that suits you best, every other suit just becomes instant dismantle fodder, and from what I can gather there is only green rarity that drop.  The only other addition they bring to the table is they appear different cosmetically; colour wise, but considering this is a top down shooter and your character isn’t really that big, the colour of my character is not really easy to notice nor something that stands out.

Another factor I found disappointing about Alienation was that other than the opening cutscene, which is not really anything special either, is that there is not a lick of any other cutscenes at all throughout any other stage or moment of  Alienation.  It did not sour Alienation for me mind, but still, this lacking meant that the story kind of falls on deaf ears and fails to embed or impress.

Bug wise though I have nothing to grumble about or raise, nor have I crashed or hung.  Alienation in this area excelling; at least the version I am reviewing is.  But, there are still some annoyances that jump out at me other than the ones mentioned already, the biggest is that you cannot pause the game, in co-op I understand, but when playing solo!  Whoever thought that was a good idea, I honestly do not know what they were thinking.

However, to be fair, there are a couple of ways around this.  The first is if you manage to clear out an area to the point that enemies stop coming, and as long as you don’t move in to a new area and attract more, you’re probably safe to walk away from the game for whatever reason, ‘probably’ being the key word.

The other method relates to the spawn locations, because when you capture one it creates a shield around you that will protect you indefinitely till you cancel it.  However, this is something I did not catch on to till much later in my playthrough, primarily because the spawn locations have a second more appealing use, and this if you destroy them instead of capturing them it grants you a bonus to the end mission rewards.  This bonus being called Reward Hog that also stacks three times, but will completely be wiped if you die.  So the risk is up to you.

One aspect I feel I need to again praise and highlight though is the games archetypes.  Earlier in this review I mentioned that after 2 hours I had encountered 16 types, and having completed world 1 & 2 now can confirm that there is in fact 28 in total.  Again, each type looking different, and having different abilities.

However, as impressive as this is, in the endgame portion of the game, especially in co-op, it doesn’t really matter for the most part what they are, as they dies so quickly you'd probably miss what they looked like anyways.

In regards to Alienation graphics and level design, the game hits a standard that fans of this genre will both enjoy and be impressed with.  The levels are diverse. The effects at times immense. And the scale of the environments will surprise.  It's not Horizon Zero Dawn stunning or jaw dropping of course (another game I reviewed that you can read about here), but Alienation shouldn't be something that leaves you wanting.

In summary, there is plenty of specialisation and depth to Alienation, and with a high replay factor I can see this game being played for some time to come.  For gamers who enjoy top down shooters it will most certainly scratch that itch and hold your attention, not only because it’s fun, but because that fun comes in the form of the satisfaction you feel when you take on a swarm of enemies that are gunning for you or your group; these moments are as chaotic as they are challenging, and the gameplay in this regard hits that arcade mark that people should expect when playing games like this.  Not forgetting to mention that graphically for this style of game it's impressive, both in terms of the diverse levels, but also the weapon effects and explosions you'll witness.

However, don’t go in expecting the world from the campaign's story.  It's lacking in any sense of depth. There's no cutscenes to sell you on it, and though key moments are adequately voice acted, you'll find yourself instantly forgetting what was said the second they cease talking.

Where it shines and becomes the most fun though, like other games, is when Alienation is played with others. Throw in the ranking system that tracks not only your XP, but also your countries total player-base score, regardless of where you are and what you do while playing, there is definitely a reason to keep logging in and killing those aliens for those of you who are competitive.

Considering I attained my copy as part of the free PSN download this month I was very pleased and surprised with it.  AND... if you haven’t already snagged a copy for your library, then I highly recommend that you do!  (PSN LINK TO GAME) Just don’t judge it on the first couple of missions, give it a bit of time and you will find that it beats back any of the shadows that it casts.

Pros:

• Fast paced action packed gameplay
• In-depth specialisation of character abilities, weapons and modifications.
• Graphically impressive for a top down shooter
• A lot of diversity in terms of weapons and enemies
• Very large levels to explore

Cons:

• Story is rather simplistic and throwaway
• No cutscenes other than the opening to help carry the story to fruition
• Gameplay becomes repetitive in the latter stages
• Missions are simplistic

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