Today, I heard about a new Indie game being released, along with a playable demo. In reading the short description by the forum poster (who's name I quickly would forget as I focused on kicking alien... tail; however, I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here), it was described as an arcade shooter with hordes of spaceships (left 4 Dead in space? not quite, but close :) ). As you all surely have gathered from my rather lengthy previous posts, I am supportive of the free game demo as a beneficiary tool for both publishers and consumers. And so, with a demo being available, and the mention of spaceships and shooting aliens: "what could i possibly have to lose!?" was the rhetorical question on my mind.
I then headed straight over to blackfiregames.com to grab the demo.
I made it through the first few levels relatively unscathed (thanks to those seemingly magical insta-fix repair bots); however, the very next level the aliens turned me and the rather funny ship AI into space fly food!
The demo is a time-limited one, which can be annoying in trying to get a feel for some games; however, in the case of Alien Dominion, I think it was the best way to do a demo as after the extremely short 30 minutes, I was already hooked!
So, before you all run off into a dark corner of your computer room only to emerge until you have the highest high-score ever, let me conclude this post with a short list of my first thoughts and questions I had while trying out the game.
- The first thing that struck me was the story; however, I'm quite biased towards most any sci-fi story in space. This game is by no means a story driven game, nor should it be. Still, it's nice to have a small story to drive the fast paced alien uh.. "tail" kicking :P
- The AI announces we are approaching the "Stargate," and the classic Stargate fan in me can't help but grin and my mind drifts to future mods where I'm gunning down some Goa'uld with Jack O'neil or Shepherd voice clips :D
- For an arcade game, the graphics are nice, and did I mention there are explosions? Lots of explosions!
- This game has the potential to be very addicting, especially when combined with sibling rivalry (Though, I assure you, I will be the victor of that battle :) ).
- The battles start to get very intense in the later levels, keep that trigger finger on the LMB!
- The demo seems to end before it even begins, or at least it "feels" like that when really a whole half an hour has gone by!
- When you die, you start back at the very beginning, which can be intensely aggravating :P.
All in all, the game is definitely something I encourage you to try for yourself, and is a game I wouldn't hesitate to recommend you buy if you enjoy this genre, or if you simply enjoyed the demo and have now found a whole new genre of games to like!
Looking at this collection of thoughts, it seems very weighted on good things; however, that's simply my experience, there simply were not that many bad factors, which is a good thing. Alien Dominion: The Acronian Encounter is a simple game that simply works (at getting me addicted to arcade shooter games :p hehe). Go check it out, and tell us what your experience and thoughts (or ask any reasonable questions you may have and we'll try to find an answer) are on the game in the comments section below!
Note:
There will be a bit more coverage of the game coming soon, so check back at the end of the week for a short interview with BlackFireGames.com where they answer a few questions I, and possibly you, have :)
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