They're Alive! Reviews

Low Budget Activities ep.2137 This game looks like it was made by somebody with experience, but on a shoestring budget and on very TIGHT deadline. It is very short and very small in scope, but definitely does NOT feel like some lowest-effort trash pushed along the line of least resistance. The premise is simple - aliens disguised as humans are taking over the country, and that's why you - simple man just fired from his job - have to walk through few random places and kill everybody on your way. It starts pretty rough. You and your boys (a bunch of copy-pasted worker models) protest in front of your workplace. Then a group of masked henchmen (copy-pasted masked bandits) tries to squash the protest by beating up everybody. You fight them with your fists and search up the building looking for the boss. Then in the next level, you visit the office, only to find that there's no work for you and get attacked again. The game doesn't bother to explain why YOU are getting attacked all the time, while other people just stand around. Later on, you are pushed through the biggest hits of FPS level design. :D Sewer level - check, warehouse level - heck, underground garage - check, construction site - check. For my taste, they could've shoved in some WW2 bunkers and abandoned factories, just to make it a complete package. :) For the first 20 minutes, you have to use your fists and a rusty pipe (which is, imo a lot when the whole game can be finished in 1 hour). The melee 'system' is absolutely basic; it works like an extremely short-range gun. You beat up two versions of copy-pasted aggressive civilian characters and find the special glasses on a random pile of trash. These glasses are THE gimmick of this game. You put them on, and you can see the real (alien) heads of the enemies. That's only a cosmetic change; enemies act exactly the same regardless if you see their real form or not. Also - some enemies stay human even if you put on the glasses, which means they are just normal people... that for some reason decided to side with the aliens and attack you furiously? Hmmm... There's only 3 or 4 places when you have to put the glasses on to progress - it will reveal a teleport to the next level or door hidden in the wall. And that's the whole gimmick. It's not that deep. Shooting is as basic as it can be; as you progress, you find new guns: revolver, shotgun, SMG, and alien laser. All have alt fire when you press RMB, but all feel pretty stiff and generic to use. Enemies aren't very bullet spongey, but the game definitely rewards headshots. Not only do you save bullets that way, but you can also admire a pretty neat effect of the enemy's head exploding into pieces. For sure that's a highlight of the game's combat system. :) I appreciate that every level brings new enemy models - especially female androids stole my heart. <3 Visually, it is... not that bad. :) 3D assets are surprisingly well made and coated with some pretty sharp textures. The devs had rather meager asset libraries, so each level was produced with the 'make more with less' approach. But it doesn't feel repetitive or boring; before you get bored, you're already jumping to the next lvl. Little animations when you pull the lever or open the sewer manhole show that somebody really cared about this game despite all budget and time constraints. To sum it all up - it's nothing special, but also not utter garbage. Imo it sits in the category of 'this ain't much, but it's honest work'. The game doesn't pretend to be anything more than a low-budget shooter with a funny gimmick - and I like it. It doesn't try to waste your time with pretentious metaphors about life and death and sense of life. For a few $ it's a quite ok deal.