Aside from the killing, though, there isn't much here. The nonstop blasting gets a bit numbing after a little while, so the game is best taken in short doses. There are lots of secret areas to discover, but little to find in them aside from power-ups, weapons, and ammo, and these items are so prevalent in the main sections of levels that you don't need to do any wandering to pick up more of them. Most of the exploring is pretty simplistic, too. Generally, if you see something green, you should run up to it, as it's likely a power-up or a button activating a secret door. If you see something red, that means no-go, or that you need to find a key to open that particular door. You can jazz things up by skipping the campaign for survival mode, which comes in a last-man-standing variant where you blast bugs until you drop, and a career option spread over five levels. Neither option changes the complexion of gameplay, of course. The same can presumably be said about multiplayer, although this couldn't be tested as it only supports LAN and direct IP connections.
Finish up a wave of aliens and it'll usually look like you've just painted the walls a none-too-appetizing bright red.
The look and sound of the game are totally retro. While there are supposed to be more than 50 types of alien to shoot, most look like typical variations on praying mantises, slugs, and a couple that seem sort of like dinosaurs. Movement and animations are clumsy, although this ultimately helps reinforce the game's throwback flavor. Explosions are just fantastic, however, and colored lighting gives many levels a suitably eerie air. Audio is limited. When the lights go out or the doors close and you get gooned by a phalanx of bugs, you get the stereotypical driving heavy metal tunes that have accompanied shooter shooting since the early '90s. Other than that, though, the dialogue is as sparse and as roughly delivered as you'd find in an old Sega Genesis cart. Again, this seems entirely intentional, so you'll get a kick out of the sound if you remember playing games like this back in the day.
You probably need to have the nostalgia gene to really get into Alien Shooter: Vengeance, but you don't have to be an old fogey to get some base-level enjoyment out of this gleeful shoot-'em-up. Look past the dumb name and give it a shot.
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