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Alien Storm (SEGA)

Alienstorm Sega Genesis
Genre: Action
Perspective: 1st-person, Side view
Visual: 2D scrolling
Gameplay: Arcade, Shooter
Setting: Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Published by: SEGA of America
Developed by: Team Shinobi
Released: 1991
Platforms: SEGA Genesis / Mega Drive, Arcade Machine

One of the first Sega Genesis / Mega Drive fighters on the theme of ridding the Earth of the invasion of Aliens is a rather explosive mixture of the genres of beat'em up (fighter in the isometric type of Streets of Rage) and FPS (virtual shooting - shooting enemies with a view of what is happening through the cross of sight).
The musical series is terrible, but the sound effects and the drawing of the characters are quite good, although the animation of any movement is limited to two or three sprites. What is remarkable, there is the opportunity to play together, and from the main menu you can immediately go to a simple deathmatch'y - the possibilities for all three characters are the same, just the attacks are drawn in different ways:

Twice sideways on isometric sublevels - running;
A - a special weapon (only in isometry), it consumes energy very much, but it hits all the enemies on the screen;
B - shot; on the run - kick with the butt;
C - lightning tackle (in isometric), on the run - somersault;
In subcategory - a throw.

On the sublevels, most enemies die from the first hit, and the energy of the weapon is consumed very slowly. In addition, you can set automatic shooting in the options menu, which will allow you to sweep away the monsters and decorations, behind which there are ubiquitous prizes (E) and much less common first aid kits (+). The enemy is divided into three types according to the level of danger: Straight-line Shaytans, shortly after appearing on the front wounded hero hitting the paws; other small fry, attacking through shelling with live shells (Shaytans throw clots of slime, flying and crawling slugs - toothy balls and spiked hedgehogs, dwarf-riders - the regenerating heads of their "horses"), which are very difficult to shoot down; and "fat" bosses, harm not causing. In the appropriate order, it is better to destroy them. And do not accidentally accidentally rush past people - it's like shooting yourself ... Shards on isometric sublevels are much more complicated and interesting. Enemies usually appear when you push the screen to the right, so it should be done carefully, in order to exterminate them in smaller portions. The energy of the weapon is consumed here faster, and its range is not large, so it's not recommended to shoot fiercely. If the hero at the time of pulling the trigger was at a certain distance from the enemy, then uses more powerful weapons that knock down any ordinary monster from the feet. Since recoil removes the arrow from the target, a series of shots will lead to the same effect. Therefore it is very convenient to deal with a group of enemies, having built them into a line along one horizontal line - while one flies, you run up to the strike distance to the next and continue shooting, while the bodies of lifeless monsters are straying into flocks and flying off to the edge of the screen. But it is worth noting that most reptiles intellect enough to try to get around the hero from the rear. To bring them to one horizontal is easier if you move along the top or bottom of the screen, swinging on the run with the butt.

Together, it's much more convenient to play, because monsters do not practically attack on the vertical. It is not recommended to use special weapons - this is bad for the rating, and energy can quickly end. Although spetsataka - self-destruction of the robot will give inexperienced players a few extra chances to win - use it when the enemies will inflict a fatal blow on the hero, and he will be able to fight for a while with zero health at the expense of unused energy. An interplanetary battle begins at some railway depot. The strangers here have already taken care of themselves, and the people running towards the heroes suddenly turn into a pair of the most common monsters in the game - a small but evil Shaitan who is able to hook you with claws from the "dead zone", coming from above or below, and a slug that moves slower, but more tenacious. Having calmed the gang of aliens who surrounded the woman with the child, the nameless warriors proceed to the shooting of the reptiles hidden in the warehouse.

Now before you spreads the suburban landscape, pretty spoiled by the surging horde of Shaitan. Sometimes it looks very cool - the heroes are walking along the main street, and on the walls of the houses the monsters hang, trying to gnaw out a piece of the roof. Or a new kind of enemy, giant snails, suddenly get out from under the urn or mailbox - the most, perhaps, harmless of the aliens. Suddenly, all the enemies scatter in horror, their screams coming from all sides stop, and the evil with a human face, very ugly, of course, creeps out to meet the heroes leisurely. From its tail alternately forward and back beat current discharges, and from the mouth fly poisonous clouds of smoke. But this scorpion moves quite slowly - attack in between breaks until the enemy shrivels and breaks up into six flies of energy.

The city is not yet close, and the heroes decided to go for a run - the aliens on the highway are few, and there is no time for them to spend. Offended by such an attitude slugs try to grow wings and knock off the marathon runners in pigeon, but those of the temporarily long-range weapons prevent all attempts to shit on their heads. In the shopping quarter you will be met by a new modification of monsters - flying worms, eager to enclose fighters in hot embraces, raise higher and drop. And here, and at the next two levels, the business center and the biological laboratory (beware of the guard cannons), a small walk into the end turns into an equally short-term shootout, only the scenery changes. And here innovations will already go. First of all, the heroes will get a lonely alien kid, who after the first blow turns into a fly, which, in turn, turns out to be not enough popsinka of energy for the weapon. This boy was obviously conceived to increase the contrast of the complexity of the battles - for at the end of the level, in addition to the familiar "pretty-scorpion, you will have to dismantle the spare parts with an eye-catching carrot, fired with atomic mini-bombs. If the fire mushrooms bite the heroes for the heels too often - it means that these heels should be better lubricated and quickly rearranged. The final jogging behind the fleeing ship is complicated by the clusters of min-thorns emerging from this vessel. Maneuvering falls on the middle horizontal of the screen, so that shots reach the ship, and from the mines - to dodge, for jumping does not always end in a safe place. But here the pernicious flying breeding ground of monsters is brought down, and a crowd of frustrated inhabitants runs out of it. They attack desperately, in groups of 3 to 6 individuals, so it will take a lot of time to devote their victims to line up. When you get to the hatch, do not get lost - climb inside, so as not to worry about disassembling with another bunch of thick slugs and shaytans. Having riddled everything inside, the heroes jumped out of the hatch to the fresh air, where they were immediately devoured belatedly by the ship-womb arriving for the rescue of the invaders.

The last battle, he is the hardest. Hopes for a safe return are almost nonexistent, but the future of the native planet in your pilots of the enemy spaceship, similar to withered babies, all like one saddled domestic lizards and gallop around them, firing on the offenders with some toothy heads, but they die fast, unlike elite units slugs and shaytans. The most interesting will begin when you get to the fork in the two doors. For each of them the heroes are waiting for another compartment with malicious crumbs, at the end of which there are already three doors! And at the end of the next hall - three more !!! Fortunately, astray travelers will soon receive a revelation from above in the form of a map of the ship with a designated corridor of location. To orientate, however, it will not be easier from this - except that you remember which door you chose every time before, and figure out where you started your journey and where you have to get to finish it. If you do not like such problems, choose either the extreme right door or the leftmost one each time (but also every time!), Because the labyrinth of the ship is symmetrical. Only then, for the third time, you will fall into the main deck of the ship, where its huge one-eyed brain is located. On an easy level of complexity, it probably will be able to soak before the monster-guards run out. On the harder it is better to forget about it altogether and focus on the extermination of other inhabitants - then the remaining brain alone will guess the inevitability of its death and burst out of fear. Either way, the ship-womb will immediately give up the ends, but around the saviors of mankind there will be a bubble of the protective field and smoothly transfer them to a grateful homeland. For, as the text of the ending says, although we do not know about the future fate of the heroes, one thing is clear: if one day the idea of ​​taking revenge arises from the Alien, the same three merry mugs of "fertilizer hunters" will break it. The difficulty level, oddly enough, has a very strong effect on the game (the number and speed of enemy attacks, the severity of the wounds inflicted on the heroes), but the ending remains the same - a downhill disco with the participation of the main characters against the background of the stars and credits of the creators. Where else did you see Megadrive to make the movement of the sprites coincide so well with the rhythm of the music?! ..

Tips

  • In the suburbs of the "scorpion with a human face", from the tail of which alternately back and forth beat current discharges, and from the mouth fly poisonous clouds of smoke, attack between breaks until the enemy shrivels and breaks up into six fly-energy carriers.
  • In the pursuit of the escaping ship, maneuver on the middle horizontal of the screen, so that the shots go up to the ship, and from the mines - dodge, for jumps do not always end in a safe place.
  • The labyrinth of the ship is symmetrical, so always choose the edge door, either left or right (but always the same).
  • The level of complexity is very much reflected in the game (the number and speed of enemy attacks, the severity of the wounds inflicted on the heroes), but the ending remains the same - a face-to-face disco with the participation of the main characters against the background of the stars and credits of the creators. Do not rush, inspect the dance to the end - after the screen of the rating appears, where you will see the value of your gamer abilities and the corresponding title. The highest level, it seems, is achieved only by those who on Hard to the last level of none of the three lives will not spend and at the same time never use the superweapon.