Alien on the Run
SCORE: 74
There is a word we video game reviewers abuse and overuse. Can you
guess what that word is? No I am not talking about innovative, but that
one is pretty close. I am talking about quirky. How many times have you
read a game is quirky? I went to the dictionary and looked the word up.
Why did I go to all that trouble? I was thinking about how to start my
review for Alien on the Run, and quirky came to mind. As I looked out
the window and watched a bird fly by, it hit me - quirky is used to
describe a lot of games. Is that right? Is it accurate? Then I went and
looked up the definition of the word.
From Dictionary.com - "quirky - an individual peculiarity of character;
mannerism or foible." That is the first definition. It accurately
describes Alien on the Run. This is one peculiar video game with some
strange mannerism, and some strange characters.
We play aliens in Alien on the Run. They must escape this ship they are
on. Once they escape one of the seventeen areas, their bottoms spew
fire, and they fly to a planet. Four aliens catch them on this planet
and somehow throw them back into space, and back onto the space ship. I
would call that quirky.
How we play Alien on the Run is also quirky. Players move towards yellow
circles, and hit the 'B' button to dash. Let go of the 'B' button inside
the circle, and the circle vanishes. Our alien character then poses in
some strange or known way. Like a naked male human chest is put on him
while he flexes like a body builder. Or sits in the thinker statues
pose. There are additional poses in this hand held game. There are also
certain items that can be collected in the last level of an area.
The music in Alien on the Run is upbeat, positive, encouraging, and
happy. Not the Duck Dynasty HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY, but happy enough. The
controls are smooth as silk in Alien on the Run. Even if the dash, let
go seems strange at first. Trust me, it feels weird. Once you get used
to it, Alien on the Run flows.
The ESRB was really napping on Alien on the Run. The 'E' for Everyone
rating might be okay. That is debatable. What they missed is the crude
humor, and comic mischief. It is present and accounted for in Alien on
the Run. Beat the first level to see it. Family Friendly Gaming has been
finding a rash of misses by the ESRB this year. Families need to be
aware of this, and make their purchases accordingly.
Alien on the Run is a download only video game on the Nintendo 3DS
eShop. So you will not be able to purchase this hand held video game at
your local video game stores. Nor would you be able to use online video
game retailers.
- Sam
Graphics: 75%
Sound: 80%
Replay/Extras: 75%
Gameplay: 70%
Family Friendly Factor: 70%
System: Nintendo 3DS
Publisher: G-Style
Developer: G-Style
Rating: ‘E’ -
Everyone
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