Aliens: Dark Descent Review ()
Let me preface this by saying that I am a LWotC fan. I really like small unit tactics games, real-time or otherwise.
Despite the tags or the developer's statements, this really ain't a tactics game in the vein of XCOM or Men of War. It's a weird mishmash of stealth, horror, and RTwP tactics. The game doesn't know what it wants to be. Stealth is bad because of instantly, infinitely respawning enemies that precludes a deliberate, methodical approach. Instead, you are forced to play hide and seek around corridors and spam free motion trackers to know exactly where enemies are spawning, and move around them. Gaming the stealth system with the APC, turret killzones and grenade spam is how you beat this game because, hilariously, heavy turrets, rockets and even airstrikes(!) don't trigger detection. I guess the GEP Gun is the most silent takedown, after all.
Bug holes cannot be closed for some reason. The map must have X number of active enemies at ALL TIMES. Fighting is not only generally a waste of time but also something the game penalizes you for -- the more you fight, the angrier the Hive gets, and the more enemies spawn.
You cannot change the squad's formation facing or individually move Marines. This is very bad because a Marine may actually be in sight of an enemy, but your sniper doesn't have LOS to kill it before it detects you. Or maybe your Incinerator is at the back, so you need to walk the whole team into the hatchery before he actually has a cone of fire to cover all of the eggs. Often being unable to rotate the squad means that the guy that had his armor torn to shreds is now the point man, and there's fuck all you can do about it. Sometimes the perfect cover spot doesn't hold enough people, and you are forced to either move the entire squad to another spot or have some Marines stand there like morons just taking fire. Cover is also inconsistent, some places where you should quite obviously be able to take cover behind just aren't flagged as cover.
The game's design cornerstone seems to be the idea that the player must be stressed at all times by infinitely respawning bands of mooks or drones. This is further reinforced by the inability to save at will, and the doomsday clock.
The game really shines during the first few missions, where there's the vague, looming threat of monsters that's reinforced by the narrative and atmosphere. This threat is materialized at some scripted points, with the game even throwing wave after wave of aliens at you until a specific objective is completed. Outside of specific scripted times, there aren't actually very many (if any at all) roaming around. After a couple of missions, enemy patrol density is cranked up to 11, making some maps busier than a mall on Black Friday. This also ends up detracting from the horror aspect once you get used to the hide-and-seek gameplay and simply makes navigating the maps plain annoying.
There's also a number of annoying bugs, and not the kind you can make go away with a smartgun (zombie eggs I'm looking at you).
Now, the good. This game is quite obviously a love letter to the 1986 flick. The attention to detail is staggering. It's full of references, even if they are a bit on the nose at times. The maps are gorgeous, the lighting is just perfect. The sound design and soundtrack also contribute to building a great atmosphere that is right up there with Alien Isolation's. As mentioned above, the first few missions with scarce but intense scripted encounters between your greenhorn Marines and the aliens are fantastic. The logistics and personnel management layer is barebones, but serviceable and fun.
I'm giving it a thumbs up because Steam is stupid and a thumbs down would be unfair. Tindalos evidently put a lot of passion into making this game. But I think they really missed the mark with the design of the latter half of the game, and I won't be replaying it after completion unlike XCOM, BATTLETECH, or any other of a number of better tactics games.