Let me be up front by saying I am slightly biased because I loved the original. It was one of my favorite titles on my PS2, in fact one of the few games I replayed more than once.
The Basics
The plot of this game is simple, you are Cryptosporidium 137 an alien clone from the planet Furon, and you have come to Earth because Cryptosporidium 136, the previous version of you has crash landed there. Your job, find your clone, recover any lost technology, oh and it seems you can mine humans for Furon DNA because due to some previous events long ago, humans contain pure Furon DNA. I’ll let you play the game to find out how and why.
There are just six areas to explore. You will visit them again and again as there are over twenty missions. Another thing to keep in mind is that this is not really an open world game. Most levels are fairly short and you can breeze right through them if you choose not to poke around.
Don’t worry about being done too quickly though, there is a mode where you can explore that areas freely outside of the missions to collect things and do challenges that will earn you credits you can use to upgrade your gear and your ship.
Controls are a bit wonky in some cases. Especially when it comes to targeting, there is a lock on button but it doesn’t work very well, and that can get frustrating when trying to make sure to get the secondary challenges done on some of the levels.
An interesting thing about this game is that everything has been updated and polished, except the dialogue. Let me explain. It seems the developers have used the original voice tracks, so you are getting jokes and commentary from 2005 in a game put out in 2020. Just fine for someone who bought and played the original game, but I wonder how a teen of today will feel about some of the gags built for 15 years ago.
On the Plus Side
- Good title for the price
- STORY! Who does not want to be an anilen invader?
- Music and sound effects are right out of an old time UFO invasion film
The Negatives
- Game is a bit short for today's standards
- Lack of instructions
- Targeting has some issues
This is a simple story, but you can go about and read people’s minds, or pop their minds right out of their heads, or even give them anal probes. Both of those things give you credit to spend on upgrades by the way, so you’re kind of encouraged to do it. How deep of an experience this game is, is completely up to you. I had a lot of fun playing it again but all jazzed up, and it’s a game I will probably play more than once.