I've always read that Alien Soldier was a great game, but I've never actually played it since it was only released overseas on the Mega Drive. I've seen it compared many times to games such as Gunstar Heroes and Contra, and while I can see how there are similarities to these games, I think that Alien Soldier is different enough to be considered something else altogether.
To start, the weapon select system at the beginning is reminiscent of Gunstar Heroes, but is a bit more complex. In that sense, it almost feels a bit like the weapon select screens from the Gradius games at first. There is a lot of strategy involved in picking your weapons, and since you so quickly run out of the "energy" that is used to power your weapons, your choices here can really make or break you.
The weapon select screen also lets you mess around with the controls a bit so that you can get a better feel of them for when the action starts. I was playing with the Wiimote turned sideways, which doesn't really feel right for this game. To change weapons you have to press down + the "A" button, which just doesn't flow right at all when you are in the middle of trying to dodge enemy attacks. I'm sure that the game lends itself much better to a classic controller, which I will be picking up as soon as the classic controller pro comes out in a few days.
The gameplay is fast, but often frustrating. As stated above, I wasn't playing with an ideal controller, so that may have been my main issue, but I died about fifteen times before finally grasping the controls well enough to advance to the second stage. I'm sure that its safe to say that this game would be difficult to master even with a better controller! The actual levels themselves are only about a half a minute to two minutes long a piece, but the boss battles is what this game is all about. Every level is timed, and although they are short, the boss battles can last up to a few minutes. Figuring out the boss patterns can take a bit of time, and once you do figure them out, it can take even more time to execute your battle plan.
This isn't the kind of game that someone can just pick up and destroy right away. You WILL die in Alien Soldier! The important thing is that you learn from these frequent deaths. Patience and repetition is key in this game, and the feeling of joy that comes with finally defeating a boss that was once seemingly invincible is rewarding enough to warrant the frustration that the game brings on.
