Please login to submit a screenshot

All you non-AGA owners will have been drooling and dribbling over this one for the last month. With a whacking great 83 per cent from Jon Sloan last issue, Alien Breed 2 is taking shoot'em ups to a new level. Now Team 17 have released the non-AGA version, and, surprisingly, it's actually a better game. My only problem with the AGA version is that it is far too hard, and this version is just that little bit easier. Why? Well, the fewer colours (but very cleverly used - can you tell them apart?) mean that the screen moves around a little faster, and there are actually fewer aliens on screen at any one time, so there's slightly less chance of you getting totally obliterated in the first few seconds.

Other than that, the game is identical. You still have to travel out to Colony Alpha-Five to wipe out an invading alien horde, running around a top-view maze taken from games like Gauntlet, logging on to huge supercomputers located all over the base where you can buy extra weapons and power ups. It still has glorious graphics, with some of the most realistic fireballs ever seen.
The sound has changed little too, although some of has taken out in favour of some more standard spot effects. There is so much going on at any one time, though, that you don't miss it.

Alien Breed 2 is a massive game, with dozens of extremely challenging levels. It's still not easy and you're still going to be pushed to finish this one in an afternoon. But what the hell? It's just so much fun to play that you don't really mind wasting a week of three on it.
Tony Dillon


87%