Alien Shooter

Developer: Sigma Team Inc. | Publisher: Sigma Team Inc. | Release Date: 15 September 2003 | Genre: Isometric Shooter / Action / RPG | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

Some games use aliens to create suspense, gradually revealing a terrifying creature while the player carefully conserves ammunition. Alien Shooter takes the opposite approach. Within minutes, the floor is covered in alien corpses, ammunition is pouring from defeated enemies, and entire corridors have disappeared beneath so much blood that some of the surviving creatures become difficult to see.

Released in 2003 by Sigma Team, Alien Shooter is a short isometric action game built around one uncomplicated objective: enter a research complex and kill everything inside. It combines arcade shooting with light character development, equipment purchases, secrets, and increasingly ridiculous enemy hordes. The result is crude, repetitive, and technically dated, but also extremely satisfying when dozens of aliens charge into a stream of minigun fire.

The story barely extends beyond the premise. A military research facility has been overrun by hostile creatures pouring through teleportation devices, and the player is sent inside alone to prevent them from escaping. There are no meaningful characters, dialogue choices, or elaborate cutscenes. Each mission provides a brief objective before placing the player in another section of the complex.

This simplicity works in the game’s favour. Alien Shooter understands that its appeal lies in clearing rooms filled with monsters rather than explaining where every mutant originated. The facility becomes progressively more dangerous as the campaign continues, eventually containing enough aliens to resemble an infestation rather than a conventional enemy force.

The ten campaign missions are viewed from a fixed isometric perspective. Movement is handled with the keyboard while the mouse aims and fires independently, allowing the character to run in one direction while shooting in another. This is particularly useful when retreating from a large group, although the animation can look deeply disturbing. The character’s torso can rotate almost 180 degrees to fire directly behind them while their legs continue running forward.

Most levels revolve around exterminating every alien in the area. Doors, security systems, generators, and blocked routes divide the facility into smaller sections, with new rooms often releasing another wave of creatures. Once only a few enemies remain, a red arrow points towards their approximate position, preventing the player from wandering through the entire level looking for one alien trapped in a distant corner.

Other missions add simple objectives, most notably planting explosives at marked locations. These charges are used to destroy teleporters, although the surrounding combat remains the real challenge. There are no complicated puzzles, and most obstacles involve finding a switch, restoring electricity, or reaching another section of the map.

Power failures are among the more atmospheric moments. Parts of the facility can suddenly become completely dark, forcing the player to search for a generator before visibility is restored. A flashlight or night-vision equipment makes these sections less dangerous, but enemies can still emerge from the darkness with very little warning.

The environments contain secrets hidden behind visibly cracked walls. Shooting these sections reveals gaps containing money, ammunition, health, or equipment. The cracks are usually noticeable enough to reward observation without requiring players to fire at every wall, and searching for them adds some welcome exploration to otherwise straightforward levels.

There is no map, but the stages are compact enough that one is rarely required. Corridors loop back into central areas, while locked doors and switches provide a clear sense of gradual advancement. Occasional backtracking is necessary, but the levels generally remain easy to understand once explored.

Unfortunately, navigating the scenery is not always smooth. The character can become caught against chairs, crates, and other decorative objects. This is merely inconvenient when exploring, but considerably more dangerous when a swarm is close behind. Enemies suffer from similar problems and occasionally become trapped on scenery instead of pursuing the player.

Walls present another visibility problem. They do not become transparent when the character moves behind them, which can temporarily conceal both the player and nearby enemies. The fixed perspective usually prevents this from becoming disastrous, but certain rooms are harder to read than they should be.

Combat begins with relatively weak firearms before expanding into shotguns, automatic weapons, a grenade launcher, a minigun, and more destructive technology. Nine weapons are available in total, and the escalation is one of the campaign’s strongest elements. Early encounters involve carefully firing into small groups, while later missions provide enough firepower to erase entire crowds.

The shotgun is particularly useful against tightly packed enemies, while explosive weapons clear groups at the risk of wasting expensive ammunition. The minigun transforms the game into a moving wall of bullets, but its enormous rate of fire rapidly consumes supplies. Choosing the right weapon therefore depends as much on available ammunition as enemy strength.

Aliens occasionally drop health, ammunition, and money when killed. Friendly fire also applies to the monsters, allowing their projectiles to damage other aliens. This is especially useful when large creatures become mixed into dense crowds, as the enemies can unintentionally help thin their own numbers.

The game’s most memorable feature is the sheer quantity of enemies. Steam advertises around one thousand monsters on some maps and as many as one hundred visible simultaneously. Large groups pour through doors, fill corridors, and surround defensive positions from several directions. Despite their numbers, the enemy variety is relatively simple. Smaller creatures rush directly towards the player, while larger variants absorb more punishment or attack from range. The growing hordes create pressure through quantity rather than advanced behaviour.

This makes combat repetitive, but the repetition is part of the attraction. Few games from the period allowed this many enemies to be shredded at once, and the resulting carnage remains entertaining. Corpses remain on the ground while blood spreads across the floor until entire rooms have turned red.

The gore is excessive even by modern standards. Every battle leaves behind huge pools of blood, providing a visible record of how many creatures occupied the room. Players can change the blood colour from red to green, but either option quickly dominates the scenery.

Red blood creates an unintended visibility issue because several aliens are also red. Once enough corpses have accumulated, living enemies can blend into the floor and become difficult to distinguish. Their movement usually gives them away, but smaller creatures may reach the player unnoticed during particularly messy encounters.

Completing a mission leads to an equipment screen where earned money can be spent. New weapons become available as players save up enough money, along with ammunition and useful equipment such as armour, additional life, night vision, and a combat drone.

The drone follows the character and provides additional firepower. Armour absorbs damage, while night vision helps during darkened sections. These items are valuable but temporary enough that spending decisions still matter, especially when trying to save for the next major weapon.

Money can also improve the four character attributes: Health, Strength, Speed, and Accuracy. Health increases survivability, Strength supports heavier equipment and damage, Speed improves movement, and Accuracy makes sustained weapon fire more reliable. Diligent players will find many of the weapons hidden inside secret walls, which is a big money saver. 

Players choose either a male or female character before beginning the campaign. The male character favours greater health and strength, while the female has better speed and accuracy. The difference is simple but meaningful enough to influence how the opening levels feel.

The campaign’s economy creates a basic sense of progression. Each completed stage provides access to more powerful equipment, and secrets reward players with additional resources. There is rarely enough money to purchase every desirable upgrade immediately, encouraging a choice between personal statistics, protection, ammunition, and saving for a stronger weapon. The progression is not deep enough to turn Alien Shooter into a full action RPG, but it gives the destruction some purpose.

Outside the campaign, Survival mode removes the structured objectives and focuses on enduring an escalating attack for as long as possible. It is a natural fit for the combat system, although the lack of varied objectives means its appeal depends entirely on enjoying the basic shooting.

Steam achievements add further replay value. Several are tied to accumulating kills, collecting money, and completing challenges at different thresholds. Some progress can require additional campaign runs with a new character, since continuing after the ending only returns to the final save rather than offering level selection.

This exposes one of the game’s largest quality-of-life omissions. Earlier stages cannot simply be replayed from a completed campaign. Anyone pursuing missed achievements or wanting to experience the progression again must begin a new character and repeat the entire sequence.

The fixed campaign is short enough that this is manageable, but the same levels, enemy placements, and objectives eventually become predictable. There are no alternate routes, randomised maps, or branching missions to make subsequent runs substantially different.

Visually, Alien Shooter is unmistakably a product of 2003. Characters are small, textures are muddy, animations are stiff, and most of the facility consists of grey corridors, laboratories, storage areas, and machinery.

The old-fashioned presentation nevertheless has a certain charm. Darkness, green computer screens, industrial machinery, and piles of corpses produce an atmosphere somewhere between low-budget science fiction and an arcade horror game.

The fixed camera keeps the action readable during ordinary encounters, although the lack of wall transparency and the enormous quantity of blood can obscure important details. Effects such as explosions and muzzle flashes are basic but clear, while enemy numbers remain more impressive than any individual model.

The sound design is similarly functional. Weapons have distinct reports, explosions carry suitable weight, and alien noises warn of creatures approaching from outside the visible area. The minigun and grenade launcher provide the strongest feedback, even though none of the effects can compete with modern shooters.

Music reacts to the action, becoming more urgent when enemies are nearby and settling during quieter exploration. The limited selection becomes repetitive over a full campaign, but the rising intensity complements the sudden appearance of a horde.

Mouse and keyboard controls are responsive once their unusual movement style becomes familiar. Independent aiming makes circling enemies and firing while retreating possible, which is essential during later missions. The main frustrations come from collision with scenery rather than input delay.

Alien Shooter: Revisited offers an alternative version of the same basic campaign. Released in 2009, it reconstructs the original using newer technology and adds revised visuals, extra effects, stationary weapons, implants, additional character options, and a third Gun Stand mode alongside Campaign and Survival.

On paper, Revisited appears to replace the original completely. However, the newer version has received a much more divided response from players. Its brighter presentation alters the oppressive atmosphere, while balance, ammunition consumption, equipment, and several other details were changed. It also lacks the Steam achievements currently attached to the original release.

The 2003 version therefore still has value beyond nostalgia. Its presentation is rougher but darker, its straightforward progression remains easy to understand, and the extraordinary amounts of gore give it a stronger identity. Revisited is useful for seeing the same concept with newer effects, but it is not necessarily the definitive way to experience the campaign.