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ALIENS: DARK DESCENT takes a more tactical approach to xenomorph blasting

- Rick Lane

Many games have tried to replicate the slow burning tension and chaotic action of Aliens, but Dark Descent is the first game since Monolith's AvP 2 to really nail it. Developer Tindalos Interactive has thought intensely about how to get the best out of James Cameron's film in a virtual context, and their solution is a scintillating real-time tactics game that blends stealth, strategy, and nail-biting gunfights.

Dark Descent plays its weakest card first. The game takes place on Lethe, a xenomorph-infested moon owned by Weyland Yutani, and where the Marine frigate USS Otago has the misfortune to crash-land. The cause of the crash is detailed in a story-driven tutorial prologue, is a mess conflicts dialogue, a draining parasite that plagues the game thoughout.

Once stranded on Lethe, the stories you create compensate for but the script of forced and awkward dialogue, a draining parasite that plagues the game throughout.

Once stranded on Lethe, the stories you create compensate for the narrative shortcomings. Each mission sees you dispatch a four-person team of Marines to locations around Lethe, either to improve your situation or investigate why the Moon is overrun with bugs. The first takes you to a facsimile of Hadley's Hope named Dead Hills, a sprawling shake 'n' bake colony with numerous buildings laid out across multiple floors. There's a bar, an armoury, a clinic, a command centre, and underneath it all, a twisting warren of mining tunnels.

TACTICS GAMES