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The Alien Breed franchise is something that has always eluded me.  I never owned a machine that it would run on in its first inception on the Amiga, and I had never really found my way to the new releases on the Xbox 360 and PC.  However, I finally had a chance to see the series in action with the latest installment, Alien Breed 3: Descent.  I like the idea of a lone man in space fighting off hordes of enemies while battling a maniacal AI.  It is like System Shock hooking up with Aliens and making a newborn bundle of joy.  However, this child tends to get rather annoying after a few hours of play.

Alien Breed 3 continues the journey of Conrad as he looks to free his ship from the clutches of the AI construct, Klein.  It also seems that Conrad’s faithful android companion has been taken over by Klein, leaving our hero alone on a doomed space ship orbiting a frozen world.  Yeah, it seems that Conrad has seen better days but, as in most games, an assault rifle and some health packs can always cheer you up.  With this in mind, Conrad must find a way off of the ship as it hurdles towards the planet below while stopping the AI from escaping the ship.  It sounds a bit clichéd, but then again, so do about three quarters of the action games out on the market.

Team 17 continues their use of the Unreal Engine technology in Alien Breed 3, and after three games, it seems that they have grasped the finer points of working in the environment.   The ship is a sight to behold as it slowly disintegrates during your adventure.  Parts are breaking off the outside of the ship as it enters he atmosphere, while the inside of the ship is strewn with debris and destruction.  Playing as almost a top down shooter, the environments are surprisingly detailed, even though they have a tendency to get a bit repetitive.  The star of the show is when you move outside the ship, where the game shifts to a shoulder height camera level behind the player.  You get a close up look at how bad things are for Conrad as you assess the damage to the ship up close and personal.   Bonus points here for keeping things as silent as possible in the confines of space, as it adds a ton of tension to the unfolding events.

Now, you don’t get to walk around these environments unfettered, as you will be constantly pelted by a variety of creatures, all of which are looking to serve Conrad up as a full course meal.  The enemies will come at a rapid fire pace, having you spin around while peppering the area with bullets.  Entering a dark room or hallway ends up being a sure fire warning sign that you are about to ramp up combat, and it is a lot of fun at first, but becomes a bit tedious and troublesome as you become more overwhelmed with the waves of creatures looking to kill you.  Sure you get some turrets sparingly to help out in specific locations, but you will normally find yourself falling back on the pistol, due to its infinite ammo supply.  I routinely found myself near, or completely out of ammunition for my main weapons, which could be frustrating when you walk into a room swarming with aliens and all you have is five rounds in your assault rifle.

Kiosks are scattered about throughout the ship, and each will allow you to upgrade weapons, purchase ammunition and save your progress.  The upgrades seem to help you finish your progress towards the endgame, but I found myself lacking enough cash in the beginning to make use of them.

While I liked Alien Breed 3, it does have some problems that seem to hold it back from being a stellar title.  I found some of the boss battles to be extremely aggravating, and dying at any point during some of the boss battles sends you back to the beginning of it again.  This was a problem I had with the first boss, where I routinely found myself dying in the last stages of the battle, only to die and have to go through the whole ordeal again.  I do like a good challenge, but I do not need an uphill battle this quickly into the game.  It also does not help that the action does get completely repetitive after an hour of play.  You know when you are going to get ambushed, and you just get completely annoyed at the constant onslaught of enemies that you have to trudge through.  I understand what Team 17 was looking to do here, but you never get a chance to really catch a breath, and in a game like this, those moments are really needed.

Alien Breed 3: Descent is a great looking title that does a lot with the engine for gamers on a budget.  You will get a lot of play for your 800 Microsoft Loonies, and the extra modes like Survival and co-op play can keep you coming back.  Just be warned that you will find yourself wanting it to end far sooner than you should.  Alien Breed 3: Descent gets 3.5 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Check out Alien Breed 3: Descent and other XBLA reviews at Test Freaks