The most compelling element of Aliens Infestation comes in its cast of 19 playable characters. You'll also eventually predict precisely where things will jump out at you, and that's before you factor in the motion-tracking device you'll acquire early in the game. The game's impressive ability to build tension will also lower considerably once you've seen the same alien leap down from the same dark ceiling ten times.

Cheap hit detection only adds to that frustration. A tense, thrilling firefight somehow becomes irritating when your foes reappear three seconds later. The vast majority of enemies respawn the second you leave a room, which affects how much fun you'll have with combat. There's even a basic cover system to work with, even if it's a bit unnecessary. Variety is a bit limited, but still feels right. Combat strategy is mostly limited to shooting anything that appears. Expect variations on those creatures, as well as Facehuggers, robots and even humans. You'll encounter more enemies than the standard, iconic Xenomorphs. Obtaining access to new areas of a ship or planet only comes after letting the ground run green with acidic blood. Of course this wouldn't be an Aliens game without hordes of Xenomorphs and plenty of violence. The game's map, accessible on the lower screen, is just effective enough to be useful while not spelling out everything for you along the way.

I had just enough curiosity to discover what was behind a door I had walked past a couple hours prior.

I rarely found myself lost, stuck or otherwise frustrated in a way that worked against the game. It's all basic stuff to those of us familiar with the concept, but it's still executed and paced very well. Acquiring one item will in turn give you access to more areas, which will contain more dead ends and more goodies for you to seek out. You'll spend the bulk of your time doing the very things you'd expect in a game inspired by Metroid, wandering through halls looking for a key, and encountering plenty of paths you can't access with your current equipment. Every now and then I found myself jumping, either due to a near-death encounter or a cheap thrill included by the developers. Gameplay operates precisely how you'd expect, with a fairly slow and methodical pacing that ratchets up tension in some very clever ways.

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