Aliens in the Attics for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PC versions give players a whole new way to experience the story by assuming the identity of different alien explorers whose motives are to rid of the house guests so they can take over the mansion and possibly the world. Players will experience 15 exciting levels, four locations, and switch between players for fast paced action.
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Aliens in the Attic for Nintendo DS is an action platformer, where you control 3 kid protagonists, Tom, Hannah, and Jake as they fight against Alien invaders.
The gameplay is a mashup of traditional platforming and shooty action. For combat, you have Tom and Jake shooting guns at aliens to dispatch of them. As Jake, you can also throw grenade-like things at enemies which can deal sizeable damage or even damage multiple foes. You can use standard controls, as well as use touch screen for precision aiming, and use up on the D-pad to jump that way. To be honest, I think it’s a bit clunky to have both of these control schemes, as you’ll still need to use some face buttons for some actions which aren’t available on the touch screen, and I don’t find jumping with D-Pad up to feel that good. I think the game should’ve focused on one control scheme or the other and perfected it. Better yet, it would’ve been nice to have a lock-on system, so you wouldn’t really need to use touch screen for aiming. Of course, there are a few other actions relegated to the touch screen, such as gadget and weapon swap, as well as an entire weapon upgrade screen.
More on combat, the game is kind of similar to Contra, you shoot various baddies and stuff. While the game does progressively introduce more different enemies, I feel there’s not much variety in terms of strategy. There are ground enemies, usually it’s just crawling enemies, or tank-like enemies that can spit their own explosive, there are flying enemies where the touch screen aiming can be more useful. Other than that, I can name giant rocket enemies that simply shoot rockets in a straight pattern and take quite a beating to destroy them, and little vessel-like robots that drop explosives, until you come close to them, after which they’ll reveal a gun that can be targeted, and the enemy is destroyed that way, the only really interesting enemy. Other than that, I feel the combat can be a bit repetitive.
You control 3 kids, between each you can swap with L or R. You can only attack with Tom and Jake, while Hannah serves as a platforming utility with her double jump ability and ability to crawl into tight spaces. I thought she would actually get defensive abilities, but no. Kind of a shame, but oh well. As I mentioned earlier, Jake can throw grenades, which is useful in combat. He’s also a power character, and can push some objects, and I think his shots are generally more powerful. Tom on the other hand can use alien gadgets that can be used in combat, and are required for bosses. These range from gravity stuff that can be used to slam enemies into the ground for an instant kill, stunning enemies or using sound waves by utilizing microphone or mashing X repeatedly. These can be handy if you want to rid of enemies quickly, since there are a number of areas where you’re required to destroy ‘em all.
The platforming is alright. I think it falls in the same category as Hotel Transilvania, where the level design is kind of generic for the most part, but it’s not boring. There are optional areas which are a little more challenging to get into, but all they offer are grenades and health pickups, which I usually had in spades. I think the game could’ve benefitted from optional collectibles to make these more justifiable. The only real “collectibles” for 100% completion are adults the kids can rescue. They are usually on-screen for you to find, and there are only 8 of them. Rescuing is usually actually beneficial, as they can give you an upgrade for the weapons. The game doesn’t seem to indicate which levels have said adults, so if you missed any… good luck finding them again. There are normal collectibles, which are bolts that are everywhere, and they also drop from enemies. Every 200 gives you an upgrade point for the guns, where you can attach parts you obtain and they give some kind of boost. There’s a manual in the game, telling what item does what. You can attach parts to the guns, or even change the projectile itself, for example, the default for projectiles is marbles, but using a spring will make them ricochet off surfaces. It also apparently can destroy enemy projectiles and bounce off enemy explosives, which is kind of OP, and makes the game marginally easier.
Of course, being on Nintendo DS, Aliens in the Attic does feature obligatory touch screen interactivity… some of which I already listed earlier. There are occasional doors which can be hacked with a touch screen mini-game. The goal is to spin a rotating thing and roll the appropriately colored orbs into the socket, if you roll the wrong colored orb, time is deducted from the timer. Later on, the thing that can be rotated gains an additional socket, so you have to be more vigilant about rolling correct spheres, though it can also make the process go faster. From what I can tell, losing this mini-game punish you, so it’s basically a time waste. I guess it would be a decent way to spice-up the gameplay, but I wouldn’t bat an eye if this mini-game was scrapped. Or if there were more than this one mini-game, it would be more interesting.
There are multiple bosses in the game, each “world” has a mid-boss and a proper boss. I think the bosses are generally decent, but not consistent. Some of them can take longer, some don’t, some can be frustrating, others not. I liked the spider-looking mid-boss, where the point is to shoot the thing which is always at the top of the screen, and you’re shooting at it, but it also moves upward, and it combines the platforming aspect decently well. One of the more interesting bosses. There’s also a fridge boss, that can suck you inside and turn you into ice. There are rare moments where you can get frozen, mash B to escape the cold cage, otherwise you’ll continuously take damage. The boss doesn’t take too long to beat, but it was an interesting idea. On the other hand, there’s bosses like the second alien boss, the gimmick is to shoot its hand until it… gets exhausted or something. Then you use a gravity device to drop a giant rock onto it to deal damage. This boss just takes so long, and I managed to die twice, which wasn’t very fun. Then, the third alien boss was actually really short, all you need to do is use the audio device to make it angry, and make it smash its hand into conveniently placed spikes. Do this just a few times, and they’re a toast. The final boss is basically a three in one, there’s a size machine that made these aliens big which you need to destroy, but it’s protected, so you need to do something to unlock it, depending on the phase. At first, I was really annoyed at it, the first phase asked you to push a giant explosive crate from the left side of the screen to the right. The problem is that there are regular enemies that can destroy said crate, resetting your progress, and they keep on coming. I was really annoyed, but then I realized that the gadgets are a perfect strategy for dealing with these annoyances, so I kept smashing them with a gravity gadget, and the crate does restore its durability over time if the damage stops. Another good point is that the enemies actually drop health pickups, so it’s not so overwhelming if you aren’t too careless. The boss became far more enjoyable and tense. Overall, the bosses are a bit of a mixed bag, but mostly decent. The music definitely helps.
Speaking of music, aesthetics! Graphically, the game looks quite good, with fairly detailed surroundings, and there’s a good variety in of locations to visit. The bosses are quite large, as well. Engine Software seems to know their stuff when it comes to DS graphics. Just like how Bart Roijmans knows their stuff when it comes to music, gracing us with yet another banger of a soundtrack that sounds high quality for the hardware. It’s even better if we consider how relatively obscure this game is. Once again, I admit I wrote this game down to play solely because it has Bart Roijmans in the credits as a musician (just like Ben 10: Protector of Earth), that’s how good their music is, and this game didn’t disappoint in that regard.
Overall, Aliens in the Attic DS is a decent action platformer. While the combat and platforming mechanics aren’t too special, the game is not devoid of enjoyment. The music is great, and the graphics are solid. Not quite good, but far from a terrible pick on the handheld.
The gameplay is a mashup of traditional platforming and shooty action. For combat, you have Tom and Jake shooting guns at aliens to dispatch of them. As Jake, you can also throw grenade-like things at enemies which can deal sizeable damage or even damage multiple foes. You can use standard controls, as well as use touch screen for precision aiming, and use up on the D-pad to jump that way. To be honest, I think it’s a bit clunky to have both of these control schemes, as you’ll still need to use some face buttons for some actions which aren’t available on the touch screen, and I don’t find jumping with D-Pad up to feel that good. I think the game should’ve focused on one control scheme or the other and perfected it. Better yet, it would’ve been nice to have a lock-on system, so you wouldn’t really need to use touch screen for aiming. Of course, there are a few other actions relegated to the touch screen, such as gadget and weapon swap, as well as an entire weapon upgrade screen.
More on combat, the game is kind of similar to Contra, you shoot various baddies and stuff. While the game does progressively introduce more different enemies, I feel there’s not much variety in terms of strategy. There are ground enemies, usually it’s just crawling enemies, or tank-like enemies that can spit their own explosive, there are flying enemies where the touch screen aiming can be more useful. Other than that, I can name giant rocket enemies that simply shoot rockets in a straight pattern and take quite a beating to destroy them, and little vessel-like robots that drop explosives, until you come close to them, after which they’ll reveal a gun that can be targeted, and the enemy is destroyed that way, the only really interesting enemy. Other than that, I feel the combat can be a bit repetitive.
You control 3 kids, between each you can swap with L or R. You can only attack with Tom and Jake, while Hannah serves as a platforming utility with her double jump ability and ability to crawl into tight spaces. I thought she would actually get defensive abilities, but no. Kind of a shame, but oh well. As I mentioned earlier, Jake can throw grenades, which is useful in combat. He’s also a power character, and can push some objects, and I think his shots are generally more powerful. Tom on the other hand can use alien gadgets that can be used in combat, and are required for bosses. These range from gravity stuff that can be used to slam enemies into the ground for an instant kill, stunning enemies or using sound waves by utilizing microphone or mashing X repeatedly. These can be handy if you want to rid of enemies quickly, since there are a number of areas where you’re required to destroy ‘em all.
The platforming is alright. I think it falls in the same category as Hotel Transilvania, where the level design is kind of generic for the most part, but it’s not boring. There are optional areas which are a little more challenging to get into, but all they offer are grenades and health pickups, which I usually had in spades. I think the game could’ve benefitted from optional collectibles to make these more justifiable. The only real “collectibles” for 100% completion are adults the kids can rescue. They are usually on-screen for you to find, and there are only 8 of them. Rescuing is usually actually beneficial, as they can give you an upgrade for the weapons. The game doesn’t seem to indicate which levels have said adults, so if you missed any… good luck finding them again. There are normal collectibles, which are bolts that are everywhere, and they also drop from enemies. Every 200 gives you an upgrade point for the guns, where you can attach parts you obtain and they give some kind of boost. There’s a manual in the game, telling what item does what. You can attach parts to the guns, or even change the projectile itself, for example, the default for projectiles is marbles, but using a spring will make them ricochet off surfaces. It also apparently can destroy enemy projectiles and bounce off enemy explosives, which is kind of OP, and makes the game marginally easier.
Of course, being on Nintendo DS, Aliens in the Attic does feature obligatory touch screen interactivity… some of which I already listed earlier. There are occasional doors which can be hacked with a touch screen mini-game. The goal is to spin a rotating thing and roll the appropriately colored orbs into the socket, if you roll the wrong colored orb, time is deducted from the timer. Later on, the thing that can be rotated gains an additional socket, so you have to be more vigilant about rolling correct spheres, though it can also make the process go faster. From what I can tell, losing this mini-game punish you, so it’s basically a time waste. I guess it would be a decent way to spice-up the gameplay, but I wouldn’t bat an eye if this mini-game was scrapped. Or if there were more than this one mini-game, it would be more interesting.
There are multiple bosses in the game, each “world” has a mid-boss and a proper boss. I think the bosses are generally decent, but not consistent. Some of them can take longer, some don’t, some can be frustrating, others not. I liked the spider-looking mid-boss, where the point is to shoot the thing which is always at the top of the screen, and you’re shooting at it, but it also moves upward, and it combines the platforming aspect decently well. One of the more interesting bosses. There’s also a fridge boss, that can suck you inside and turn you into ice. There are rare moments where you can get frozen, mash B to escape the cold cage, otherwise you’ll continuously take damage. The boss doesn’t take too long to beat, but it was an interesting idea. On the other hand, there’s bosses like the second alien boss, the gimmick is to shoot its hand until it… gets exhausted or something. Then you use a gravity device to drop a giant rock onto it to deal damage. This boss just takes so long, and I managed to die twice, which wasn’t very fun. Then, the third alien boss was actually really short, all you need to do is use the audio device to make it angry, and make it smash its hand into conveniently placed spikes. Do this just a few times, and they’re a toast. The final boss is basically a three in one, there’s a size machine that made these aliens big which you need to destroy, but it’s protected, so you need to do something to unlock it, depending on the phase. At first, I was really annoyed at it, the first phase asked you to push a giant explosive crate from the left side of the screen to the right. The problem is that there are regular enemies that can destroy said crate, resetting your progress, and they keep on coming. I was really annoyed, but then I realized that the gadgets are a perfect strategy for dealing with these annoyances, so I kept smashing them with a gravity gadget, and the crate does restore its durability over time if the damage stops. Another good point is that the enemies actually drop health pickups, so it’s not so overwhelming if you aren’t too careless. The boss became far more enjoyable and tense. Overall, the bosses are a bit of a mixed bag, but mostly decent. The music definitely helps.
Speaking of music, aesthetics! Graphically, the game looks quite good, with fairly detailed surroundings, and there’s a good variety in of locations to visit. The bosses are quite large, as well. Engine Software seems to know their stuff when it comes to DS graphics. Just like how Bart Roijmans knows their stuff when it comes to music, gracing us with yet another banger of a soundtrack that sounds high quality for the hardware. It’s even better if we consider how relatively obscure this game is. Once again, I admit I wrote this game down to play solely because it has Bart Roijmans in the credits as a musician (just like Ben 10: Protector of Earth), that’s how good their music is, and this game didn’t disappoint in that regard.
Overall, Aliens in the Attic DS is a decent action platformer. While the combat and platforming mechanics aren’t too special, the game is not devoid of enjoyment. The music is great, and the graphics are solid. Not quite good, but far from a terrible pick on the handheld.
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