Alien Removal Division is a mix of an obstacle course Platformer and a classic First-Person Shooter. The gameplay reminded me a lot of the Titanfall and the latest Doom games. You take the role of a Marine in the Alien Removal Division, that aims to clean up an Alien Breach in a scientific facility.
Movement in ARD feels great. You can combine slides with Wall-Runs, grappling, midair dashes and so. The movement has clearly been designed to suit obstacle course like levels and reminded a lot of people of the Titanfall 2 campaign. ARD even has a similar trial tutorial level. I agree with this comparison and also enjoyed this fast and satisfactory gameplay. The gunplay in ARD is also at least decent, but probably not as strong as the movement. Nonetheless, it will also be able to satisfy fans of Doom or other Alien slaughtering games.
The presentation of the game was another positive surprise. The levels very much fit the theme of secret underground facility blemished by an Alien attack. There are also cutscenes introducing new enemy types or boss fights, which don't have to fear a comparison to games by smaller Indie studios, that sell for actual money. ARD on the other hand is a F2P game developed by a group of students. If they made this game much longer than 20-30 minutes, that a playthrough lasts, than they could have also sold this for a hand full of Euro. I see enough quality in presentation and gameplay to make that claim.
ARD also at least provides some speedrun potential to extend the game's length. You can always activate a timer measuring your fastest playthroughs and attempt to unlock all related achievements. The gameplay with the slide, jump, dash combinations also supports this playstyle.
As mentioned the game provides a couple of different enemy types, that usually get highlighted in the ingame cutscenes and there is even a boss fight in the last section of the game, that got added through a content update. Generally that is a cool thing, even though the fight felt both a bit too long and too easy at the same time. Long, because the Boss has very long invincibility periods and the fight drags on for a bit without offering any meaningful variety. Too easy on the other hand, because findable health items respawn rather quickly. An alternative harder difficulty setting would have also been appreciated since the game was overall perhaps a bit too forgiving.
The visuals are obviously not the very best in the genre, which would have been a very unrealistic expectation, but quite decent and fit the previously mentioned strong presentation. I was just a bit disappointed by the performance. Throughout the game I experienced a bit of microstuttering and have read from other people making the same experience. This was probably the biggest letdown and it would have been great, if the devs had managed to optimize this a bit better.
Pro:
- Satisfying mix of Platforming and Shooter elements
- Strong presentation for a small game
- Speedrun potential
Contra:
- Slight performance problems (Microstuttering)
- Short length (20-30 mins)
Result:
Alien Removal Division is a surprisingly well done little Alien Shooter. The presentation was stronger than one could have expected and the competent mix of Titanfall and Doom elements with the satisfying movement made the game quite enjoyable. The shooting was still good, but there was a bigger discrepancy to the Top games. ARD also gets hold back by short length and some performance issues. The game is however worth a recommendation as a F2P Shooter/Platformer mix and for fans of Alien slaughtering games.
7/10
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