"Which one am I again?"
Team 17’s use of the Unreal engine really affects the aesthetics of the two player experience. The colors in the game feel a little blurred and distinguishing areas becomes difficult. The characters are also too similar, so that during an intense fire fight you often forget which of the two you are playing - the dim torch light being your only real indication.
One added bonus that Assault has over Evolution, in terms of co-op, is the added Survivor mode. You and a co-op buddy try to survive as long as you can against increasingly numerous and difficult waves of enemies. There are three self contained maps to play in, but this mode only proves a short lived distraction as it becomes extremely repetitive. A final word of warning, the online community for the game is already small, making finding a game using the match making system a lengthy process. Contacting a friend to join you in a private game may be the easiest way to guarantee someone to play with – you can try the Co-Optimus forums for this.
Viewed as an overall product, Alien Breed 2: Assault is a better package than Alien Breed: Evolution, but not by a lot. The single player campaign is slightly better paced and the co-op levels benefit from improved graphics, unique levels and a new game mode.
The nature of episodic series and shortened development times, more often than not, retain the flaws from previous episodes, feel repetitive and lack innovation. However, this does not detract from the fun set of co-op levels to be played through on or offline, but don’t expect anything ground breaking if you have already completed the first episode.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Play through co-op specific missions based on the single player game or kill endless swarms of aliens in a survival mode.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.