The 1950s have never looked so good! From the view of little green man, times were simple, TV was black and white, and human brains were plentiful of pure alien DNA.
The Good
The nostalgia factor is huge for this game and the remaster does a great job at updating a rather old title for modern hardware and expectations. It still isn’t perfect, but neither was the original. And anyone with a brain stem will find a way to have a giggle or two. If you are a fan of the original, you love to hear the audio as it was, even with some of the worst landing jokes and tired banter at times.
The Bad
Personally, I am big fan of the more cartoonish characters, and the maps are just as small as I remember. This was a remaster, not a reboot. The game still falls short in the very same way as before: small towns, simple AI (they really gang up on you), and a limited scope despite being an open world game. Aiming was improved, as were the UI and controls for modern fingers…uh expectations.
Here it is: The game still feels old. I know, I know, I already said that, but I mean it here. There are new side objectives, skins, and a some of the mission structure was reworked, but that’s it. The game is from a simpler time, much like the 50s. Game studios took risk with new IP and Pandemic did a great job with that.
Games take so much longer to produce now that this level of risk just isn’t possible anymore.
The Verdict
Pick it up on sale and spend a few hours basking in the nostalgia. The sequel to this game does add a bit more to the mix and was remastered as well, but somehow doesn’t retain the same charm as the original.
Maybe one day we’ll get another entry in the series.
