Alter Army

The problem of limited resources is often tackled by sci-fi movies and video games, mainly because it is an actual concern we might have in a few decades or centuries. Naturally, most video games include all sorts of other ludicrous concepts as well, just to make the experience more fun for the players. Hence, brave heroes with special abilities are always present to save the human race from trouble.

Alter Army is a 2D beat ‘em up with platformer elements, in which the combat is the most important aspect. Hence, you must perform fast-paced attacks and combos in order to defeat your enemies, and the game actually rewards you for being fast. As such, your character gets stronger the faster you mash the buttons, and he also heals up as he strikes down his enemies.

The action takes place in a futuristic world plagued by lack of resources, which is why everyone is fighting each other in order to get access to them. Your role is to assure the survival of the human race by getting to these resources, even if they are only going to last for a few decades. However, hundreds of powerful monsters stand in your way, so you need to be very resilient in order to make it.

As mentioned before, Alter Army rewards you for quick combos and high aggression, which is why your character gets faster and stronger the faster you perform the attacks. On top of that, you are also rewarded if you manage to kill your enemies in a creative fashion, because you receive grades once you reach the end of a biome. This should encourage multiple playthroughs, at least when the final version rolls out.

Since this is a retro game, the graphics are designed to bring back memories as well. However, they are not just a pixelated mess like in most retro productions, given the fact that the artwork is pretty nice most of the time. The level design can be a bit boring sometimes, but you have to remember that this is an early version of the game at this point, so shortcomings are to be expected.

Even if Alter Army is not for everyone, given the tough battles and fast-paced mechanics, it should certainly find a decent player base for itself. However, more features and content is required to keep the players engaged for longer periods of time.