Alien Breakout Nintendo Switch Review 8.5/10 "An accessible, 100 level alien platformer!" 👽 @Vergiuu @eastasiasoft #IndieGame #GameDev

It’s easy to get burned out on certain genres, many times over the years I’ve moved from one epic RPG to the next and just sighed at the sheer weight of time-suck that I know is about to take place, and I’ve learned to switch to shorter, more succinct titles whenever this happens so that I don’t lose interest in gaming for a while. 

I was recently at this very point, and so fancied covering a few titles that were a little more pick-up-and-play friendly in style, cue Alien Breakout from developer Vergiu and publisher Eastasiasoft, folks who very much have a taste for this genre of games - a simple 2D platformer that’s perfect for beginners, has a player-friendly learning curve, and is just the ticket for some quick blasts of action!

The game begins with your little green fella breaking out of his liquid prison, before making his way through this enormous facility in a bid to escape to sweet, sweet freedom. Initially beginning with a simple jump for a few levels, Alien Breakout introduces different environmental hazards and enemies pretty regularly, meaning that your journey through the massive laboratory complex ramps up at a steady and enjoyable pace. 

There’ll be moments where you’ll breeze through multiple levels on the trot with nary a care in the world…but others will have you gritting your teeth as you mis-time that fateful leap over a spike-filled chasm, dodging bullets and avoiding springs that would bounce you back off into danger. 

There’s nothing new here, and the environment is pretty samey, but the chunky characters and scrolling areas mean the game always feels approachable and fair, you have to get a good few stages in before things get truly saucy and require some controller squeezing...

SUMMARY
Available for well under a fiver, Alien Breakout has been a winner in our house, with my four-year-old son getting his first taste of ‘trial and error’ style games, Alien Breakout is perfectly paced for beginners, as well as – eventually – proving a challenge for veterans of the platform genre, all the while maintaining charm, and a hooky electronic soundtrack throughout. Good!

8.5/10

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