Alien Arena: Combat Edition

Alien Arena: Combat Edition is a fast-paced first-person shooter that’s intended for online play against other people in a wide range of game modes. You’ve heard that before but what sets this one apart in a particular kind of way is its visual style.
In a nutshell, Alien Arena: Combat Edition is Quake III meets Unreal Tournament meets Mars Attacks! ( the 1996 Sci-Fi movie). The resemblance to the latter will be instantly visible when you meet an opponent who’s on the alien team.

An utterly delightful arena shooter

At a first glance, Alien Arena: Combat Edition might not make a very good impression but once you dive into the action, it gets you almost like Unreal Tournament triggered addictions. Its fast-paced nature and fluid gameplay make it truly enjoyable, and the visuals are really good for a game that’s been free to play since 2004.
It was actually surprising to see just how well this game behaves on a machine that made its generation obsolete for almost a decade now. So, the gameplay is spot on fun and what’s better is that the weapons are a blast to use. Nearly all of them seem familiar, more or less, when compared to those from the iconic games of that period but they still have their personal flavor. And yes, just like in UT, they have a primary and secondary fire.

There’s not a lot of success with the multiplayer part, but single player works just fine

Matchmaking is a bit old-school and the servers are almost empty. If you’re planning a shootout with some people from wherever in the world they are, you do need a bit of luck on your side. Nonetheless, you won’t waste days, not even hours.
Alien Arena: Combat Edition can be played in single player mode against some skilful bots. You can assign their difficulty level and to he honest, you rarely feel like you’re playing against AI. The game just flows, and it’s non-stop shooting.

A nice piece of 2004 memorabilia

On a closing note, Alien Arena: Combat Edition is surprisingly fun to play and well-built for a game that’s this ‘old’. If you and some friends are eager to try out a classic, this one is a very good choice.