First... I gotta get this out of the way. The "next-generation" shooter tagline on this box art I found is hilarious, and a part of me kind of wishes it was true. There's a certain charm to a lot of the meridian4 published games, and other similar cheesy forgotten sci-fi space marine games that used to litter the PC platform all throughout the 2000-2008ish timeline. They had the presentation of a sleek new wonderful thing that even shows up today despite how dated it truly is, all while giving you the quality design that is more on par with a B movie. Difference is that while B movies have bad budgets and live actors trying to pass off as cheesy ideas kind of ruins a lot of the point of having something like aliens monsters terrorizing the place. Meanwhile a video game gets away with it a lot more for two reasons: 1) Its got a budget and a design that allow it to really show people what they want them to see. You want monsters and aliens, and you'll get them and plenty of solid gore and effects. 2) The core entertainment is still left in full while a movie or book has to rely solely on its silly premise. Whether or not you hate silly or cliche plots it doesn't matter, you just need to be a fan of the game's genre to potentially enjoy it.
ShadowGrounds and its somewhat spin-off or sequel survivor fit this sort of idea perfectly and its just something I've got to say I have a soft spot for. It proudly feels gamey while the industry is increasingly trying to be either edgy and too experimental or cinematic. Games like Shadowgrounds just gives you a plot that works and a ton of over the top action with gore, physics, and variety in aliens. Gameplay has just enough learning curve to keep the player invested and rewarded alongside your natural enjoyment. Its just a great gamey aesthetic all around, and it fills a sort of bizarre niche in me that feels like its a part of what I grew up around and love about in games to begin with. Ironically I actually never liked this exact genre of top down shooter, but all of its aesthetics and the heart of it was all in the right place for me. Aliens, check. Big guns, check. Light horror plot with mild suspense while not forcing its way into your game, check. Laughable voice acting because it never mattered, check. All these elements have invaded so many top down shooters its practically like fantasy with RPG. I adore all these elements, so naturally even though I don't love the gameplay tied to it I still toy around with these games whenever I can and I've always wanted to find that one that really hooks me. For this reason... it would have been pretty awesome if this really was the "next generation" shooter route. However this was again more of a 2000's thing, and shadowgrounds wasn't really a big deal. It was just another top down alien shooter, and still is pretty much just that while sitting just above the stack for maybe its upgrading system. However I can't really see why it would need to be more, it was just fun as it is.
Despite my usual toy-like fascination with the genre, ShadowGrounds might be one I actually take seriously as a good game until the end. I hope so at least. I actually hit a glitch in the original where I basically can't fight the first boss.... so sadly I need to cheat skip level 2, and hopefully I wont lose momentum from that. However Survivor is going well and despite the lesser story (no horror elements or build up, very sad) the game has superior and very playful physics and a better grip on its arcadey nature and progression. The visuals, lighting, and best of all physics are all beefed up and the alien bashing is a blast. I often pause and stop to wonder how this was made by the same team responsible for Trine 1 and 2 and I'm left wondering what will be next for them. The one thing both have in common though is awesome settings and good designs that make them fun all while keeping the gameplay in its own fun state of careless enjoyment.
I'm left really wish that ShadowGrounds was kind of an FPS or third person shooter. The atmosphere, narrative, mechanics, and setting are all so perfect, but I guess the top down shooter is just a bit weird to me still. However its a fantastic game that I hope I continue playing. Its a shame its not earned the attention it has deserved, but the developers support it up until recent day (from troubleshooting to even steam cards) with a small community that considers this a rough gem. The boxart makes me laugh, but I kind of wish we did get more of this type of B-grade style shooter that just specialized on fun, crazy designs, and light horror plots that didn't take themselves so seriously so the player could just have some fun. Its a shooter, its not supposed to be some self-critical pretentious message, nor is it a hollywood blockbuster for your lame script events and bloated budget presentation. Games back in the era ShadowGrounds and before were in knew this, and honestly some things are best kept the same. I'm hoping I can doge any glitches and stick with these games, as ShadowGrounds has been quite fun and honestly something I've enjoyed more than my time with the more popular trine 2. I might also go back to alien breed and finish it. These are the kind of games you just sit back on a lazy morning, grab an energy drink, boots up and get to work on painting sci-fi industrial levels with alien blood. I wouldn't ask for much more for a common shooter, as this is a formula that delivers and never feels old.
Oh and to warn you guys ahead of time, I'm 90% certain the next game to get a now playing will be Dark Souls 2. Got the collector's edition on pre-order, and I'm super thrilled for it. While playing SG I'm trying to catch up on DS1 before the sequel launches, but I know I wont finish it for sure as its just a huge game and I'm stuck on both main profiles. Still I'll dive into DarkSouls 2 as its not too related to the first game for me to be required to finish the first, and you can expect an overexcited post on my first impressions sometime around its launch week.... if I can pull myself away enough to type it out. I'm just mostly keeping my fingers crossed that they fixed the stupid save lock so I can transfer my data instead of running two separate builds slowly beating the game.
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