Beat on hardest and middle difficulties concurrently. I started on the hardest and barely made it past the first level with 30% health. I failed to get past the next level due to lack of shotgun ammo. I tried a few times and probably could have done it after learning the entire level, but it was around this point that I realized the enemies were respawning. I looked it up online and discovered some useful info: that crates could be destroyed for supplies and that enemies were invincible during their hurt animation, so it was key to control fire rate so as to not waste ammo. I played each level blind on middle mode, then immediately after followed a walkthrough to beat the level on hardest. It was an interesting difference. On one hand my middle playthrough was easier because the enemies did not respawn, but I also did not find every secret and did not do optimal routes through the rearming levels. One level in episode 3 gave me trouble as I failed it multiple times due to lack of mission progression, which was because of stupid point of no return level design. Other levels had similar points of no return that prevented backtracking for loot, and more than once prevented beating the level if I did not explore enough prior. I also died a few times due to combat and hazards in the later levels. I did not fail or die at all on the hardest difficulty though because I knew exactly where every enemy, hazard, loot and point of no return was. My ammo stocks were a little lower due to having to kill more enemies, but my health and armor were in much better shape. The hardest mode was more about planning the optimal route through each level to best use available supplies while minimizing backtracking and thus respawns. Unlike Doom Nightmare mode, the enemies here only respawned after moving a decent distance away. This allowed a slower more cautious approach with significant survival horror feel, especially when playing blind and not realizing they respawned.
The main menu was a little annoying because pressing start immediately began the first level which then required quitting to the menu. Since there was no load option outside the main menu, I had to go there after each level and several times accidentally started a new game. The controls were mostly good, though as usual I had to rebind a few buttons due to the PSP lacking L2 and R2. R2 was run while X was switch weapon, so I swapped them. Switching weapons was not important at all because it could be done in the pause menu. L2 was for looking up and down but it took me quite a while to figure out how to look up; it was L2 + triangle. Looking down was easy because I had L2 bound to analog stick up and down while X was stick right, so I often looked down while weapon switching. Overall I hardly bothered with looking because the smart gun completely negated the need to aim for the very few times enemies were at different elevations. Other than those small elevation differences the game played like Doom. Moving backwards and strafing slowed movement speed significantly, and turn speed was slower than enemies moved. This was an interesting design that enhanced the survival horror feel. The alien enemies zig zagged around to approach from the flanks and try to get behind while most guns were not hit scan and required some leading of shots. These features lead to a lot of panic firing and misses. The aliens were very difficult to fight in the open or at close range, and it was a damn good thing that armor reduced hp damage by 100%. It was odd how many humans and synthetics with guns were mixed in and how they didn't in fight at all. Still they helped with the enemy variety.
The 9mm pistol was almost useless for combat. It could take out facehuggers decently enough if they were not already too close but took like 1 or 2 solid minutes of kiting back and forth to take out the weakest xenos in episode 1; totally not worth it. I used most of my pistol ammo to destroy crates, open the few dumb doors that only opened after taking enough damage, and to kill eggs. It did have infinite ammo when all other weapons were out, for all the good that could do. The shotgun was the only hit scan gun as far as I could tell; as long as the gun and enemy were lined up it would be a hit. It was excellent for facehuggers and chest bursters, and decent against xenos. It especially shined in episode 3 against the fastest xenos that were difficult to hit. The flamethrower was the best close range weapon, able to fire fully automatic and hit a decent sized area with the flame. It was the best for facehuggers and chest bursters, especially when there were multiple. It could also handle multiple xenos at close range by chain stunning them into the hurt state thus somewhat negating their speed. I reduced its fire rate by tapping the button instead of holding it down. The flaws with this gun were lower damage and ammo capacity, so while it was great while it lasted it did not last that long. The pulse rifle did a lot of damage, had huge ammo capacity and came with the very powerful grenade launcher, but like the pistol its bullets appeared on screen and would only hit moving targets if the shot was led. It was good at sniping stationary or slower targets down narrow hallways but struggled at very close range with fast enemies flanking. It was even worse on the hardest mode because the tracer bullets were not visible at all. It fired in a respectable burst and was quite efficient but I found I wasted a lot of ammo and took hits when xenos got close. The grenades were useful to thin out groups and for preventing respawning on the hardest mode. I did that in areas where I knew I had to backtrack. Seismic charges were the "grenade" for every other weapon. Compared to grenades many more could be carried but they were much slower, likely to miss moving targets. I mostly used then to blow open walls, hit enemies that could not reach me, and I unloaded my entire stock on the final boss. The smart gun was the best weapon by far, combining the capacity and damage of the pulse rifle with sweet auto aim. As long as an enemy was on screen it would be hit by bullets. It was the best for large groups, ceiling crawlers, fast xenos, and enemies at lower elevation. I finished the final boss with it, which was not at all necessary. The 3 queen bosses were very disappointing because they were identical. No ranged attacks, no minions, no environmental hazards, nothing to make the fights different. Uninspired.
The levels were detailed enough to be realistic locations, and the dark spooky atmosphere paid great tribute to the movies, but the game was no where close to the best shooters of the time. The enemy pathing, slow turning and slow bullets at least gave a more unique play experience, but I think I would rather play Doom with Alien mods.
7.0/10
