Yes, that's a pair of eight-limbed alien drones coming at you. Any questions?
Aliens: Armageddon is a 2014 Light Gun Game developed by Play Mechanix and Raw Thrills, and is notably the third arcade shooter related to the Alien franchise.
Unlike the previous two games, Armageddon runs on an entirely different, original premise this time. The player(s), assuming the role of a Space Marine stationed aboard the research vessel Capella, has to deal with yet another alien outbreak, and this time the aliens successfully made it to Earth's surface when the Capella crashes in the middle of a major city. And kept aboard are enhanced breeds of the alien specimen, specifically engineered by Weyland-Yutani as bioweapons, too powerful to even contain. They soon spread through through the planet only leaving small population of humans fighting a desperate struggle for survival.
Compare and contrast Alien 3: The Gun and Aliens: Extermination, arcade shooters based on the same franchise. The three of these games forms a Thematic Series of sorts.
Sometimes named Alien: Covenant in some Dave and Busters to tie in with the then upcoming film (despite the game's plot having nothing to do with the movie).
Aliens: Armageddon contain examples of:
- Airborne Mooks: The flying facehuggers and winged drones make a comeback in this game, with the skies alive with these abominations.
- Alternate Universe: Doesn't follow any of the film's timelines and set its own story.
- Always Night: EVERY. SINGLE. LEVEL. takes place at night.
- Anti Frustration Feature: If you fail to stop the flying Xenomorph Queen's penultimate attack (which requires shooting down five spread-out weakpoints in an extremely tight time limit) and the shuttle gets destroyed, you fail the mission and have to go through most of the level again... but when she attempts this same attack again, you only have to shoot down three.
- Battle in the Rain: At least three of the levels have the players battling alien hordes while in the middle of heavy rain.
- Bittersweet Ending: Let's just say none of the game's endings involve reclaiming earth from the alien outbreak; in the best ending, you manage to destroy the Winged Alien Queen and allow the main evacuation shuttle to take off, saving hundreds of citizens. The downside is that you stay behind to so do, essentially sacrificing yourself.
- Don't Celebrate Just Yet: Once the evacuation shuttle is protected from the flying Xenomorph Queen, it takes off and its exhaust incinerates her. It seems that the player has accomplished their mission... and then the Queen rises up from the evacuation shuttle's pit to perform a Last Ditch Move. Fortunately, getting hit by this deals extremely weak damage, and shooting her head down will put her down for good.
- Downer Ending: In the worst ending, though? Failing to stop the Giant Flying Queen from damaging the evacuation shuttle, causing it to explode and killing hundreds and hundreds of citizens, leading to a screen with a neon-red YOU HAVE FAILED message. Luckily the game allows you to restart from there and try again since it's practically the end of the game.
- Elite Mooks: Brown Alien drones are stronger and deals greater damage than the common black drones. Also applies to the fast-moving Hexapedal Xenomorphs.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Basically the fate of Earth, after the alien outbreak spreads out of control. And there's nothing your character can do about it, except buy enough time for survivors to evacuate and leave the Earth's orbit.
- Giant Flyer: Winged alien drones are at least three times larger than humans, and you'll be battling entire swarms of them in the later levels. And that's not getting into the kaiju-sized Flying Xenomorph Queen.
- Giant Foot of Stomping: The kaiju-sized bosses, such as the Quadrupedal Xenomorph, Giant crested Xenomorph and Giant Flying Queen will try to stomp you flat, and you'll need to shoot at either their knees, shins, or foot (depending on indicators in the game) to cancel their attacks, or suffer massive damage.
- In the Final Boss battle, your unfortunate Commander ends up getting stomped by the Giant Flying Queen's foot, and in his dying throes, passes you his grenade launcher telling you to help the evacuation process before he succumbs.
- Giant Mook: There are colossal version of the usual alien varieties showing up in the game, including facehuggers and chestbursters the size of vehicles, as well as smaller versions of the Quadrupedal Xenomorph (but still towering above you).
- The Great Serpent: Due to Weiland-Yutani's experiments, there's now - among others - a type of xenomorph that looks like a humongous serpent capable of swallowing people whole.
- Grenade Launcher: One of the later Power-up weapons of the game, which can kill most enemies in a single hit. It's also the only weapon that can damage the Final Boss, the Winged Xenomorph Queen.
- Grievous Harm with a Body: The Giant Quadrupedal Xenomorph, appearing for the first time, flings an unfortunate drone into your direction. You'll need to shoot the drone before it hits you, or take damage.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Your characters opts to stay behind on the doomed Earth and stop the queen to allow the shuttle to escape.
- Kaiju: While there are giant-sized varieties of usual alien enemies, the bosses on the other hand are an entirely different matter, being the size of buildings.
- Kill It with Fire: No Alien-themed video game can be complete without flamethrowers.
- Mercy Mode: Fail to stop the Final Boss' penultimate attack and the mission fails, forcing you to do the final level and boss all over again... except this time, that same attack becomes far easier to stop, with only three closely-placed weakspots instead of five spread-out ones.
- More Dakka: The M56 Smartgun, whose firing rate are at least thrice the default M 41 A Pulse Rifle, and can shred enemies apart with ease.
- Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Hexapodal Xenomorphs have eight limbs, and are notably faster than the common alien drones.
- Redshirt Army: The Colonial Marines who accompany you basically exist to be slaughtered by alien drones, or impregnated by Facehuggers.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Shotguns can deal severe damage and blow entire limbs off enemies, and when used properly can take down alien drones with a handful of hits.
- Space Marine: It's a game from the Alien franchise. Once more you're a Colonial Marine, although you're battling the aliens on earth instead of space.
- Spike Shooter: Quadrupedal Xenomorphs can launch homing spikes on the player, which they must shoot to avoid damage.
- Swallowed Whole: The bosses, being the size of kaiju, kills a few unfortunate Marines by chomping them down, with a lengthy cutscene where you witness a fellow Marine getting swallowed (shouting all the way) by the Quadrupedal Xenomorph before the boss battle.
- Video Game Flamethrowers Suck: Generally averted, just like the two previous arcade shooters of the series. Flamethrowers can easily take down alien drones, and are especially useful in clearing an area of alien eggs and Facehuggers.
- Weaponized Exhaust: The final stages of battling the Winged Alien Queen, near the evacuation shuttle bound to leave Earth, where players need to deal enough damage before the Queen can destroy they shuttle. If they succeed, the Queen then collapses and ends up incinerated by the shuttle's exhaust.
- Zerg Rush: The standard MO used by the alien drones, Facehuggers and Chestbursters.
