I have been a huge fan of twin stick shooters for years. It doesn’t matter if you are mowing down zombies or shooting down spaceships. If the game is a twin stick, odds are I have played it, or it is on my list to start playing. Triangle Studios recently released It Came from Space and Ate Our Brains and it perfectly fits the twin stick genre.
Aliens have landed, and it is up to you to wipe them out. Work your way through multiple levels, slaughtering invaders as you go, and destroy the alien eggs hiding at the end of each level. Along the way, pick up deployable weapons, earn money, and buy / upgrade your weapon. You start with a simple pistol, but can buy a machine gun, shotgun, plasma gun, rocket launcher and laser. If you full upgrade a weapon, you will have a very powerful tool to use in your battle against the aliens.
Not interested in playing alone, not to worry – you can have up to 3 friends join you in local multiplayer. Play through the campaign or see if you can make it through each of the Survival levels. No matter how you play, you can easily pick your difficulty before you begin. From easy to insane, you can find the difficulty that will challenge or infuriate you.
While some games go overboard with design, but this one lives by the adage – less is more. The characters are blocky, as if pulled from Minecraft. Levels are streamlined and are very crisp. The obstacles around the environments are well placed and well executed. This means that you won’t get stuck on any corners or stray pixels. Lighting in the game reminds me of film noir. Dark and moody, but never so dim that you can’t find your way around. There was also attention paid to the soundscape. Footsteps sound different depending on the area you are traversing, and the further you get in the campaign the more ominous the music gets.
It Came from Space and Ate Our Brains is out now on most platforms. With a $15 price tag, the title may seem a bit pricey, but there are hours of fun to be had here. Solo or with friends, you will have tons of fun eradicating the alien threat. If you are a fan of twin stick shooters or are looking for a gateway game to the genre, this is one you should pick up.
