Allow me to say first that I have not seen the movie Aliens in the Attic, and also that I will be writing this review for parents who are looking to buy a game for their children, as I doubt any child of the age group for this movie or game will be interested in perusing reviews on websites to weigh the pros and cons of the game before buying it. So, let’s begin.

 

Aliens in the Attic is based off of the 2009 movie of the same name, which apparently involves a group of children fighting aliens who have invaded their house from the titular attic. A showing of the movie would probably be helpful in understanding all of the backstory here, as the game does not do nearly enough plot development, which is to be expected for a movie-to-game transition; the game almost comes to rely on the assumption that you’ve seen the movie in terms of plot. It is likely that kids who receive this game without seeing the movie will get what in the heck is going on.

 

Surprisingly enough, the game itself is fairly good, and will seem great to its target audience. The DS iteration is a romp through a 2D-sidescrolling world. Oddly enough, it draws heavily from the Metal Slug series in that your primary weapons throughout the game are an assault rifle (which is passed off as an “automatic slingshot”) and grenades. Enemies individually don’t take much to kill, and consist of mechanical spiders and UFOs as opposed to Metal Slug’s soldiers, and the bosses are fairly easy, whereas Metal Slug’s could get pretty tough on occasion.

 

 

The game allows you to switch between the three main characters – Tom, the obligatory nerd responsible for the weapon customization (more on that later); Jake, the obligatory tough guy who can push heavy objects; and Hannah, a tiny young girl who can inexplicably jump higher than two adolescent boys. Tom’s skills advance the story in a way, and Jake and Hannah use their trademark skills in the platforming levels, which blend fairly well with the action. Thankfully, the touch screen is only a necessity here when you want to switch weapons. Aiming has smartly been tasked to the D-pad along with movement, and is done well – something that touch-happy, overly-‘innovative’ developers fail to do very often. For trickier opponents, you may wish to use the touch screen and finger to aim, but it never becomes a necessity.

 

As I said above, the game has a small customization element by which rescuing trapped people can give you household items that you can fuse to your guns to upgrade them. It’s not scientifically logical at all, but works in the context of a children’s game. The touch screen is used here as well, but the upgrading takes place in a menu, so it does not interrupt the flow of gameplay. All-around, I was impressed with how well this game blends its multiple elements in a way that is proportionate to some of the best genre-mixers on actual consoles.

 

 

While the game doesn’t do an excellent job of getting its story across, this game will surely satiate any kid who wanting to extend his or her time with Aliens in the Attic. The game is surprisingly slick and, with a bit of prior knowledge, is an good outing for any kid who has seen this movie.