Alien: Rogue Incursion Part One – Evolved Edition | Review
It's a boring hunt, man! A boring hunt!
Alien: Rogue Incursion Part One – Evolved Edition brings the formerly VR-only title to the flat screen. Developer Survios has done an admirable job replicating the immersive experience on consoles. Playing through this game again on Xbox, I realized something: VR games made flat are pretty boring.
I have a full, longer review of the VR game from back when it launched that you can find here. This review will focus on the port to Xbox, where I played through the game again on standard difficulty before bumping it up a bit. You are Zula, and this game essentially takes place in the Alien: Isolation universe, as Amanda Ripley gets name-dropped.
You and your synth pal visit a facility overrun by xenomorphs as you attempt to save an old friend. Rogue Incursion’s first part, which only became a first part with a surprise launch announcement, is a first-person shooter. Survios has shifted all previous VR-only 3D-controlled interactions into simple trigger holds. It works well in practice, and becomes boring almost immediately.
You see the bones of a VR title at all times, as the game’s difficulty comes in the physical movements required to play it. Reloading becomes a button press, and aiming is a simple swipe of a stick, making encounters that were already tedious in VR that much more of a slog. This game is more Aliens than Alien, which means the combat feels like shooting hot lead through tissue paper.
The Xenomorphs are simply not scary. They pop up in set patterns at set intervals and soak up a handful of bullets before falling backwards and disappearing into a pile of acid. Zula will have a revolver, assault rifle, and shotgun throughout the game’s 5 or so hours.
Mechanics like carrying items or using a welding torch are awkward and stiff in this version. It was a game made to take advantage of the VR medium. Moving through 3D space with controllers tracked in real time made reloading or placing items more difficult, adding to the tension.
In this flat version, everything is automated, with either the press of a button or alternating holds of the triggers. Never once did I feel any tension on normal difficulty as I wasted alien after alien with barely a flick of my fingers. At least it’s decent to look at.
The game runs well on Xbox Series X. It makes sense as VR titles aim for high framerates in two eyes at once, so the base game isn’t overly complex to render. Performance never wavered from a sixty fps target. The resolution and upscaling tech could be a bit muddy at times. It gave a mostly clean image when indoors, at least.
The audio is the same as the VR title, with most of the changes coming to the control systems. Voice acting is decent enough, with sound effects and music reminiscent of the franchise’s more colonial marines-focused entries.
Everything ran smoothly and never broke. Rogue Incursion has gotten solid support post-launch on PC. It seems like all of that has transferred over into a stable and boring experience. It simply isn’t fun to hold a single button as a replacement for what used to be complex VR interactions.
Wrapping Things Up
Alien: Rogue Incursion Part One – Evolved Edition’s name is nearly as long as its runtime on console. I was able to clear the entire game in roughly 3 hours, though I knew where to go and what to do after having played it once in VR. Without that immersive interactivity, what was already a mediocre title is made that much worse.
Aliens: Rogue Incursion Part One - Evolved Edition
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Makes the game playable for more people
- Looks decent and runs well
- IP faithful audio effects
CONS
- VR interactions on a console controller are boring
- Short runtime
- The store listing on Xbox doesn't even say 'part one'
