Dare you enter the Hive?
The Hive belongs to a much maligned genre of games but which is perhaps a bit harshly judged and for anyone who just enjoys a good blast with a cinematic twist, it deserves to be looked at. It's an on-rails shooter, a bit like Cyberia or Rebel Assault and while it is insanely hard, if you can handle the pace, you're in for a good time. There's some kind of fairly convoluted if a little nonsensical plot to enjoy here, but the main focus is on shooting stuff, plain and simple. You're taken through a series of pretty impressive and claustrophobic, Descent-style environments, with the overall goal of taking down everything you see, but the key thing here is that you have no control over your movement. You've got a good amount of freedom in terms of where you look, but your path is chosen for you, so if you like to explore, then this isn't for you. In between the action, there's some cool cinematics to enjoy but that's about it here in terms of content. If what you are looking for is simply a full-on blast-fest, where there's a seemingly never ending supply of aliens to kill, then this should be high on your wish list. The action comes at you fast and hard, perhaps a little too hard, and you can expect to die a lot, even if you are an old hand at this sort of thing. The visuals haven't dated too well, but still just about hold up, while the music and sound effects do things justice. The gameplay does get a little repetitive after a while, and the level design peters out towards the end, but for some good old-fashioned blasting with a real sting, this is fine stuff.
