Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Enemy Infestation delivers a tense and tactical real-time tactics (RTT) experience that challenges players to think on their feet. Drawing clear inspiration from classics like Gender Wars and Commandos, the game places you in command of a small, customizable squad tasked with repelling an otherworldly invasion. Mission objectives vary from all-out assaults on alien nests to stealthy rescue operations where every colonist’s life hangs by a thread. This variety keeps engagements fresh and forces you to adapt your strategy on the fly.

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The isometric perspective pays dividends in clarity, letting you survey the battlefield and plan squad movements precisely. You’ll learn to leverage cover, line-of-sight, and chokepoints as you navigate derelict outposts, colony centers, and alien-infested caverns. The core loop—scouting, planning, executing, and then adapting to unexpected reinforcements—feels rewarding, especially when split-second decisions lead to a hard-fought victory. Units are fragile, and mistakes are costly, which adds weight to each tactical choice.

Squad customization is at the heart of the gameplay. Between missions, you can re-equip your team with weapons ranging from rapid-fire laser rifles to high-yield missile launchers. Each weapon type introduces unique trade-offs in damage, rate of fire, and ammo capacity, encouraging you to tailor your roster to mission demands. Upgrades extend beyond firepower, allowing you to install armor plating, sensor modules, or sprint boosters, which can turn the tide when your squad is outnumbered.

Multiplayer elevates the experience further, supporting up to four players over LAN or the Internet. Whether you’re coordinating synchronized strikes in co-op mode or testing your tactics against human opponents, the added unpredictability of human teammates or adversaries injects fresh excitement. Enemy Infestation’s matchmaking is straightforward, and host migration ensures that dropping connections don’t derail your session.

Graphics

Enemy Infestation’s graphics capture the gritty sci-fi aesthetic of the 24th century with surprising detail. The isometric viewpoint evokes memories of Diablo and Crusader: No Remorse, but the game carves out its own identity with clean, high-contrast color palettes and modular map tiles. Indoor colonist habitats feature flickering lights, malfunctioning consoles, and scattered debris, while alien lairs are defined by bioluminescent fungal growths and pulsating organic structures.

Character and alien models are well-animated, with each squad member boasting distinguishable armor designs and weapon effects. Laser bursts sizzle through the air, and missile explosions leave scorch marks that persist until the level resets. Environmental effects—smoke, sparks, and dynamic lighting—heighten immersion, especially when combined with the game’s ambient soundscape of distant alarms and alien screeches.

The user interface is functional and unobtrusive. Hotkeys, radial menus, and context-sensitive commands streamline squad orders without obscuring the battlefield. Health bars, ammo counters, and mission objectives are neatly integrated into the HUD, ensuring that you can assess your situation at a glance. Loading times between maps are minimal, maintaining the game’s brisk pacing.

While not pushing the limits of 24th-century sci-fi visuals, Enemy Infestation’s art direction remains cohesive and polished. The attention to environmental detail—rust patterns on corridor walls, flickering holoprojectors, and the shifting shadows cast by your squad’s flashlights—contributes to a consistently tense atmosphere across all maps.

Story

Set in the 24th century, Enemy Infestation opens as peaceful colonies fall under a sudden, overwhelming alien onslaught. These invaders, far from mindless killers, seek to preserve their species at any cost. This morally ambiguous premise drives the narrative, blurring lines between heroism and desperation as colonists and marines alike grapple with the existential threat.

Storytelling unfolds primarily through mission briefings, in-field radio chatter, and scattered data logs discovered in the environment. While there are no fully voiced cutscenes, the writing effectively conveys the stakes: every transmission crackles with urgency, every dossier entry reveals the aliens’ biology or tactics, and every survivor’s message reminds you of the human cost. This fragmented approach to storytelling can feel understated, but it encourages deeper engagement as you piece together the larger narrative.

Character development is subtle but present. Your squad members begin as generic troopers, but as the campaign progresses, you unlock customization options that hint at their backgrounds—specialist weapons, unique armor trims, and personal radio quips that activate under duress. These touches foster attachment to individual marines, making each loss or triumph feel more personal.

Although Enemy Infestation doesn’t reinvent sci-fi plots, it weaves familiar tropes into an effective and coherent campaign. The tension between preserving colonist lives and neutralizing alien threats creates a steady moral undercurrent, elevating the missions beyond mere kill-and-clear scenarios.

Overall Experience

Enemy Infestation succeeds as a modern homage to classic squad-based tactics games. The core loop of planning, action, and adaptation remains compelling throughout the campaign’s 20-plus missions. Difficulty ramps at a steady pace, ensuring that veteran RTT players find constant challenges while newcomers have room to learn without feeling overwhelmed.

Multiplayer co-op is where the title truly shines. Coordinating with friends to orchestrate flanking maneuvers or simultaneous breaches adds a layer of camaraderie that the single-player can’t replicate. Competitive skirmishes can also be arranged quickly, thanks to intuitive lobby creation and stable network performance.

Performance is rock-solid on mid-range hardware, with few hiccups even when multiple explosion effects overlap. The sound design—ambient drones, distant rumbling, weapon sizzles—complements the visuals to underscore the high stakes of each mission. Occasional pathfinding quirks or AI hesitations occur, but they’re rare enough not to disrupt immersion significantly.

For fans of tactical, squad-based shooters with sci-fi flair, Enemy Infestation offers hours of strategic gameplay, a moody graphical presentation, and a narrative that, while familiar, keeps you invested. Whether you’re tackling the campaign solo or firefighting with friends online, this title delivers a satisfying blend of action and strategy.

Retro Replay Score

7.2/10