Alien Shooter was one of the most talked about and enjoyed games of 2003. While we are all eagerly awaiting the amazing looking sequel Alien Shooter 2, Sigma Team hasn't been content to create just one sequel. Instead they have been hard at work creating another character in the Alien Shooter series in their soon to be released Theseus - Return of the Hero.

I was happy to get a chance to play all the way through this nearly completed game and am here to give you a little sampling of what lies in store for you as we return to what is becoming one of the best series in independent gaming.

Theseus departs from Alien Shooter in a couple of ways. First off, the game is set in America, and the music lets you know it right away. The sound-track holds close to the theme of guitar heavy riffs found in Alien Shooter while adding a distinctively American sounding track at the main menu that lends itself to creating a different feel from the first moment that you start up the game. The main character, Theseus, is a war hero and comes across as Rambo with a shaved head instead of the more special ops looking characters from Alien Shooter.

The graphics, while clearly built on the same engine as Alien Shooter, also moves outside the laboratories in Alien Shooter and its two expansion packs to the great outdoors. The outdoor environments include environmental effects such as night-time and rain, both of which bring new character to the game. However, for me I found some difficulty distinguishing all the action happening on the screen from the backdrops, making it a little difficult to navigate through many of the outdoor areas.

For those who craved the indoor environments found in the original, you’ll be happy to see the last couple of levels of Theseus where the game heads back indoors and actually takes on a more of a horror theme, leading up to an impossible confrontation with a huge boss. Playing your way to the last levels is definitely worth the time spent as I found the last levels to be some of the best in the game.

Game play remains mostly unchanged from Alien Shooter in Theseus. The endless throngs of enemies fits well with the Rambo-styled theme, and the game remains a blast everything to survive game. New game play elements have been added with rescue missions and a more sequential story leading to an ultimate conclusion, but at its heart this is still a blast-em or be blasted game. Notably there are several elements in the version we got to play that point to an expanded story being added, so we’re excited to see what things may be added to the game before it is released.
One of the best parts of the original Alien Shooter was the many weapons. One of my biggest disappointments in the expansion packs was the lack of any new weapons. Theseus takes on that challenge and replaces many of the weapons with new guns that wreck total destruction on their targets, including the new Ion Cannon. Speaking of targets, you’ll quickly find that you can blast at more than aliens as there are animal carcasses littered all over the initial levels, half-eaten and ready to be blasted.

My personal favorite moment of Alien Shooter, and the thing that I think leads most people to purchase the game was the turret gun. Clearly Sigma Team agreed with the sentiment and you'll find some cool stationary guns in the game including a mounted machine gun and an abandoned tank.

Overall Theseus is looking like a solid addition to the Alien Shooter series. The release date has been pushed a couple of times, but currently it appears that the game should see the light of day just in time to steal away some of you Christmas cash this year.