Alien Breed: Impact reviewed on PlayStation 3 by Adam Hall. Game supplied for review by Team 17.

Irrespective of Alien Breed: Impact's reception, Team17 undoubtedly deserves a degree of respect for what can only be described as a humbling act of amends. When Alien Breed: Evolution undershot its target back in December last year, rather than calling it a lesson learned and moving on, the team endeavoured to actively correct the game's shortcomings in an effort to bring it more in line with the expectations of fans of the Amiga classic. Impact is the product.

Fundamentally, Impact doesn't mess that much with the formula: it's still a semi-isometric shooter set aboard a dilapidated spaceship that has collided with another and subsequently become infested with swarms of blood-thirsty aliens; it still requires you to cut through these ravenous throngs with an assortment of weaponry; and it's still segmented with endless keycard hunts and button pushes.

What brings it up to speed with its retro predecessor is down to a couple of additions, most notably the inclusion of Intex vending machines. As opposed to their traditional purpose of providing the player with a source of new weaponry, these reasonably-spread techno-canteens now provide shockingly expensive upgrades as well as ammo and save points, leaving the expansion of your arsenal in the hands of seemingly random drops and floor-scores. Additionally, in a world where greys and browns are the quintessential style choice for every future interior designer, Team 17 has tweaked the appearances of the aliens in the interest of making each type easily distinguishable from the others.

This is quantifiable growth, no doubt, and the inclusion of these two relatively simple features makes Impact the superior game. But in spite of them, what you get out of Impact is dependant entirely on what you expect from it. Vending machines limit the disparity between the classic and the reboot, but that only serves to highlight the fact that what you're playing has absolutely no new ideas; you are there to kill everything, occasionally opening the doors and putting out the fires that separate you from the next thing to kill. If you understand that though, Impact can be a blast.

Because when it comes to production values and brainless shooting, it's quite the achiever. Unreal Engine 3 is still pumping out the polygons that dazzle, and it's put to good use in creating a detailed and believable futuristic environment, handled effortlessly by the PS3. Crisp textures and wispy particle effects certainly improve the experience of shooting wave after wave of enemies in the face, and perhaps ever more so when you inevitably become stuck for where to go.

A little extra fun can be had with co-op, but the four-mission-long side-campaign is marred somewhat, firstly by not being the main campaign and secondly due to unpredictable variations in difficulty, a lack of save points and criminally understocked vending machines, holding only two small health kits, each of which stick obediently to the definition of 'small'.

Besides that, across all play modes there are some niggles like sluggish menus and one of those mini-maps that shows only icons, with the real map tucked away in a Select menu, but they're not exactly deal-breakers. Yes, the game is repetitive, but it's also designed for the pick-up-and-play mentality, meaning quick blasts of action are where it excels. If you go in knowing that, you should emerge with a smile.

_{Alien Breed: Impact is available now for PlayStation 3 via PSN}