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  • Catharsis Factor: Being able to jump into an APC and man the turrets as you blast away encroaching xenomorphs in the wake of the first Alien Queen fight is seen by some as worth the price of admission by itself, as it was previously a gameplay setpiece that was normally reserved for the arcade adaptations of the various films.
  • Goddamned Bats: Both the rank-and-file "Alien Warrior" enemies and "Gorilla Alien" variant can run headlong into this, via their wonky AI programming. Due to the way the Warrior AI is scripted, it can make the decision to jump onto the ceiling just before you kill it, which not only comes across as bizarre due to "floating" up to the ceiling at an unnatural angle, but will often lead to it rushing behind you, dropping down and getting free quick hits before you've had time to react. The Gorilla Alien simply rushes the player, making most weapons completely-useless at close range and forcing the player to immediately pivot around (which doesn't help when it's rushing back-and-forth out of the player's sights), but it has a knockdown animation that takes out more health than the Warrior before you can shake it off with a Press X to Not Die prompt.
  • Most Wonderful Sound: Unlike Colonial Marines (which restricted the Smart Gun to a handful of pre-scripted sequences), the Smart Gun in Infestation is a permanent addition to the player's arsenal that retains its distinctive firing sound, has a massive clip (250 rounds per reload) and can be upgraded with to chainsaw anything in its wake. As such, it's not hard to burn through entire clips of Smart Gun ammo as you mow down enemies, particularly during the final fight.
  • Nintendo Hard: The game is very hard, possibly to invoke the Dwindling Party trope from the movies. You probably won't do an Everybody Lives run on your first go-'round.
  • No Problem with Licensed Games: The game is seen as worthwhile for Alien fans by those who played it.
  • Scrappy Mechanic:
    • Despite featuring 20 Marines with unique lines, backstories, animations and appearances, it is highly-unlikely the player will actually get to experience any of this optional content unless they're deliberately trying to fail the game. Several of the Marines are in out-of-the-way areas (and eventually become Permanently Missable Content after each mission), the Arbitrary Headcount Limit means that there's no way to recruit a Marine and switch to the optional ones on the fly (they will uniformly refuse to accompany the active player character due to wanting to wait for the rest of their fireteam, who are all likely dead), and the whole system is set up to be something the player will only take advantage of sparingly if at all, particularly if they're good enough to get the four starting Marines through the game unscathed. This occurs even in situations where the stranded optional Marines are in imminent danger (such as the imminent destruction of the Sulaco during the final act.)
    • Numerous side areas are filled with nothing but menial ammo/grenade pickups, even if they're located beside save areas where you can already refill your ammo, grenades, switch your weapon and/or your active Marine. It doesn't help that these menial pickups are accompanied by obstacle courses that are more likely to frustrate the player than inspire them to search for optional content, and it's not uncommon to see player complaints that they avoid these side vents and ladders completely.
  • The Un Twist: Oh, look! It's a high-ranking Weyland-Yutani executive who makes it perfectly clear that he has other motives for being on the Sulaco, is accompanied by guards who are packing heavy weaponry, and he warns the Player Character about not going near "the Cargo". Gee, maybe he's Obviously Evil?
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: It's pretty easy to mistake the congenial Kim for a Hollywood Pudgy gal.

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