A top down twin-stick shooter, It came from space and ate our brains offers some mindless action-based entertainment for a couple hours if you have a couple local buddies that can tag along. It isn’t anything that has not been done before but isn’t a bad way to spend the $15 asking price if you enjoy co-op shooters.

With blocky Minecraft-like graphics complete with neon flare, the visuals don’t exactly do the game any favors especially since set pieces in the environment repeat throughout the six campaign levels. The enemies, which repeat to a point of boredom and annoyance, are brightly colored and stand out against the dimly lit environments. The lack of any sort of detail makes the entire experience repetitive by the end of the first stage.

Navigating through each area feels like Left4Dead only as a twin-sticker instead of a FPS.  Enemies will spawn from everywhere, often from just off screen which results in cheap hits, and the player can find temporary salvation in small safe houses, aka checkpoints. Along the way, players will collect coins that can be used to upgrade weaponry. The starting pistol will be the main go-to for most of the campaign as the other weapons, although powerful, run out of ammo almost instantly. Mines and turrets can also be found randomly throughout each stage but the player can only hold one item at a time. When playing solo, this becomes frustrating because you know you are going to need that health pack but also will need the help of that extra firepower. Although there are different difficulty settings, the game has no mercy for solo players. The gauntlet at the end of stage, which involves shooting a ton of bullets into an alien egg while holding off an army of incoming aliens with a pistol, is pretty brutal when going alone. Fighting on stairs is also cheap since your character can never aim down. The player hit boxes are also bigger than they should be.

The controller interface also takes some adjusting. So much so that an instant upgrade prompt will inform the player when an upgrade can be made mid-battle but only on the weapon currently in use. Cycling between the weaponry involves pulling up a circular dial and choosing something, a process that takes too much time when you are trying to fight the horde. It is also worth mentioning that each of the half dozen stages are completely independent of one another; there is no cohesive story that links them all together. There is also a survival mode but it carries steep difficulty.

If you have grown tired of Gauntlet and the Lara Croft titles, It came from space and ate our brains is worth a shot if you are looking for that mindless action game to play when you come home exhausted from work. It is nothing special and there are better options out there but at least it is a serviceable if you can drag a family member or two along for the ride.

Also available on PC, PS4, and Switch.

Not As Good As: you hoped

Also Try: the co-op mode in Robotron on Xbox 360 Arcade

Wait For It: a new Gauntlet on Switch

By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com

Twitter: @ZackGaz