I haven’t gone out on a limb and purchased a game I don’t know much about for quite some time. Back when I first got into games, I didn’t know anything about ratings or which developers could be relied upon to serve up a good experience. Luckily, I managed to stumble upon a couple of classics in my early days that cemented my fate as a seedy basement-dwelling keyboard commando. Or something like that.

A few burns and some money wasted on crushing disappointments taught me to be a bit more careful with my purchases (I’ll never get those hours back from Mystery of the Nautilus …).

On the flip side, though, I’m quite certain I’ve missed out on a few gems. If Steam hadn’t put all of Strategy First’s games on sale, I probably would have missed Alien Shooter as well. It’s a low budget B-movie sort of game with graphics from ten years ago and a story as generic and cliche as they come, and it’s precisely because of those anathemic attributes that it succeeds so brilliantly.

To enjoy Alien Shooter: Vengeance, you have to know a bit of what to expect. The label ‘cult hit’ should get you on the right track. This is not a triple A blockbuster event. Developed by The Sigma Team (who also created the original Alien Shooter), this is barely more than an indie title. But it rises above its many pitfalls for the same reason cheesy B-movie sci-fi flicks do — it’s completely self-aware and totally unashamed of itself. AS:V knows it’s not a genre shaker, and instead of wallowing in pathetic failure it instead revels in it.

The voice acting is so over the top cheesy it’s impossible not to laugh (think Command and Conquer with lower production values); the gameplay is rough but doesn’t get in the way of anything, and the RPG elements serve their purpose well enough; the action is totally, utterly ridiculous and is easily the game’s most endearing facet.

It may be difficult to appreciate if you haven’t played the game, but mowing down a seething horde of alien scum by the hundreds as they fill your screen with their pixely vileness is maddeningly fun and hysterical in the way that Monty Python manages to be. After clearing a level it can sometimes be impossible to find a texture that hasn’t been streaked red or stacked high with the bodies of xenoscum. While admittedly horrendously violent, it’s the kind of violence that is accomplished with such low-grade visuals and in utterly unbelievable volume that it completely forgets to be horrific and skips immediately to being pure roflcopters.

Truth be told, it’s not a game for everyone. There is a certain amount of language, and the over-the-top violence won’t appeal to some. And of course there are those who just don’t enjoy B-games. It’s a pity.

If you have Steam, check out Alien Shooter: Vengeance. It’s a lighthearted slap in the face to the science-fiction genre, and a kick to play through. Love it or hate it, let me know what you think.

Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.