It's not very often I come across a shooter game that I get totally bored of within 2 minutes, but this is one of those times. Back to Earth 2 is the sequel to a rather simplistic space shooter published by Alawar in 2004. The apparent main selling point of this game, is that it has a 'slow motion' effect, that is meant to feel something like the Martix's 'bullet time'. This is a nice effect, and would be a good addition to good game, however this effect is the ONLY good thing about the Back to Earth series.

Back to Earth is essentially a top down vertical shooter, in which you blast enemies with some machine guns. In the game there are 3 basic types of level. The first is the asteroid level, you just blast lots of asteroids. This asteroid level lasts way too long, as it extremly repetitive. But, to add insult to injury, you repeat this level THREE TIMES before you even see any enemies!?!?! The next type of level is one where you actually face some enemies, hurrah! But these enemies are all the same, they all have the same weapons, and they all just move in a random straight line across the screen, constantly firing. As you progress, you will have to face more of these enemies at once, and there will asteroids in the fray too. Finally at the end of this constant repetitive fighting you get to face a boss. As boss which simply fires the same old machine guns all the other enemies had. He is bigger, and looks different, but he is just a souped up version of the standard enemies. Nope you won't find any memorable attack patterns to look out for here. And thats the entire range of game play you will get from Back to Earth. This format is repeated for all 5 of the episodes you get in the full version. Yes some of the enemies look different, but they are all the same!

Now would be a good time to mention that Back to Earth 2, is literally the same shooter game as Back to Eath 1. Many people have said that Xeno Assault 2 is just the same game as Xeno Assault 1, this is true to an extent, it is the same basic game play, but we changed and added a lot of new features and graphics. But Back to Earth 2 is the EXACT same game as #1. All the enemies, powerups, levels and bosses are the same. The only difference between the two is that some of the ships look different. I was going to review both games seperately, but there is no point, as my opinion is exactly the same for both of them.

I find it impossible to like either of these games, they are repetitive, boring, and have almost no game play. Don't buy Back to Earth, 1 or 2, it will ruin your day. Instead get our Galaga Game - Xeno Assault II :-D

Score: 3/10
You can find Back to Earth 2 at www.alawar.com