Controls are simple and effective- The analog stick steers your tank, A is the trigger button for missiles, while B controls your sub weapon, and the back trigger buttons move the base of your tank from side to side. When you are in range of an enemy, your will be automatically locked on and ready to fire. Weapon upgrades are sparsely located around each level at your disposal as well as health pickups, ala Twisted Metal.

After choosing which side you’re on (Human’s with tanks or Alien’s with hovercrafts), you have a choice of three vehicles with varying stats- A light-armored, faster vehicle, a medium, balanced one, and a heavily armored beast. It adds a little balance and makes online teams use some strategy, but even the light tanks move very sluggishly. Twisted Metal: Black, this is certainly not. If you have a need for fast, frantic action, without a doubt, you will be frustrated by the lethargic pace.

With slower vehicles, it’s essential to protect your teammates online, especially in capture the flag games. Alien Front Online is more about protecting your team than it is flying around huge levels avoiding flying missiles. In actuality, the levels are very small and cramped when battling it out with 7 others players online. Overall, the levels are nicely designed, but things get a little too hectic in a few of the smaller stages. On average, they are about one fifth of the size of Twisted Metal Black levels.

The amazing real-time online chat is almost reason enough to shell out the $30 for Alien Front Online. With a push of the Y button, you can choose to talk smack with the other team, or strategy with your own team over the microphone (which is included free, by the way). Planting a missile from behind an unsuspecting player, and then getting to talk smack about it escalates the experience of playing online ten-fold. If only more online games supported this function. On a side note, every once and a while, the chat function is broken up with static, but this is a rarity.

There has been an outcry from disgruntled gamers over the lack of support of the Broadband Adapter. However, even over Free ISPs, Alien Front Online runs extremely smooth online. Lag is very rare, and never seems to effect gameplay, because of the lock-on system. AFO rivals the likes of Phantasy Star Online for the smoothest, lag-free online experience out there.

What I didn’t appreciate was the lack of a chat lobby online. Actually getting online is fast and easy, but getting into a game or meeting up with a friend can be frustrating. You are presented with two lobbies, representing your side of the war, with lists of the game type, number of players, and such, but finding someone you know is left to chance; or, if you want to search every one of around 30 different servers for someone you know.

There are three modes of play- Deathmatch, which is extremely straightforward, Capture the Flag, where teams need to be the first to hold onto the flag for a total of 150 seconds, and Fortress, in which one team tries to take over the other’s base. Deathmatch is extremely monotonous, and is just an accessory with such small levels, but Fortress and Capture the Flag work a lot better with the team-play theme. Strangely enough, Deathmatch seems to be the favorite mode online so far.

The offline mode is fairly dull and straightforward. The arcade mode may put you to sleep, but the challenging campaign mode sports over twenty different missions and features different scenarios. If you don’t have online connectivity, AFO is a rental at the very best.

The simple gameplay may bore some trigger-happy gamers to death, but I would recommend anyone who loves online games to pick Alien Front Online up for 30 bucks. The real-time chat feature practically makes the game. There’s room for much more depth, but AFO is a great pick-up and play shooter, or 7-day rental. Flat offline modes, average control, and the lack of multi-player modes offline bring the score of an otherwise fun arcade game down. Dropping nuclear bombs on loud-mouthed punks is fun for the whole family.