Review by: Brandon "Flawipedia" Cackowski-Schnell

Aliens are here and they're everywhere! Finally, I'm not crazy! Aliens aren't actually here, they just look like they are when playing System Flaw which is entirely the point. The game combines the frantic shooter action of old school, arcade classics with the DSi's camera to provide an alien blasting experience that's as novel as it is repetitive.

System Flaw's basic premise is that aliens are here, they want to do some bad mojo and the only way you can see them is through the DSi's camera. Notice I said DSi as this game won't work on the original DS or the DS Lite. When playing the game you hold up the DSi and the aliens you're tasked with blasting show up on screen as if they're floating in the real world. As the xenomorph menace continues to assault you, turning your body will shift yourself in reference to your radar so that you can take on enemies behind you.

As simple as the camera integration sounds, it's surprisingly effective in drawing you into the game. The aliens are fairly simple in their design however seeing them floating around your kitchen will have you backing away from them as you frantically mash on the shoulder button to dispatch them before you swing around and start leading your shots to the ones flying across the dining room. Turning around to find enemies behind you never gets old and makes you feel as if the aliens are actually attacking from all directions.

As you shoot down enemies they'll drop health cannisters as well as cannisters that allow you to supercharge or change up your weapons. During the lengthier stages it becomes crucial to hold off on shooting the cannisters until you need them making it even more frantic as you whirl around shooting aliens while trying not to use up an energy boost or health recharge when you don't need it.

The enemies are all well designed if not somewhat simple. It would have been nice to see more than ten enemies spread out over the game's 100 stages but the enemies do show some variation in their attacks, causing you to prioritize your targets as the screen fills up with baddies. If you want to take some time to learn about the beings you're mercilessly vaporizing you can check out the game's Flawipedia which details each of the enemies found. Those looking for the most frantic experience possible can skip the "story" missions entirely place it on survival mode and see how long they last.

As with most shooters of this kind, the biggest enemy is repetition. The game mixes up the stages between stages where you'll have to shoot down x number of beasties with ones where you just have to survive for a set amount of time, but at the game's core, there's just shooting, shooting and more shooting. Sure you can try physically moving yourself to a new location to vary up the environment, but the core gameplay doesn't change. Also, the chief selling point, namely the camera integration, can be somewhat of a negative if you mostly play DS games on the go as it's probably not wise to be seen in public spinning around and ranting about invisible alien attackers.

Still though, even with these dings the game is enjoyable as a ten minutes here or fifteen minutes there experience. It doesn't hold up well over long stretches of gaming, but that doesn't mean it should be avoided completely. The technology is interesting enough in and of itself to warrant a look and if it means that you finally get to clear out all of those aliens in your bathroom, then even better. Just be careful when spinning around, that sink can be murder.