Conveniently enough, one of the last remaining Winter Uprising games to make it out came out today and, let me tell you, this is a good’un!

Alpha Squad, by developer Dragon Divide, is a unique story-based twin stick shooter. I say unique because well, let’s face it, most twin stick shooters are relatively light on story, if they even have one at all. Alpha Squad plays as a sort of action adventure twin stick shooter which comes out to be a really nice combination.

The game starts out by allowing you to choose between four different characters, I don’t think it really matters which one you choose although each seems to have their own personality. From there you set off across the globe on various missions, being that you are mercenaries.

I guess the really unique part about the game is that it, seemingly offers a unique way to change and mold the story based on your interactions with NPCs in the game. I don’t know how it does this as I wasn’t able to play long enough via the trial, however, even in my limited play through I was able to get to points where the dialog seemingly got pretty advanced leading me to believe that this is actually a really deep game.

Additionally, the game comes with a host of online capabilities that allow you to play with friends in the story, or via an arena competitive match up. The game also supports a series of trophies you can earn throughout the game as bragging rights. Unofficial achievements, if you will.

Overall, there’s really nothing about Alpha Squad that isn’t great. This is a solid twin stick shooter for people who want more out of their twin stick shooters than simply milling around a small arena shooting unnamed enemies. This game has story, characters, unique settings, and a progressive styled trophy system. Really, this is almost like the twin stick shooter to end all twin stick shooters.

Alpha Squad is available right now via the Xbox :Live Indie Games channel for 240 MS points $3).

[Buy/Try]

Trailer