Alien Movie Games

[classicgamer74]

 

I hope everyone is enjoying Super Bowl Sunday. In my latest episode I discuss games based on the Alien movie franchise. I discuss Alien for the 2600, Aliens the computer game (for C64...by the way, does anyone know why this wasn't made for PC?), Aliens the arcade game, Alien 3 for NES, and a great homebrew called Apollyon.

 

I enjoyed the movies a lot (except 3), and I thought that they were perfect for game tie-ins, like Star Wars and Star Trek. Let me know your opinions on these games, and don't forget to vote for the Atari Awards.

Edited February 3, 2019 by classicgamer74

[Mulletino]

I remember as a kid never being able to understand why there were two different Aliens games on the C64. I thought Alien Trilogy on the PlayStation was a mighty fine game with heaps of atmosphere.

[classicgamer74]

I think the other Aliens game was ignored because the Activision game was so great. Even when it was released for Apple it was something that hadn't been seen before. I remember going to a friend's house and playing it a lot there because my parents wouldn't buy me a C64. They said it was only for games.

 

Did you ever play the Alien game for C64? I wasn't too crazy about it but part of that might be because I discovered it "after" I played Aliens, so...

[high voltage]

The 'British' Alien games (2 of them) were made for C64 computers in UK. Electric Dreams Aliens was a forerunner of survival horror games...kinda.

 

Argus Press: Electric Dreams:

 

Activisions Aliens was the best after the 2600 game.

Edited February 4, 2019 by high voltage

[youxia]

I'm an early (1-3) Alien fanatic and I believe I played most of the titles in this franchise across all the formats. To be honest the only ones I rate to this day are the arcade one and the Argus's Alien, which is totally awesome and underrated. The rest is at best okay-ish/passable, or totally dull and forgettable (like the Alien 3 games).

 

The best one is probably Alien: Isolation, but that's a modern affair. AliensRL - a roguelike - is also very good, if you like this kind of stuff.

 

Now I see I've missed the Alien "turn based strategy" for Atari ST, looks like it could be a total stinker or quite amazing. Will check it out later.

[Flojomojo]

I've always thought the Aliena Total Conversion mod for DOOM was pretty amazing. https://www.moddb.com/mods/aliens-tc

[Zwackery]

Xenophobe was clearly inspired by the Alien franchise and a totally awesome, fun game to boot.

 

More interestingly, Milton Bradley was reportedly working on a licensed game based on Alien, but the title was switched to The Attack (1981) once Texas Instruments took over publishing duties from Milton Bradley (most likely to avoid licensing fees - if true, this might mark the first instance of a film to game licensing agreement, albeit one that was not used). A prototype of the Alien game by Milton Bradley is supposedly in the possession of former employee Anthony Cote.

[classicgamer74]

That I would like to see.

[+save2600]

That I would like to see.

What's that, a fun version of Xenophobe? Oh, you meant the prototype Alien game.

[classicgamer74]

The prototype. I don't think you can make Xenophobe fun.

[BassGuitari]

Hey, I like Xenophobe....

 

(Does that make me a Xenophobophile?)

 

Anyway, I would highly encourage fans of Alien-style games to check out Project Firestart for Commodore 64. It's arguably one of the first true survival horror games as we know them--predating the likes of Alone In The Dark by several years--and makes zero effort to hide how "Alien" it is. (Except for the creature design, which was lifted from some cartoon or action figure instead of the Giger Alien, which had been ripped off ad infinitum by that point.)

[classicgamer74]

The prototype. I don't think you can make Xenophobe fun.

[classicgamer74]

That I'll have to try. I loved Alone in the Dark.

[Torr]

I've been trying to get into Alien on C64. I just can't.... figure it out!!!

I need a simple stepthru, not the whole game, just like 4 minutes maybe. Explain what does what.

All I do is switch characters and change menus... and nothing really seems to be happening.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Torr

[classicgamer74]

No problem. I'll send you a detailed description tomorrow via DM.

[TeddyBear89]

Just wanted to say that I enjoyed this - especially the C-64 portion of Aliens. I am hard-pressed to think of a game that was just too difficult, yet I kept coming back for more. Even with the cheat codes (for going directly to the other levels) I just sucked at this game.

 

I also don't think that I've ever watched footage of the final stage with the queen alien. Ironically, that appears to be the easiest level! Thanks for this.

[classicgamer74]

No problem. I can't tell you how many times as a kid I got put on punishment for cursing at the computer because of this game. Or at my brother for bugging me for when I was trying to concentrate and play. And, yes, I totally agree that the last level is the easiest. After all you have to go through before that, it's nice to be able to relax a little on the last level. The secret is to just keep her pinned in the side and just wail the hell out of her.