"I'm ready, man, check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State of the badass art! You do NOT wanna fuck with me. Check it out! Hey Ripley, don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you! Check it out! Independently targeting particle beam phalanx. Vwap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart missiles, phase-plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic electronic ball breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks..."
Hudson... Awesome Character.
The Alien films have always been one of my firm favourites.
The first was a superb Sci-Fi that edged more towards the horror genre. It was tense, gory and frightening and is still a good film more than 30 years on. Aliens were more action oriented and it worked on more levels. It was again tense, but was more exciting and pulsating, and was equal if not better than its predecessor.
Alien 3 was panned, but was still visually stunning, if a little long drawn out.
We'd all like to forget the abysmal Alien: Resurrection, and thankfully it doesn't feature in this game (as this game was released in '96, Resurrection was released in '97).
Alien Trilogy mixes all the excellent points of 3 superb films onto one game.
Graphics 6.5
Alien Trilogy has it's ups and downs with graphics. The 2D sprite enemies are paper-thin, and pixelate terribly up close. The same is true for the wall textures.
But, from a distance, they look good (the Alien Queen is especially frightening). The only other graphical problems with the sprite graphics, is that they can really slow down the game when many are on-screen, and, to compensate for that, some of them blink in and out of existence.
The environments are refreshingly spooky, with steam spiralling out of broken pipes, and the pitch-black corridors are equally eerie.
The corridors are well detailed as well, with pipes, vents and barrels making an appearance. The only gripes with the graphics are the sprite enemies which I've already mentioned.
Sound 9
The designers of Alien Trilogy must've worked very hard in the sound department.
All the gunshots, explosions, Alien noises, and so forth, are all crystal-clear and wonderful to listen to.
Hell, the Pulse Rifle and motion sensor in the game even sound like the ones from the movie! You'll flip over the sound effects, they're that fucking awesome! And, if that weren't enough, the music is great! Some of it creeps you out, some of it keeps you going, some of it's just nice to listen to.
The music definitely plays a big part in the audio experience. If you don't want to buy a first-person shooter, just buy this for the music that's on the CD (yes, all the music tracks from the game can be listened to on your CD player)! Very good sound.
Gameplay 7
The game is divided into three areas, each relating to one of the movies: the LV-426 Colony from Aliens, the Prison from Alien 3, and the Derelict Spaceship from the first Alien movie.
There are 30 missions in Alien Trilogy, although that number is somewhat misleading.
That total includes several bonus levels that you only access by playing well and achieving a high percentage of mission objectives.
They're basically refuelling stations where you have one minute or less to pick up as many extra items and ammo as you can.
Also, every tenth level is a boss battle, so those boards are very short and straightforward.
The rest of the levels are the meat of the game, featuring a nice variety of things to accomplish and plenty of stuff to shoot.
I like the level design for most of the levels in the game, but some of them, the ones from the Derelict Spaceship area in particular, are over a little too quickly.
Since you have missions to fulfil, as well as Aliens to blast, things can get a little hectic. There's nothing worse than barely surviving a battle, only to find out at the end of the level that you failed your mission, and, you have to do it all over again!
Read the mission briefings carefully, and do it right the first time! Other than that, the Aliens can be a total pain, too.
By the end of the game, they are so fast and powerful (and such thin targets), that, if a bunch of them cornered you (even on the easy skill setting), you'd be dead meat. This, coupled with the limited amount of ammo you find, makes this game a tough one to beat, but, not overly frustrating, or anything.
The controls are responsive, but, you can't configure the controls to your liking.
There are four pre-set control schemes, but, there might not be one that suits you. Other annoyances are the fact that you can only scroll forward through your weapons when switching them (thankfully, if you press start, you can select which weapon you want to use from the option menu without having to sift through them one-by-one), as well as having to press two buttons to look up and down (hold the "Look" button, and press Triangle or X). They aren't too problematic, but, they can still be a nuisance. Especially these days, as having to adapt to the classic FPS style of gaming after playing twin-stick for so long is extremely challenging.
Story 3
The story is this. You're Lieutenant Ellen Ripley. Recently, a space colony on planet LV-426, owned by the company you work for, can no longer be contacted.
It might just be a broken transmitter. You have a feeling that it's much worse than that. You and a team of Colonial Marines are sent down to the planet to investigate.
When they enter the colony, your worst fears are confirmed. The Aliens are back! Quickly, your entire landing party of Marines are slaughtered. It's up to you to get in there, and put an end to this nightmare!
Yeah, it basically takes the story of Aliens, puts in elements from Alien and Alien3 and BOOSH! game. But... You're playing this game for the fucking story anyway... You just wanna blast the fuck outta some Xeno's
Overall 6
This game is far from problem-free, with many little annoying bits and pieces that keep it from being truly excellent. But, if you love the Alien movies and DOOM, and wouldn't mind playing a nice little pre-Quake 3D shooter with a great atmosphere, this is the one for you!
It's certainly one of the creepier titles, and, good for a nice fright-filled blastathon. Enjoy!
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