Alien Trilogy

"An appetite killer to be sure, but it's a fun one."

Back when I was 12 years old, I went with a friend and his family to see Aliens when it was in the theaters. These people somehow convinced my parents that it wasn’t all that scary and that there was nothing to worry about. Yeah, right. My friend and I were absolutely scared out of our minds by that movie, which, of course, we loved. I still regard Aliens as one of my all-time favorites, and I’m also quite fond of its predecessor, Alien, so it was a no-brainer for me to check out Alien Trilogy, a game that borrows elements from the first three Alien movies (but not a whole lot from the awful third one, thank goodness) and puts them in an action-packed first-person shooter. Probe, which has had a somewhat spotty record in producing movie-licensed video games, did a very good job with Alien Trilogy, and the end result is a very creepy experience that does right by the films.

You take control of the unfortunate Lieutenant Ripley, as she faces an army of merciless, parasitic aliens who see humans as nothing more than lunch meat. If that wasn’t bad enough, the ubiquitous Company, an organization that pretty much has total control over all humanity, also gets in Ripley’s way. It wants to keep the aliens alive in a misguided attempt at using them as a weapon for use against its enemies. That fulfills all the requirements for a basic first-person shooter modeled after Doom: it’s you against everybody else, so you just have to worry about taking out anything that gets in your way.

The game is divided into three areas, each relating to one of the movies: the LV426 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 refueling 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.

Alien Trilogy features many of the staple weapons that you’d expect to find in a first-person shooter. I don’t remember seeing too many 9mm pistols in the movies, but that’s the default weapon here. One curious thing about the 9mm is that you never run out of ammunition for it. No matter which difficulty setting you have the game on, you’ll always have at least one bullet at the ready; the only setback there is that if that’s all you’ve got, there is a noticeable delay between firing that “last” bullet and getting another one loaded. That pea shooter won’t do too much good against most of the enemies in the game, though, so finding more powerful weapons is a good idea. Ripley can also find shotguns, machine guns, pulse rifles (straight from the movie), and even flame throwers. There are also a couple of different kinds of grenades in the game that are good for taking out temporary walls and some of the larger enemies, too. Other items abound that can help your progress, such as night vision goggles, acid boots, and battery packs.

All of this stuff is great, but the game’s biggest strength is obviously the aliens. There aren’t a whole lot of different kinds of them in the movies, so it looks like Probe invented a couple of new ones (dog aliens) to add some more variety. Anyway, expect to encounter a whole bunch of face huggers and chest bursters, along with the adult warriors and queen aliens. The face huggers are the weakest enemies in the game, but I still think they’re the scariest. Having one of them attach itself to your face will only take off a little bit of health, and you’ll be temporarily blinded, but I’d rather be pinned in a corner by warriors than have that happen. It’s just too disgusting, and if you’ve seen the movies, you know what that ought to lead to. The enemies from the Company aren’t nearly as terrifying, but they can be just as lethal. Synthetics, Soldiers, and Alien Handlers all seem to get along fine with the aliens, and they have orders to take you down.

The graphics in Alien Trilogy weren’t exactly spectacular in 1996, and they definitely show their age now. There’s a stiffness that pervades the game, from the movement of the warriors and human opponents to the CG cinema scenes (which are pretty good, nonetheless). I guess the most important thing about the graphics is that the aliens look great, and by that I mean they look absolutely disgusting. I only noticed severe pixelation with those nasty close encounters with face huggers. The framerate in Alien Trilogy is very good, although there is some slowdown when things get crowded.

Controlling Lt. Ripley isn’t too complicated, but there are a couple of hangups that got on my nerves. You can aim up and down by pressing and holding two buttons at once, which is a bit too convoluted a setup for it to be worthwhile. It never seemed to work when I needed it, especially on stairs or inclines where there were objects I had to destroy to clear the path. I wasted way too much ammo on some of these areas, just trying to figure out how I could hit a couple of boxes or barrels. Other than that, the controls didn’t give me many problems.

One area where Probe hit a perfect bullseye is the audio department. Alien Trilogy sounds terrific, with a soundtrack filled with songs that sound like they could have come straight from the movie. They always fit the action exactly, and they’re just plain great to listen to (they’re in redbook audio form on the disc, so you can listen to them on a regular CD player, too). The sound effects in the game are top-notch as well. The scuttling noise of a face hugger will always get your attention, but perhaps the most ominous sound in the game is that of the cocooned colonists begging you to kill them. This is edgy stuff, folks. The sound effects for the weapons are all dead-on as well, especially those of the pulse rifle. It’s nice to have a few comforting sounds in the game, right?

Alien Trilogy is one movie-based game that gets it right, staying true to its source material while providing an entertaining experience that can stand on its own. While not the flashiest game in town, it’s a great first-person shooter that will leave you wanting more.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/29/00, Updated 10/29/00