Alien Trilogy

"Hey Bishop! Do the thing with the knife!"

It's a rescue mission...you'll love it. There's some juicy colonists daughters we have to rescue from their virginity.

Alien Trilogy is one of the earlier PSX games, and one of the first First Person Shooter (FPS) games for the console. As you should expect, the graphics are pretty poor by today's Playstation standards but the main feel is there. Although the name says trilogy, it's not like Die Hard Trilogy which has three separate games. The trilogy part is mainly there just so the storyline doesn't have to follow the path of one of the movies I guess.

As far as movie tie-in games go, Alien Trilogy is above the low standard. The storyline is similar to that of ''Aliens'', and the intro FMV proves this. As Ripley, you enter the ship looking for colonists to rescue, unaware that the real objective is for the Bio Weapons Division to bring back a live alien. Personally I really like the Alien series, but it's Aliens that stands out for me. It's one of my favourite movies of all time and I'm glad Probe and Acclaim chose to base it on that particular volume. Too bad they based Ripley's haircut on Alien 3.

I'm ready man. Ready to get it on.

We're on an express elevator to hell...going down!! The level's backgrounds and the overall design is very good in terms of movie accuracy. The levels consist of mainly the ship on LV-426, but a lot of familiar places will pop up like operations, med lab and of course the Queen's lair. Later on you'll eventually venture into the ''Boneship'', which is the alien ship. The graphics are dark and add to the atmosphere, but they're a little bare and some of the objects have ugly black lines around them.

Comparatively, it plays a lot like Doom in the sense that other than collecting a few items and some puzzles here and there the main idea is to kill every living thing in sight. Which is fun! Each level has a simple task whether it's simply destroying all the crates, killing all the aliens, looking for ID tags or restoring gas pipes. Along the way you'll pick up plenty of weapons and items like night vision goggles, shoulder lamps and batteries to activate lifts.

Look man, I only need to know one thing: where they are.

The aliens range from the basic Xenomorphs - some still in eggs - to the more able creatures like ''drones'' and the big bad egg-laying Queen. For some reason the main drone aliens are now black or red instead of green and the other aliens are of assorted colours as well. And they all look horrible. All enemies are rendered sprites with thick outlines, huge pixels and poor animation. There are humans too that are against your mission to capture a live alien, and are among the toughest baddies in the game. Up close the bad guys might look blurry and pixelated, but when far away...they still look bad. Shows its age right here.

Hey maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events but we just got our asses kicked pal!

Some of the levels are really long and the action can get quite hectic with six or more of the drones chasing you. The controls are a bit stiff - unlike Alien Resurrection, there is no ''quick turn'' button so you can easily get killed trying to face a bad guy. You wouldn't want this to happen near the end of the level as you can only save in between them. Strafing, running, shooting, looking, opening doors and using items is the gist of what the controls consist of. With long levels and repetitive backgrounds often comes confusion, so the auto-map is a great help. Some of the areas are very short though which is a big relief. Health packs and adrenaline bursts make up the recovery items, while body armour and acid vests round up the defense.

Aliens are tough to beat as they zig-zag their way towards you, so expect to waste lots of ammo taking them down. Although you can aim manually, it's done automatically like Doom so there's no need to aim down while firing at Xenomorphs. A complaint would be that the range of fire is a bit short, but a long range isn't really needed when most enemies can only attack up close. Like any annoying creature would, they still insist on giving you a hard time even when they're dead. With concentrated acid for blood, walking over their corpse, no matter how satisfying, is painful. There are three difficulty settings but even the easiest mode is a fair challenge with those nasty, nasty humans firing at you.

I want to introduce you to a personal friend of mine. This is an M-4018 Pulse Rifle.

Every FPS needs cool weapons, and Alien Trilogy has those. Starting off with the typical first weapon (hand gun), eventually you'll pick up a shotgun, smart gun, flamethrower and the pulse rifle complete with grenade launcher...but you don't want to mess with that unless you can handle yourself. In some of the levels, all you have to do is run around and pick up as much ammo as you can in a short amount of time. Lots of fun, then on to the next level to put it to good use. I like to keep this one handy - *chik-chik* - for close encounters.

The sound effects rock, and help create an atmosphere similar to the movies. The steady beat of the motion tracker raises the suspense and tension rises as you hear the high, shrill sound of closing aliens. The lack of alien screams is a bit of a let down, but is made up by the spot on fire of the pulse rifle...and remember - short, controlled bursts. Early on, the music can potentially ruin the whole mood. It's far too upbeat, fast and technoesque and I recommend turning the music all the way down, leaving just the effects. Hey, it worked for Resurrection. Be sure to turn it back up though, because by the third episode the music becomes more serene, relaxing and aquatic and sounds great when hunting aliens.

Game over man, game over!

After six years it's not very appealing, and the graphics are laughable. It's good, simple fun though and definitely appeals to fans of the movie series. And hey, you don't even need a memory card! Like a few early Playstation games, you can write down the super-long password! If you're a fan and you liked this then try Alien Resurrection as well. Almost hit my head on the roof playing that game. Alien Trilogy is a solid attempt at an early first person shooter title on the Playstation, and one which captures the atmosphere of Aliens well. Aliens...still Cameron's best film.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/02, Updated 05/01/02