It seems almost incredible that it’s now 45 years since we were first given the chilling news that in space, no-one can hear you scream.
Even this dire warning did little to prepare us for the first sighting that we had aboard the Nostromo of H.R Giger’s monstrous Alien.
Since then we have had plenty of opportunities to become reacquainted with her and her offspring, and even gone back in time with the prequel Prometheus, returning to the original director of the first movie in the franchise, Ridley Scott.
He must be as surprised as anyone that the series has been as long-lasting and had as many offshoots.
These have come in more forms than simply more movies, most notably in video games. Over the years these have varied hugely in quality and playability, but at least five of them have been outstanding.
The early days
The same can hardly be said of the first few games to appear. Admittedly, these were also relatively early days for the nascent video games industry with consoles from Atari and Commodore leading the way.
For example, Atari brought us their version of Alien in 1982. Keen historians of video games can’t fail to notice that this had more than a few similarities to Pac Man as the chaser became the chased round a simple maze.
A couple of years later the Commodore 64 version came out. This was a little more detailed and at least did follow the vague layout of the Nostromo. It also benefited from a slightly higher level of tension.
By 1986 the games were getting a bit more sophisticated. The Commodore 64 version Aliens: the Computer Game had characters whose spoken words appeared on screen and even included lines of dialog from the movies.
At the same time other forms of Alien-related entertainment were also staring to take off. These included early versions of online slots which, again, would become more sophisticated as time went on.
But it was the arrival of the big players Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft that saw Alien games appear that were truly reflective of the movies, including these five prime examples.
Aliens Infestation
In 2011 WayForward got together with Gearbox to create this nifty little game for Nintendo DS. The point of the game was largely one of exploration of the U.S.S. Sulaco and the continued survival of the colonial marines sent to explore it. This places it firmly in a post Aliens and Aliens 3 era and the result is a pretty gripping game that also included some fairly dramatic deaths for the unlucky participants. Was it a success? Well Digital Spy gave it a four star rating and it had a Metacritic rating of a very reasonable 76%.
Alien Resurrection
2000 saw Alien Resurrection released. It had been intended to coincide with the movie of the same name which first hit the screen in 1997. Rumor had it that development wasn’t altogether smooth for Argonaut Games, hence the time lag of three years. But they got there in the end and also included a little secret to boot.
It was exclusively developed for the PlayStation 1 and the combination of good plotting and great graphics meant that it was pretty kindly reviewed by critics and players alike. Especially praised was the atmosphere of oppression that hung over the action as well as the fact that you could choose from a number of playable characters.
Alien vs Predator 2
For many players this remains the gold standard of A v P games. Much of this has to do with the huge leap in the quality of graphics experienced in this 2001 game – of almost cinematic quality. Plus the sheer arsenal of weapons that each species wields offers a huge amount of choice. Add to this multi-player gaming and its popularity is obvious to see.
Alien v Predator: Extinction
The 2003 game developed by Zono takes us to the planet LV-742 where Predators have a base on which they hunt for an Alien Hive. The role of the player is to discover this hive and control the war between the two species. It’s unique in the way that it is among the least strategic of all the Alien games focusing more on combat. There are also three separate campaigns that have little narrative drive but, instead, are all about the action.
Alien: Isolation
But top of the list for capturing the spine-chilling terror of the first film is this beauty from 2014.
The game’s set 15 years after the movie with Ripley’s daughter, Amanda, investigating where her mother has disappeared to. Every corner you turn could lead to death and the atmosphere is never less than oppressive. It won a raft of awards in the year of its release – and continues to be hugely popular today.
Of course, there are many more Alien games ready to be played. But these really are the ones that will make you scream, even if someone can hear you!
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