GAME REVIEW...GAME REVIEW What's eight feet tall, has acid for blood and ne sharp te righ Patt GUNNING FOR MAW 4111 its one thing having plenty of weapons. • it's another knowing

G A M E R E V I E W

What's eight feettall, has acid forblood and nesharp terighPatt

GUNNING FOR M A W 4111its one thing having plenty of weapons. •it's another knowing how to use them.While each one is perfectly capable c44111blowing an alien into very small bits, • •they also have specific uses_FLAMETNROWERVery powedul. Hs p u t t o b e s t u s e w he n

burning alien eggs arid lace huggers.PULSE RIFLEThe best all-round weapon. it gels

1 through ammo like nobody's business;' though, so use sparingly. Ripley can

ooint il at the ground when she runs.which is useful as that's where many olthe aliens burst out from.

'.GRENADE LAUNCHER:This is very elective indeed, capable of;destroying aliens before they come ons;creen, but it has a slow rate of fire.HAND GRENADES

' These are best employed in the yenta- hen snails as they bounce quite a bitwhen they hit a surlace and take ato detonate.

IN SPACE NO ONECAN HEAR YOUSCREAMSome people seem to attractloonies, others act as a magnet forviruses. Ellen Ripley seems to drawacid-spitting slaughter-hungry aliens.As the main character in the Alienfilms, she's outlived the crew of herstarship, a platoon of colonialmannes, and, in the most recentmovie, an entire prison colony.

The game starts in the nicest areaof the penitentiary, although eventhen it resembles the kind of kebabshop a starving man would pass by.The aliens who are now residing inthe colony have been very busy.Using their ability to secrete a no...ious, tougher-than-rope resin,they've glued all the prisoners tovarious bits of the colony. Being agood egg, and not wanting thealiens to breed anymore. Ripleytakes it upon her sell to free themand slaughter every xenomorph thatgets in her way.

Ii you've seen the film (which Ithought wasn't too bad), you'll proba-bly have sussed that the games plotdiners somewhat. Unlike the film,where Ripley was armed with noth-ing more than a dangerous haircut,here she's really killed-out for action.Her arsenal is made up of hand

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grenades, a flame thrower and apulse rifle (complete with grenadelauncher). Each weapon has a lim-ited supply of ammo, which dwindlesvery quickly when you're faced withaliens that take several hits to kill.

She also has a motion trackerwhich pin-points the position of anyprisoner or alien in the nearby area,although it only has a limited powersupply and batteries have to befound to charge it up. The problemwith this, though, is that by the time itpicks up an alien, it's already makinga determined leap at your throat.However, because there are somany prisoners on the later levels, itbecomes an essential bit of kit.

THIS TIME IT'S WARThere are 14 levels in total, all ofwhich are set against the clock_ Ifyou run out of time you get to wit-ness the aliens bursting out of theremaining prisoners, which is almostworth deliberately running the clockdown to see. Obviously any saneperson would do a runner ratherthan take on an entire alien race sin-gle-handed. What prevents Ripleyfrom following suit is that the lastdoorway doesn't open until the finalprisoner is rescued.

Ripley only has a limited amount ofenergy. which is depleted by contactwith the aliens and long falls. Shecan also be a bit of a danger to her-self. There are several storagerooms 'n the cotony which contain

Luckily tor Ripley she can shoot in diagonals, so there might just be enough time to take outthat alien. 01 coursci running away might be an equally good idea!

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IN SPACE NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU 5eREAM Some people seem to attract loonies, others act as a magnet for viruses, Ellen Ripley seems to draw acid-spitting slaughter-hungry aliens. As the main character in the Alien films, she's oullived the crew of her starship, a platoon of colonial marines, and, in the most recent movie, an entire prison cotony.

The game starts in the nicest area of the penitentiary, although even then it resembles the kind of kebab shop a starving man would pass by. The aliens who are now residing in the colony have been very busy . Using their ability to secrete a nox­ious, tougher-than-rope resin, they've glued all the prisoners to various bits of the colony. Being a good egg, and not wanting the aliens to breed anymore, Ripley takes ii upon her self to tree them and slaughter every xenomorph that gets in her way.

If you·ve seen the film (which I thought wasn't too bad), you'll proba­bly have sussed that the game's plot differs somewhat. Unlike the film, where Ripley was anmed with noth­ing more than a dangerous haircut, here she's really kitted-out for action. Her arsenal is made up of hand

grenades, a flame thrower and a pulse rifle (complete with grenade launcher). Each weapon has a lim­ited supply of ammo, which dwindles very quickly when you're faced with aliens that take several hits to kill.

She also has a motoon tracker which pin-points the position of any prisoner or alien in the nearby area, although ii only has a limited power supply and batteries have lo be found lo charge ii up. The problem with this, though, is that by the time tt picks up an alien. it's already making a determined leap at your throat. However, because there are so many prisoners on the later levels, ii becomes an essential bit of kit.

THIS TIME IT'S WAR There are t 4 levels in total, all of which are set against the clock. If you run out of time you get to wit­ness the aliens bursting 001 of the remaining prisoners, wh,ch is almost worth deliberately running the clock down to see. Obviously any sane person would do a runner rather than take on an entire alien race sin• gle-handed, What prevents Ripley from following suit is that the last doorway doesn't open until the final prisoner is rescued.

Ripley only has a limited amount of energy, which is depleted by contact with the aliens and long falls. She can also be a bit of a danger to her­self. There are several storage rooms in the colony which contain

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Luckily lo, Rl"pley she can shoot In dlagon•lt.. so the,e might Just be enough time to tllk• out tha111ien. Of courw, running away might bt an equ.alty OOOd ideal

43

The M otion tr ac k er is better fo r tr ac k ing d o w n pr is oner s . as the al iens are in iudi ly leaping o u t a ty GU by the l im n i t pic k s them up.

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Face huggnrs are very quick. Your best bet is to use the llama thrower to burn them as they leap.Otherwise Ripley might lust get that facial she neve, wanted.

44

cans of fuel that explode when hit bya stray bullet or grenade.

Moving around the levels can bequite tricky, even if you avoid most ofthe hazards, There are loads of mov-ing platforms which provide the onlylink between gantries, so Ripley'sformidable leaping abilities are put tothe test. Security doors also pose ahazard. Most can be opened byoperating the controls at the side,which is handy as they can be closedbehind you to lock out aliens. Thealternative is to select the grenadelauncher and blow it away.

TOO TOUGH TO BEAT?Apart from the hazards with slavering jaws, there are plenty of otherthings to be avoided, Some levelshave slippery ramps. and steppingon one of those leads to a very longdrop. There are also spiked pits andgigantic fans which spell instantdeath, Plenty of long-drops havebeen placed under tricky jumps toliven things up further.

Naturally the prisoners are usuallystuck in out of the way locations. and

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It pays to throw is granede Or two to dealwith out of the way aliens.

Ripley can lire down ladders as well asdr op gr enade s to c lear the way

lPEGAORIVE MEETS AMIGA •

Alien 3 is already a big success on the -Megadrive and rightly so. It's nice to

,see that Probe have converted the game

almost exactly onto Me Amiga. right, down to the same level maps. the only

F. dillerence is that its slightly slower

than its console counter-part. althoughthat doesn't effect the gameplay.

.. T h e Amiga version at the game canalso make use of the three-button

i' Megadrive control pad. Because the.0,iniga isn't really built tor this type at

i. controller, only two buttons work so you

IT still have to use the space-bar to

1 change weapons but it makes it a lot-easier to play,

hall the challenge of rescuing themis finding them in the first place.Often you need to retrace your stepsto find a passage or doorway youmight have missed, which can be alittle hair-raising with the clock tickingdown. The prisoners are very heavilyguarded after the tenth level. Egg-sacks are placed right next to them,and they release a f a c e-h u g g e r a ssoon as you approach_

There's one level that differs from

ALIENS, ALIENS EVERYWHEREThe Aliens are a little like ants, albeit eight-foal a n t s w i t h a h a t r e d o f f a l l t h i n g s w a r m --

blooded. All of them have several physical trails in common - they bleed acid, Mey have twosets of jaws. they like damp locations and are constantly dripping with some kind of slime.

In Alien 3 they lake a new form, well the single alien on the lilm does. It now appearsthat an alien inherits some of the genes oh the creature it bursts out M. in this case adog. Whereas the aliens in the previous movies have been actor shaped, this one has atail and scrabbles around on all lours (although there are no embarrassing incidents withlamp-posts).

Although Ripley buys it at the end of the him, rumour abounds that plots have beendrawn up lor the next three movies in the series. There's scope for a Predator versusAliens Wm, which was alluded In in Predator 2, where there's an Alien's skull in the bigguy's trophy room.

...

The motion tracke, Is bett8f for tr.eking down prisone,s, as the aliens are usually leaplng ou1 at you by the timt it pie.kt them up.

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Face hugger$,,. vtry qulek. Your best bet Is to uM tht tlame thrower to bum them as they INP-01.herwlse Ripley mfght fust get that facial She never wanted.

44

cans of fuel that explode when hit by a stray bullet or grenade.

Moving around the levels can be quite tricky, even if you avoid most of lhe hazards. There are loads of mov­ing platforms which provide the only link between gantries, so Ripley's formidable leaping abilities are put to the test Security doors also pose a hazard. Most can be opened by operating the controls al the side, which is handy as they can be closed behind you to lock out aliens. The atternative is to select the grenade launcher and blow it away.

TOO TOUGH TO BEAT? Apart from the hazards with slaver• ing jaws, there are plenty of other things 10 be avoided. Some levels have slippery ramps, and stepping on one of those leads to a very long drop. There are also spiked pits and gigantic fans which spell instant death. Plenty of long-drops have been placed under trici<y jumps to liven things up further.

Naturally the prisoners are usually stuck in out of lhe way locations, and

ALIENS, ALIENS EVERYWHERE

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half the challenge of rescuing them is finding them in the first place. Olten you need to retrace your steps to find a passage or doorway you might have missed. which can be a little hair-raising with the clock ticking down. The prisoners are very heavily guarded after lhe tenth level. Egg• sacks are placed right next to lhem, and they release a face-hugger as soon as you approach.

There's one level that differs from

TIie Aliens an, a liale lite all4s . .-,u light.fool 1111 will! a ,and all all llinp­,tGOded. All of Diem - -ral pllysical traots in._ .. -they IIIHd acil, ... 111w lwt sats of i-. lley lib ... ..., localleos .... are -Illy drftl,1111 wtlll - , .. II slilll.

In Ali1t1 3 Ibey lake a new form, well Ille si11le 1l11t111111 ffl11 lloes. n - .,..., tllat •• alien iallerlls SDffll of Ille, .... of Ille m,lllre It 111111s IUI "· ii lhil ..... ,o,. Whereas Ille aliens in Ille,,..., .. -1es ,a,e lleefl aclDr sllaped, Ibis NI hU • tail an, scrablltes • ..,.., 111 all loin (alflllulb lllere are no e11barrasi,. ~ • l111p-poslll.

AIIIIOllh Ritlley blys N at Ille .... II Ille Him. - M811nds Illa! plols - beH -n up lor lhe ■ell lhree m- ii Ille series. Tllere"s sco,e fir a Pnaa -Allens lilm, wllic, was 1110,u II In l'le<lallf 2. wllere 111ere·1 a■ Alien's sllllll In Ille flit g1y's lroplly roam.

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GRAPHICS 88%SOUND 90%LASTABILITY 93%PLAYABILITY 92%

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G A M E R E V I E W

orgel about the prisoners, the aim ot th is level is to survive. There are more prisoners than ever and aivry limited supply of ammo.

all this though. The mayhem stage isdevoid of prisoners but full to burst.•ng point with aliens and• -.ehuggers. The object isn't so

Joh to find the way out as to sur-iive. This sets you up with almost noammo for the next level, whichmakes things tougher still.One of the trickier features of the

early levels are the networks of ven• :Ition shafts. You can't tell where

passages lead to and aliens- dev e loped a nasty habit ofc,pping down vertical shafts at high

speed_ The hand grenades come invery useful as they can be droppeddown tunnels to clear the way beforeyou crawl into the unknown_

THE BITCH IS BACKEvery few levels the scene cr,angeand Ripley finds herself locked in aroom with a queen Alien. Apart frombeing significantly larger than her orspring, she can leap huge distancesand spit acid. II takes a ridiculousamount of ammo to finish her oft soyou have to make each shot count.Like the normal levels this is time-limited, so you can't wait for her tolump into your sights.

Face huggers start to appear onthe later levels. These burst out oftheir eggs and make a spiritedattempt at grabbing Ripley's face. Ifthey succeed they'll slowly drain herenergy. Only a large amount of joy-stick waggling will be capable ofthrowing them off (if only John Hurt"ad known that in the first film). Theworker aliens also start droppingdown the ladders, so its nearlympossible to tell where you'll come

The eggs thatthe face hug-gers leap Porncan bedestroyed froma distance

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t Mt E WHO C A M E B E

FOR have been several other Aliens -

'es on dillefent tormats before now.first. which was a s t rat egy,cuml. lure based on the original flireleased on the CM ages ago.

received some praise at the time, enever really took oil. Then came theAliens movie and along with it twogames on Me C64. The lirst was a flperson perspective exploration gamewith overtones of Operation Wolf. Whenan Alien appeared you had to steer acrosshair onto it and blow its head oft.Because most of the screens lookedsame the game was a little dull.

Finally there was Aliens US. Itlooked good to begin with, tearingwhat passed for colour digitised picturesin those days and with each level basedaround specific scenes in the film. Whatlel it down was the lack of any talent onbehalf of the programmers. The ventilion shall scene was translated intomaze game which looked like a realpoor version ot Farman, and the scenewith the drop-ship at the start at thegame just had you steering it throng1111111111bit

under attack from nextTo begin with the scenary is nice

and recognisably human. There'sthe hospital, the abbatoir, completewith corpses, and the cell block. Asshe works her way deeper into thecomplex, the background becomesmore alien-like, with tubes and otherorganic bits adorning every wall.Here's where the game gets reallytough. You have to move veryquickly as the maps are complicatedand the prisoners are slashed allover the place. In addition to that,acid drips from the ceiling and there

s i l l

The exits openwhen a ll theprisoners arefreed

There's abonus for

any unused

are more Aliens than ever.There are also secret rooms, which

can usually be found by running intowalls. These often contain amrnuni-tion and medical packs, although onthe last couple of levels they playhost to prisoners. To begin with itdoesn't take long to learn the levels,but later on they become so big thatit's impossible.

LET'S ROCK AND ROLLThe sound effects are fantastic.Noises for the pulse rifle andgrenade launcher have been sampled from Aliens and they soundterrific. Music plays throughout,although it's very subtle and youdon -t a lw ay s notice it. The graphics

are excellent. The Aliens are suitablyspindly and, well, alien. There'ssome nice variation between thebackdrops, although I think a littlemore could have been done with theAlien levels at the end of the game.

You can't really say that this doesthe film justice, mainly because mostpeople will rate the game better thanthe movie. It also has so little to dowith the movie's plot. What it is,though, is an excellent Aliens game.Its full of action and the variety ofweapons offer Ripley plenty ofdeath-dealing opportunities.

Alien 3 is definitly very challenging.There's plenty to shoot, lots toexplore and the backgrounds varyenough to hold your attention. It hasall the atmosphere of an Aliens filmas you never know when one'sgoing to leap out at you. This is oneof the best movie-to-game conver-sions I've seen.

d12122121M-Ern W. •

The aliens can leap out of the ground or drop torm the ceiling_ You never know where thenext one will be.

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GAM;: E ·· REVIEW

Forget about the prisoners, the aim of this level IS to survtve. 'There are more prisoners than ever a.nd a "'Y limited supply of ammo. The aUens c,n teap out of the ground or drop form the ceiling. You never know where the

next one will bee.

all this though. The mayhem stage is devoid of prisoners but full to burst• ng point wilh aliens and 'acehuggers. T.he object isn't so much to find the way out as to sur-111ve. This sets you up with almost no ammo for the next level, which '11al\es things laugher still.

One of the trickier features of 1he early levels are lhe neiworks of ven­ulation shafts. You can't tell where 'he passages lead to and aliens ~ave developed a nasly habit of dropping down vertical shafts at high speed. The hand grenades come in very useful as lhey can be dropped down 1unnels to clear lhe way before you crawl into lhe unknown.

1ME BITCH IS BACK Every few levels lhe scene changes and Ripley finds herself locked in a room with a queen Alien. Apart from Deing significanlly larger lhan her off• spring, she can leap huge distances and sptt acid. It lakes a ridiculous amount of ammo to finish her off, so · you have lo make each shol count L•ke lhe normal levels lhis is time­mited, so you can't wait for her 10

."mp into your sights. Faee huggers slart to appear on

he later levels. These burs! out of lheir eggs and make a spiriled attempt al grabbing Ripley's face. If 1/>ey succeed they'll slowly drain her energy. Only a large amounl of joy­stick waggling will be capable of tirowing them off (if only John Hurt nad known that in the first film). The .vorker aliens also slart dropping down lhe ladders, so it's nearly mpossible to lell where you'll come

under attack from next. To begin with the scenary is nice

and recognisably human, There's the hospital, the abbatoir, complete with corpses, and the cell bloek. As she works her way deeper into the complex, lhe background becomes more alien-like, wtth lubes and olher organic bits adorning every wall. Here's where the game gets really laugh. You have lo move very quickly as the maps are complicaled and the prisoners are slashed all over the place. In addition 10 that, acid drips from lhe ceiling and there

are more Aliens lhan ever. There are also secrel rooms, which

can usually be found by running into walls. These often conlain ammuni­lion and medical packs, allhough on the lasl couple of levels they play host to prisoners. To begin wilh it doesn'l lake long 10 learn the levels, bul later on they become so big !hat il's impossible.

LIT'$ ROCK AND ROLL The sound elfects are faniastic. Noises for lhe pulse rifle and grenade launcher have been sam­pled from Aliens and !hey sound terrific, Music plays lhroughout, allhough it's very subtle and you don't always nolice it The graphics are excellent The Aliens are suitably spindly and, well, alien. There's some nice variation belween the backdrops, allhough I think a little more could have been done wilh the Alien levels al lhe end of the game.

You can'I really say lhal lhis does the film justice, mainly because most people will rale the game better than lhe movie. It also has so little to do with the movie's plot. Whal ii is, though, is an excellenl Aliens game. ll's full of action and the variety of weapons otter Ripley plenly of death-dealing opportunilies.

Alien 3 is definitly very challenging. There's plenly to shoot, lols to explore and the backgrounds vary enough to hold your attention. It has all lhe almosphere of an Aliens film as you never know when one's going to leap out at you. This is one of lhe best movie-to-game conver­sions I've seen. 1>

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GRAPHICS SOUND LAST ABILITY PLAYABILITY

88% 90% 93% 92%

OVERALL 92%

45