Alien Trilogy Review

7.9

Format PC

Developer Probe

Publisher Acclaim

Genre First Person Shooter

Paul Lakin

It's a couple of years since I last ventured into the PC Zone offices to review a game (I've been busy nursing Cambridge United into the Champions League - I wish). When I was last here, first-person perspective games were all the rage - charging round blasting aliens out of space ships, moonbases or small housing estates just outside Slough (my own contribution to the genre, which strangely never took off, though me mum said she liked it). Anyway, two years and three changes of shirt later, I'm back and guess what - everyone's still playing first-person perspective shoot 'em ups. Ah well, Wimbledon are still playing long ball pressure football and it doesn't seem to be doing them any harm.

Deja Vu

On first loading up Alien Trilogy I thought, 'Uh oh, seen it all before.' 'Of course you have, bladder head,' came the reply. 'It used to be on the Playstation.'

That's the problem with this place. No respect. Mind you, they're right (about the game, not my head), it did first appear on the PlayStation where some people thought it was really fab and others didn't - but hey, that's the crazy kind of multi-personal world we live in. I'm not going to litter the review with comparisons between the two versions, however, because a) they're a waste of time if you didn't see the PSX version, and b) I only played it once... and it was late... and I was tired... and I had a lot on my mind... and alright I didn't get off the fifth level. Damn.



Back To Base-ics

Alien Trilogy, true to both its genre and film background, lands you on an alien-infected base with the job of clearing a path through it for the gung-ho marines who are following you up. In fact, rather than simply clearing a path, you end up blasting everything in sight. Which rather begs the question of what these oh so tough gum-chewing marines are going to do when they arrive. I mean, how come you have to do all the work and take all the risks while they sit in the ship talking about baseball and saying 'Yo' a lot? (Or even our Acting Prod Ed's favourite exchange - Hudson: You ever been mistaken for a man, Vasquez? Vasquez: No, have you?)

One of the game's strongest elements is its visual feel. Plenty of shadow, dim lighting and the occasional burst of infra-red to make it hard to see the danger (let alone take a line on it, or try to engage it in existentialist debate) until it's on you. There is also plenty of moody music, and voices shouting encouragement or contempt. Often, a woman's voice breathes a seductive 'come on, come on'. This is presumably meant to be encouragement. Unfortunately, whenever women say things like that to me I tend to go red, knock my drink over and shoot myself in the foot with my plasma rifle (which can be very embarrassing in The Starving Peasant on a Friday night.) (It's Ripley, you fool - Ed.)

A-Monster, A-Monster, We All Fall Down

Where the game falls down really is... well, in the game, to be honest. There's nothing exactly wrong with it, but in view of this being such a tried and tested formula there's not exactly anything new here either - in fact, much of it is quite old. You wander round levels collecting objects (though these are primarily just medical kits and extra ammo, there's little in the way of special items), you shoot monsters when they attack you and occasionally clear away oil barrels (which the poor little marines don't want to dirty their hands on by moving themselves.) There are a few different weapons including a shotgun, a flamethrower and a smart gun. Unfortunately, none of the weapons is actually that smart. With the exception of the 9mm automatic, which is about as much use as a pea shooter on the Western Front, they're all much of a muchness.

The same could be said of the monsters. Variety may be the spice of life but it doesn't season this game. There are only a handful of different types of monster, none of which appears to exactly drip with ai. Although I promised not to mention the Playstation version, one thing I do remember from it is the irritating basts which crawl along the floor before launching themselves onto your face. Well, they are still here. You can shoot downwards to get rid of them or wait until they land on your face when by a miracle of shooting prowess you're able to blast them off without damaging your nose, or even moving your gun from its static horizontal position. If you're going to try this at home, make sure you have a responsible adult to help you.

A Level Playing Field

Not only do the monsters lack intelligence, so do many of the levels. Although each level has its own task (switching on the lighting, clearing a path for those pathetic flower pressers back in the spaceship) they're not exactly demanding - or even that big. Even the later levels are quite small and in general puzzle-free (if you exclude having to blast a few false walls out of the way). Combat is generally just a matter of backing off and firing until the monster drops. The biggest challenge is how to avoid treading on any of the bodies (their poison still does you damage even after death). Apart from that, simply blundering round a level firing at all and sundry - my usual approach to these things - normally works fine. And as for the last level - well, don't hold your breath.

Niggles aside, Alien Trilogy is a more than adequate first-person shoot 'em up. It's got plenty of atmosphere, moves pretty speedily and looks good on-screen. It doesn't really add anything new to the genre, but then most people would have at least seen it on the psx and won't be expecting any surprises. The problem is, it's not much more than adequate. It's fun, but lacks any imagination or those irritating puzzles that make Quake and Duke Nukem so outstanding. It's good, but limited.