Aliens PS2 Game Tech Demo (Aliens: Earth)

[Corporal Hicks]

In 2003-2004 Climax Studios were working on an Aliens game pitch they hoped would get picked up. Unfortunately not much is known about how far they got and what came of it all. This is footage from a rather impressive Playstation 2 tech demo that was part of that pitch.

Can't say I've ever heard of this one.

[Xenomania]

That's a lot of "runners".

[windebieste]

Ya.  And considering they're all fully rendered in 3D, it's impressive tech for its generation.  Mind you, it's the same character model being instanced continuously so it's not so resource hungry.  Still, the smooth frame rate with so many models on screen at once is very impressive.  I noticed that the runner model is also setup with some kind of Level of Detail setting (there's some pop in on the character if you watch carefully when it approaches the camera and it becomes more complex) which is super cool, too.

Mind you, the low draw distance on the bog standard corridor really detracts from what was being done here.  Still, dynamic lights... on the corridor and on the character model... SWEET! 

It just needed some sound effects to help sell it as a tech demo other than what it had.   Alien squeals and footfalls would have been perfect to that goal.

It's too bad this game didn't get the go ahead.

-Windebieste.

[lost dragon]

New one on myself as well, really appreciate the heads-up on it.

Impressive as the footage is, i think you simply have to take into accont it is nothing but a TECH DEMO, so even IF it's running on standard PS2 hardware, rather than high end PC from that era, the game engine is doing little more than animating pre-set routines, designed to showcase ideas team would of liked to put into the actual game and show off various special effects their engine could handle.


Taking an impressive game engine and turning it into a fully fledged game is not mean feat.


Rebellion's PS3/360?PC AVP game Engine looked very impressive when i 1st saw it running, actual game however was massive let down, A.I on the Xeno's in particular.


Then of course we had Aliens:Colonial Marines early footage, compare to actual game released...


Still not wishing to take anything away from this superb find.


Chalk up yet another Aliens game that could of been....

[PVTDukeMorrison]

Looks more stable than colonial marines

[Lucifero]

to many runners

[Whiskeybrewer]

That looked pretty cool. Shame Nothing much came of it

[Kailem]

That does indeed look pretty impressive for its time. I wonder why it never got picked up? I guess we'll never know. Shame it never got off the ground.

The initial appearance of the runners reminds me of Alan Grant's line from Jurassic Park, "just like a flock of birds evading a Predator."

[OpenMaw]

Did anyone happen to hang onto this? I never got a chance to see it before it was pulled.

[Corporal Hicks]

Here you go.

[OpenMaw]

Hmm, oh that's very interesting!

Thanks, Hicks! 

[x-M-x]

Anyone remember why this was *Canned* ? (i did read about it and saw screenshots back in the day)

Budget ? Studio folded?


Totally Forgot.

[Corporal Hicks]

According to Andrew Borman (@Borman18) it was actually being called Aliens: Earth.

I have faith! I'll have to pull back the curtain on an old Aliens pitch sometime... pic.twitter.com/1E8wG3iiTf

— Andrew Borman (@Borman18) 11 November 2018

A quick screenshot from the Aliens tech demo. pic.twitter.com/YbRIrxbcPt

— Andrew Borman (@Borman18) 20 January 2019

[lost dragon]

Appreciate the extra info.

Anyone remember why this was *Canned* ? (i did read about it and saw screenshots back in the day)

Budget ? Studio folded?


Totally Forgot.

Official reason given for games cancellation:

'..to allow the development team to concentrate on other projects'

Source:Where Are They Now? PSW Issue 37.