Alien 3: The Gun

Alien 3: The Gun is a 1993 rail shooter game for arcades made by Sega. It’s supposed to be based on the film but it’s from the point of view of two Marines who didn’t feature in Alien 3 and there were no guns in the film either.

The arcade machine can be for one or two players and features two light guns for each player which are modelled after the weapons featured in Aliens. You play as a United States Colonial Marine who escapes from the Sulaco spacecraft and proceeds to Fiorina ‘Fury’ 161. You must make your way to the prison colony and rescue the prisoners who are under attack from the Xenomorphs.

Alien 3: The Gun features seven levels including the Mess Hall, Infirmary and Lead Works and you can encounter various enemies such as Facehuggers and Xenomorphs. Weyland-Yutani soldiers also make an appearance and they were sent to retrieve Xenomorph specimens. Along the way, you can collect power-ups like a Flamethrower to help you.

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Reception

Alien 3: The Gun received positive reviews from critics. In Japan, Game Machine listed Alien 3: The Gun on their November 1, 1993 issue as being the most-successful upright arcade unit of the year. In the November 1993 issue of EGM, the spoke highly of it saying “The game is a blast. On discharge, your gun will recoil. This is a cool feature which adds to the realism of this coin-grabber.” Retrospectively, it appears on VentureBeat’s Must Play Alien games list saying “What finally pushed me to place Alien 3: The Gun on the list, however, is the underground chase level. This section mimics the scene in the film where the prisoners must run through corridors to bait-and-trap the creature.” AllGame gave it a positive review saying: “Provided players accept these ingrained aspects of the genre, however, Alien 3: The Gun offers a great amount of excitement, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise. “