Alien Trilogy

Alien Trilogy is a first-person shooter based on the first three Alien movies. It was originally released for Playstation in early 1996 and ported to the Saturn and PC later in the year. You control Lt. Ripley in three sections, each based on one film: The colony complex on LV426 (from Aliens), the prison planet (from Alien³) and the derelict spaceship (from Alien).

Each section consists of about 10 missions. In every mission, certain goals must be accomplished to continue. These include killing a certain number of enemies, finding items or activating switches. Enemies include everything the Alien life cycle provides: facehuggers, chestbursters, warrior aliens, dog aliens (from Alien³) and Alien queens, one of which waits in the final mission of every section. In addition to the Aliens, you also have to fight employees of the Company, who have either been infected by the Aliens and are beyond saving or who actively want to obstruct your mission.

Weapons to be used include pistol, shotgun, pulse rifle, flame thrower and smart gun. Ammunition, health upgrades and other useful items are scattered throughout the levels. Hidden areas may be uncovered by using explosives like grenades and seismic charges. An auto mapping system helps in not getting lost, night goggles and shoulder lamps (running on battery power) allow you to see in the dark and the motion tracker tells you where your enemies are – but only if they are moving.

Covers

Alien Trilogy (Playstation UK)

Alien Trilogy (Playstation US)

Alien Trilogy (Saturn UK)

Alien Trilogy (Saturn US)

Alien Trilogy (PC US)

Alien Trilogy (PC UK)

Screenshots

Magazine Articles

EGM (December1995)

Play (January 1996)

OPM UK (February 1996)

Video Games (February 1996)

Video Games (March 1996)

Playstation Plus (March 1996)

Gamepro (Spring 1996)

OPM (April 1996)

EGM (April 1996)

Gamepro (May 1996)

Gamepro (May 1996)

Next Generation (June 1996)

EGM (October 1996)

Gamepro (November 1996)

PC Zone (January 1997)

Promo

Alien Trilogy Advert

Reception

At the time of its release, Alien Trilogy received extremely positive reviews from critics. Positives were aimed at the graphics and sound effects which were very faithful to the film series. Some criticism was aimed at the confusing level design. PS Plus Magazine scored it 93% stating “Fans of the films will love the samples, the moody atmosphere, and the aliens lifted from the trilogy, while game-players will just want to get in and blasting.” Official Playstation Magazine scored it 8/10 summing up: “Smooth of movement, big of picture, and puzzly of action. Yeah, no worries. Monsters, guns, and an adventure in the offing. Oh yes, you will enjoy Alien Trilogy.”

Gamepro similarly praised the game with 93% calling it “The best movie-licensed game ever made. Awesome graphics, supercool sounds and an oversized portion of absorbing gameplay to boot! Trilogy rules!” PC Zone was a bit more critical with 79% saying it was an average shooter that doesn’t bring anything new to the table: “It’s fun, but lacks any imagination or those irritating puzzles that make Quake and Duke Nukem so outstanding. It’s good, but limited.”

In term of online press, the Playstation version scored 8/10 on IGN: “There are a few problems, most noticeably in the confusing level layout, but for the most part Alien Trilogy does an excellent job of turning a great movie series into a great game.” The Saturn port scored 7.7/10 on Gamespot: “The rendering of the 3-D worlds and creatures are excellent, although not quite as crisp as the Playstation version. And the only other downside of the Saturn version of this game is the occasional “disappearing alien,” which doesn’t occur on the PSX. “ The game was ported over to the Saturn and that also received positive reviews.