Aliens: The Computer Game

The Good
Based on the movie Aliens from 1986, Aliens: The Computer Game is a series of sub-games that ties in with the sequences of events from the movie. You control a group of colonial marines as they land on planet LV-426 to encounter the danger that forced them to flee the planet a while back.

There are six sub-games in Aliens. The first sub-game has you piloting your ship toward the planet. The second sub-game sees you controlling four marines as they find a way to the operations room while blasting aliens. In the third, you attempt to hold the aliens back as one of your crew tries to open the door. The fourth has you climbing through an air duct avoiding the aliens. The fifth has you rescuing Newt and making your way to the elevator. Finally, in the sixth, you get to deal with the Alien Queen. In between these games, some dialogue is displayed that is similar to what is said in the movie.

The music that is heard during the credits set the mood up pretty well. One of the best pieces of music is also heard during the flight level. The flight level has a catchy tune as you try to travel to LV-426 by going through the rings. This task is a bit difficult as you are forced to make severe turns so that you are going through the rings all the time. If you keep going outside the rings, then eventually you have to retry the level. The movement of the rings are smooth unlike the Amstrad CPC version, where the movement is too choppy.

I have to say that the action scenes is the highlight of the game. It is so much better than the Electric Dreams version, as you are free to move about in any direction rather than east or west, and the background always changes when you enter a new screen. As I said earlier, you control four marines which you can switch to. The good thing is if the Aliens get one of them, one of the other marines can find the Aliens that are killing him and blast them. You can't do this is the Electric Dreams version. Death does not occur instantly.

The other scenes have good graphics. The aliens in the action scenes are drawn the way that they are in the movie, like they should. The Queen is well drawn and she looks dangerous enough to do some major damage. The scene where you have to defeat the Queen resembles that of the movie, where Ripley is in this cargo lifter and she uses it to defeat her. I was glad that I finally did away with her.

The Bad
Apart from that flight level, some of the scenes are slightly hard. In the action scenes, for example, it is easy to get lost in the complex and not find a marine when they are in danger of getting killed by an alien. Aliens move faster and faster after you hold them back, so it is rather difficult to avoid one of your crew getting killed. The other scenes are quite easy.

There are no face huggers in the game.

The Bottom Line
Activision's version of Aliens is heaps better than the Electric Dreams version, due to the fact that the game consists of multiple scenes that are taken out of the movie, rather than just having you go from floor to floor and blasting aliens. Some scenes are easy, others are quite challenge. If you have seen the movie and would like to be in control, then give this game a try.