Alien Trilogy

Moby ID: 1267
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

Alien Trilogy is a first-person shooter based on the first three Alien movies. 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.

Spellings

  • エイリアントリロジー - Japanese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

11 People

Producer
Lead Design
Level Design
Level Mapping
Lead Programming
Programming
Graphics / Artwork
Utility Programming

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 40 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (based on 67 ratings with 4 reviews)

Damn good find!

The Good
While visiting a recently discovered treasure trove of classic gaming goodness I found 'Alien Trilogy' in its original long-box sitting unassumingly on a shelf. I picked it up for 10 bucks and brought it home...

I was surprised at the production values at first...because they're quite good! The 3D engine is similar to the one found in PO'ed, in that it is fully three-dimensional. The characters are standard sprites but for some reason I have always found graphics like these to be more compelling than their 3D counterparts of the era.

The weapons are nicely detailed and shells spill forth after dropping some aliens or an infected human or two. The game is quite bloody which I absolutely love! If you're blowing away an infected colonist with a shotty or dousing an alien in flames blood flows profusely...sweet death...Oh, how I embrace you...

The Bad
My one and only gripe is the password system...my god haven't we moved away from elongated super passwords? Didn't we leave that back in the 80's with Metroid? Apparently not. Beware...if you die you're going to be entering a massive password, that is of course if you were intelligent enough to save when you were fully geared up.

The Bottom Line
A worthy FPS for the PSX! If you find it...get it! You will not regret the purchase - at 10 bucks how could you? Plus the long-box is hilariously over-sized it makes the purchase a no-brainer!

PlayStation · by Stefan K (5) · 2009

More fun than it has a right to be.

The Good
It's a pretty standard FPS. You fight your way through mostly linear levels activating switches to open doors, working your way to the exit whilst blasting anything that moves with a variety of weapons. The levels get progressively harder with more Aliens, ending with boss battles before finishing a chapter. All these things are pretty standard for a mid-nineties shooter game, and normally add up to some mindless distraction but Alien Trilogy manages to take these ingredients and create a fun game.

It does this by being fun and scary. The basic Aliens storyline is well known, a species of acid-blooded xenomorphs which incubate their young in host victims before bursting and turning into vicious killers. Trilogy never veers from this, or even expand the mythos - there's no new strain of Alien not seen in the films and even the weapons are all from the films. Instead the variety comes in the level design and missions. Rather than simply reaching the end of the level, the missions have Ripley (you) complete a relatively simple task such as collecting id tags or destroying eggs. Sometimes the level exit is deceptively close, but use it before you've completed enough of the mission and you'll find yourself repeating the level, so you're forced to explore - which is the scary part. Let's face it Aliens are scary, they may be pixelly representations here but when they come screaming at you or pop up behind you, you're sure to be touchy. The save system only allows saving between levels so you must make sure you're not overwhelmed, leaving you creeping around every corner keeping an eye on your scanner. I found the game almost terrifying until I cracked the system of bug hunting, and how to spot potential health and ammo stores. Even then I was always cautious, spending ammunition carefully. Each of the levels are quite short though, about half and hour a piece, so you're never far from a respite.

The Bad
The storyline is patched together from the films of the (then) trilogy, which have been mangled together into one continuous narrative. It feels like the levels in each chapter (there are three) were made long before the over-arching story. The three chapters correspond roughly to the films, the Colony (Aliens), the Prison (Alien3) and the Alien ship (Alien) with key locations being reproduced in the levels, so you get to play around in the lead mould from Alien3 and see the famous dead space jockey from Alien. Your missions in each chapter are roughly similar and involve working your way to the heart of the brood and destroying the Alien Queen. Each chapter is linked by a cut-scene, plus an introduction and epilogue video. These make very little sense. They show Ripley's (you) arrival at the colony from Aliens along with a squad of marines, who subsequently get wiped out by the Aliens leaving you to defeat them and destroy the colony. So far so OK, at the end of chapter 1 you clean out the Colony and set it to auto destruct. Rather then just clear off you decide to visit another infestation in the prison section, which happens to contain a foundry just like in Alien3. Why you don't just wait for Bishop to arrive in the drop ship is a mystery, but once you clean out the Prison Ripley decides she's not had enough and takes on the Alien ship, despite no chance of rescuing anyone there. Then the ending left my head scratching as to the point of my missions!

The Bottom Line
A fun, frenetic and fairly short game that seems difficult until you crack the level design to find the hidden caches. Alien Trilogy is worth a blast through, if only for that reason, it doesn't elucidate anything new about the films, or even tell a cohesive story missing the potential for search and rescue missions, and generally drama. It does give suspense though, and a fair chill, especially when you get a Face-hugger attached to you!

DOS · by RussS (807) · 2010

A dark arena filled with scares and creatures.

The Good
Alien Trilogy is a game that is fun to play. Especially, if you feel that there are not enough FPSs on Sega Saturn. The game starts you off in great atmosphere of darkness which can make you jump at certain points, no kidding. The game basically asks you to handle simple objectives and find your way to the exit. but you must watch out for those aliens. I am enjoying this game as a recent buy, and it is good for those people who need to have at least a decent shooter to play if its hard for them to find Saturn games. Enemies are plentiful in the levels, which is really good. The overall graphics are nice and the controls are manageable but may time to get used especially if you play new gen systems.

The Bad
What I didn't like was, though the graphics were nice, they could have polished it more. Gameplay levels can be more dynamic and larger. The controls for movement aren't changeable, which I would like to have fixed. Besides those nothing much else to dislike.

The Bottom Line
It is an eerie environment encrusted game of aliens, infected humans, and lunatics. Enjoy.

SEGA Saturn · by thehype16 (2) · 2009

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

German version

In the German version, all human and cyborg enemies were replaced with alien enemies. However, the replaced human soldiers still leave ammo and weapons behind. Also the death animations and help cries of the prisoners were removed.

Awards

  • Electronic Gaming Monthly.
    • April 1996 (Issue 81) - Game of the Month (PlayStation version).
    • March 1997 (Issue 92) - Shooter Game of the Year (PlayStation / Saturn version) + Shooter Game of the Year runner-up (multiplatform) (Readers' Choice)

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Related Sites +

  • Alien Trilogy
    game pages at Acclaim's old official site, preserved by the Wayback Machine

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  • MobyGames ID: 1267
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by rcoltrane.

Windows added by Plok. SEGA Saturn added by festershinetop. PlayStation added by Grant McLellan.

Additional contributors: Terok Nor, Alaka, ケヴィン, Patrick Bregger, MrFlibble.

Game added April 2, 2000. Last modified February 28, 2024.