Movie tie-in #1: Alien 3

 (Mega Drive, 1993)

These days, nearly every kids film, tv show or blockbuster has some form of video game counter-part, and the vast majority of them are garbage. It's definitely not a new thing though, as film licensed games are nearly as old as the video game industry itself, and have gone hand-in-hand with every console generation since the Atari 2600 first hit the shelves. So lets try and weed out the shitty shovelware from the hidden gems as we dive into the world of movie/game tie-ins.


Alien 3 was one of the most heavily hyped films from 1992.Coming off the back of the hugely successful, genre defining previous films, it had a lot to live up to. It seemed an obvious choice for a video game to be based off it, so you know, you could lure the kiddies into your R-rated horror film. There were several different versions of Alien 3 on different consoles, but today we will be looking at the Mega Drive version.

The first thing you will notice after popping the cart in is that the game wastes zero time with setting things up. Title screen/Bam - start the game. I like how the developers chose not to bother with scrolling text explaining backstory or raison d'etre; you just get chucked straight into the action. Secondly, you will notice how little the game actually has to do with Alien 3. Sure, you play as Ripley (shaved head and all), but apart from that? You start the game fully packing a flame thrower, grenade launcher, machine gun and a shit-ton of hand grenades, unlike the film where you had no weapons. Also, there are a gazillion aliens in this, including bigger, meaner boss fights. Ok, so it seems like they took most of the cues from Aliens, but that's just fine with me. Besides, as much as I like Alien 3 the movie, I really don't think I would want to play a game that was faithful to it. I'm sure the attempted gang-rape level would have been a hoot.

So basically you are up against a timer, and must explore the industrial space station/planet surface, searching for prisoners and killing every damned creature that jumps out at you. Once you rescue all of the captives (these guys do actually look like they were based on the film, with their jail-bird clothes and shaved heads) you must find the exit for the level and escape before the time runs out. if you don't manage to rescue everyone, the exit door won't open and you will be treated to seeing all the prisoners having a chest burster emerge from them. After every three stages you have a boss fight, which is just you versus a bigger, badder, acid-spewing alien.

As mentioned, the lack of back story and the time-based missions gives the game a great arcade-like quality. You must memorise your way through the levels, crawling through tunnels and corridors, hoping a prisoner or the exit is just around the corner. On your first play through you will most likely run out of time a lot, as the timer is quite unforgiving, though never really unfair. It will have you pushing the continue button often, and you will be determined to make your way out. This type of gameplay actually makes the game worth coming back to, as you tend to forget your way around the maze-like levels after a few months.

The controls are straight forward and solid enough, though jumping both looks and feels a little odd. The weapons are good, and you have plenty of firepower to take out everything on your bug hunt. The music seems at odds with the visuals, however, with some of the tracks feeling a bit too disco to really make you feel the horror of it all. Still, the instrumentation is great for the most part, and the sound effects are decent.

Overall, this one is a keeper. I like to stick it on every now and then, and blast my way through a bunch of levels. It might not stick that closely to the film, but it doesn't need to. Alien 3 provides a solid arcade-style blaster that is worth playing through if you like the film series.