Alien, if there were ever a greater combining of science fiction and horror in film, it was never found. The first two movies, I mean, the other ones can take a hike off a short pier. This game, however, has been a little divisive of the Saturn fanbase and there are a few reasons for this.
If you were looking for a game with atmosphere and scares, this game isn't void of them, but it's in rather short supply. The graphics in the maps aren't bad and they got the look of the aliens right, they just didn't combine the two to their full effect. Walking through the corridors, you expect to see a full xenomorph jump out at you or a face hugger attempt to attach itself to sudden terrifying deadliness.
Well, there is an alien, but he just kind of comes toward you. The AI isn't really there to take advantage of the setting or aesthetics. They pretty much react like enemies in a first person shooter. On top of that, in the first few levels, not only is ammo rather scarce, but so are the aliens. With how many bullets it takes to kill an adult xenomorph, it was wise to give people the challenge. The problem is that this still does not make the game very exciting.
Later levels fix this by giving you stronger weapons and more enemies. There comes another problem though. There are only xenomorphs and face huggers. Two types of enemies do not exactly inspire excitement. Unless you count eggs you need to shoot. Then there are three types. Yippee.
The game isn't outright terrible, despite it being on my bottom 20 list of Saturn games. It just doesn't have that hook and follow-through that Doom is so well known for. Doom had an entire entourage of demons to rip and tear and, yes, some of them had big guts. With so many types of enemies to face, you are preoccupied with finding ways to take them down. With an alien and a baby crawly alien, this is a bit more apparent. A shotgun pretty much does the trick for both.
Trilogy did, however, have a decent set of weapons. The flamethrower is always fun to use, for instance. Still, the problem still remains that this is like figuring out what kind of shoe to crush a cockroach with. In the end, it will get crushed.
There is fun to be had here. As said, it has its own challenges and the maps are well designed to traverse. Once you find a good size group of aliens, the fun can be quite invigorating. It just happens too irregularly because you'll either figure your way out of a map rather easily or you'll get lost.
The recommendation for this game is rather tentative and should be aimed more toward fans of the horror FPS genre. It may surprise you, because this game does have a fanbase, so give it a try. Just be careful when drinking space water.
