Aliens: A Comic Book Adventure

Adventure 1995 Dos Dosbox Mindscape Science Fiction 3D action adventure

Disappointing movie spin-off

The Alien licence is one which has rarely been served too well by the videogaming industry, with only the Alien first person shooter trilogy doing a decent job of bringing to life the rich and terrifying universe first visited in Ridley Scott's 1979 movie. A Comic Book Adventure is a bold attempt at doing something a little different with the property and while it isn't wholly successful, it's a pretty reasonable stab that is well worth digging out whether you're a Aliens fan or a follower of adventure games. It takes the form of a point and click adventure and sees players taking on the role of gruff Lt. Col. Hericksen, a former marine who is now charged with sending out terraforming teams. The story here revolves around Hericksen and his team investigating a distress beacon from a remote outpost and there are no prizes for guessing what is behind the sudden disappearance of the colonists. Most of the game invovles exploring the base and other locations, solving inventory-based puzzles but there is also grid-based combat to mix things up a bit. Unfortunately however, Aliens is pretty unexciting on the whole, lacking in any real tension or drama as most of the game involves plodding around trying to figure out what went on. The visuals are reasonable enough, but don't really bring the sense of brooding terror that is required in an Alien game which is disappointing. The game is worth playing for comics fans particularly, as it ties in to an earlier Dark Horse series but unless you're a true diehard follower of the series, this can easily be skipped over in favour in Aliens vs Predator which does a much better job of recreating the visceral thrills of the movie franchise.

Action adventure poking about in the Alien universe

Aliens: A Comic Book is an action adventure game, quite a good one, which puts you exactly in the kind of universe that we experienced in the feature films. He game plays a bit like a point and click but it also has bits that are more action oriented. At any rate, generally, the game is about static screen and about finding the way to solve riddles than anything else, so don't expect a third person action, in the modern sense. But, it can be quite fun, though it sure doesn't feel or look like a high budget game, though it is an alright looking little beast. Not, however, the kind of experience that you really can think of as retro, nor as modern, just an uncomfortable bit in between. Plus, expect a bit of that pixel shared type of look where features are reinforced by those lines that some might like while others might find repugnant. At any rate, how you look at it it's entirely up to you. For me it's alright, but the game is pretty unimpressive, like a sort of advanced graphical novel at times, but for me, that doesn't really do much. Instead, I like the Alien first person shooters more, especially the first one.

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