In the video game space, theAlienfranchise is in good health. Sega as well asAlien: Isolationdevelopers Creative Assembly and Feral Interactive announced the game is on its way to iOS and Android,Alien: Isolation 2is reportedly in the works, and the recentAliens: Fireteam Elitesold decently well.
However, these recent games aren’t the only incarnations of the space-faring horror series, which has been adapted into video games since 1982 and has a long history even ifPredatorcrossover games are ignored. It’s worth taking a look back at the history ofAlienin video games before new potential ventures likeAlien: Isolation 2hit shelves.
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Alien’s Early Video Game Incarnations
The firstAlienvideo game, based on the original 1979 movie, was aPac-Man-styled maze game developed by Fox Video Games and released on theAtari 2600in 1982. Even as far back as that, developers were clearly keen to recreate the movie’s claustrophobic feel and iconic vent shaft scene. Then 1984 saw a more complex adaptation for the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum, granting the player control of every crew member of the Nostromo as they search for the escaped alien creature. The game received mixed reviews, but was also adapted for the Amstrad CPC in 1985.
It’s interesting to note that the term “xenomorph” describing H.R. Giger’s iconic aliens was not coined until the sequel film,Aliens, which released in 1986 to an overwhelmingly positive reception. The movie’s success unsurprisingly spawned a number of video game adaptations, withAliens: The Computer Gamereleased on Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1986, later ported to other hardware. Another game with the same title was released across the same systems a year later, but this one was a first-person adventure that received better reviews. The finalAliengame to appear that decade was 1987’sAliens: Alien 2, a Japan-only release available on the MSX that notably featuredFinal Fantasyalumni Nobuo Uematsu as its sound designer.
Alien 3released in 1992, and predictably a glut of newAlienvideo games came out around the same time. A Konami arcade game based onAliensappeared in 1990, followed by the firstAlien 3adaptation in 1992. Originally released for Amiga, Commodore 64, andSega Master System, this well-received run-and-gun shooter was ported to more modern platforms in the subsequent years, as well as seeing alternate adaptations for the Game Boy and SNES.
An arcade light gun-shooter calledAlien 3: The Gunfollowed in 1993, and then 1996 saw the release ofAlien Trilogyon PC, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn. This first-person shooter was praised for capturing the mood and atmosphere of the movies and was a commercial success. TheAlienfranchise closed out the millennium strong with 1997’sAlien Resurrection, and with the release of first-person shooterAliens Onlinein 1998. Neither hit the heights of the franchise’s early days, but there were many reasons for fans of Ripley and the xenomorphs to be positive as they headed into a new century.
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Alien in the New Millennium
The first adaptation ofAlien Resurrectionarrived in 2000 for the PlayStation, again a first-person shooter, which received mixed reviews after several years in development hell. The title did, however, help to pioneer the twin-stick controls universally used in modern first-person shooters.
A Game Boy Color release followed in 2001 withAliens: Thanatos Encounter, once again to a middling reception. The rest of the 2000s focused solely onAlien vs. Predatorcrossover games, except for a 2006 arcade game calledAliens: Extermination. This perhaps reflected the state of theAlienfranchise at this point, which didn’t have a canonical new release until 2012’sPrometheus.
The nextAlien-only video game release did not arrive until 2011’sAliens: Infestationon the Nintendo DS, and thenAliens: Colonial Marinesin 2013. The latter title was infamous, with criticism focused on its technical problems, poor visuals, and weakenemy AI. The game even became the subject of a lawsuit when two players attempted to sue developer Gearbox and publisher Sega for false advertising after press demos seemed to feature better graphics than the final product.
The next year saw another arcade game,Aliens: Armageddon, but 2014 is more noteworthy for the release ofAlien: Isolationon PC and all major consoles (later ported to Switch). The game was heralded as a strong survival-horror title, and praised for returning to the franchise’s roots by being based upon the firstAlienmovie. Fans were delighted by the inclusion of such iconic features as the beeping motion scanner and creepy ventilation shafts as they skulked, hid, and ran for their lives aboard the derelict Sevastopol.
The release of the most recentAlienmovie,Alien: Covenantin 2017, saw an arcade adaptation in the same year alongside the virtual reality experienceAlien: Covenant - In Utero.Alien: Descentwas another VR title released in 2018, the same year thatAlien: Offworld Colony Simulatorbecame available. This was an intriguing turn-based survival game playable on the Amazon Alexa device.
Alien: Blackoutreleased on iOS and Android in 2019, and was followed byAliens: Fireteam Elitein 2021 on all major systems. Fans of the franchise eagerly await news of Ridley Scott’s plans for the nextAlienmovie, as well as the inevitable next video game outing for the Weyland-Yutani universe. Despite the mixed reception toPrometheusandAlien: Covenant, the xenomorphs are simply too popular and too terrifying to be kept away from gaming systems for long.
