I’m waving goodbye to my 20′s and to celebrate I’m counting down 30 games from the last 30 years.  Join me while I countdown 30 great years of game memories.

Alien Trilogy

It was hard going for first person shooters in the early years of the Playstation with many controlling poorly and others just lacking the look and feel people had come to expect from the genre from their time with PC games.  Some hit the mark, with the Playstation version of DOOM faithfully recreating the PC experience and Insomniac Games’ Disruptor having a decent stab at making its home on the system.  So while they were there they were few and far between good experiences.  In the worth playing pile though is Probe Development’s Alien Trilogy based on the films of the same name.

The Aliens franchise is a perfect fit for the first person shooter genre.  The canon itself is based on a struggle for survival against the odds and Alien games from past to present have always tried to capitalise on that premise.  Alien Trilogy is no exception pitting the player against Xenomorphs from all three films as they struggle to survive and make their way to the end of each twisting level.  It’s not an original game but it leverages off the Aliens property incredibly well, with the result being a highly entertaining romp through the world so vividly established by Ridley Scott 34 years ago.

The game loosely follows the three films as you take the role of Ripley, beginning with her arrival on LV-426 and ending with her escapades in the penal colony of planet Fiorina.  While it doesn’t follow the story in the strictest of senses the progression through the three films gives the game a very distinct set of locations to fight your way through.  In fact if Alien Trilogy does one thing particularly well its that it captures the signature elements and atmosphere of the films perfectly.

Everything you’d expect from an Alien experience is there from the motion tracker to the signature sound of the Pulse Rifle as it loads off rounds into a face hugger or Xenomorph.  All of this detail results in a game that recreates the world of Alien perfectly and in doing so is a fitting tribute to a wonderful film trilogy.  It also happens to be a pretty decent early 32-bit era first person shooter.

Have a favourite game from 1996?  Tell us in the comments below.  Don’t forget to come back soon for the next game in our countdown.  Miss a year?  Catch up below.

1995 – 1994 – 1993 – 1992 – 1991 – 1990 – 1989 – 1988 – 1987 – 1986 – 1985 – 1984 – 1983