Aliens: The Computer Game - Apple II (1986)

Описание

I've been kind of fascinated with this game. Normally, games like this from the 80s and 90s are just a collection of mini-games and, at first, that's what this looks like. It's extremely cohesive and cinematic, so I don't fall into that camp. It's so well put together for the time that I'm sort of amazed it doesn't come up more in discussions. It's not a great game, but it is a great experience. That counts for something.

As far as playability goes, that's a little less exciting. If I could just figure out the map of the first marine section, I could probably do something with it. The marines control really well except for when they are firing. First, the moment you start firing you are locked into a strafing position. This is a good thing if you need to mow down a wave but a bad thing if xenomorphs are coming from multiple directions. Then there is the fact that all attacks are insta-kills. I do believe that I have rescued a marine before, but that also goes back to the whole knowing the map thing.

The command post invasion felt a little cheap. There are some spots where you just can't avoid losing someone because a xeno will sprint on the opposite end at just the right time, but I didn't get to put a theory to the test where I think you can body block a little bit even if you can't shoot them. You might notice a xeno bouncing off me a couple of times when they were about to get through.

The maze is a pain, period. It's slow, it's annoying to backtrack, and as far as I can tell you can't fire. I am notorious for not being able to stealth.

The Newt rescue I didn't figure out, but I also think I did after the fact. I think that once you've got her location down, you just beeline it. If you wander too far, you waste ammo and you only get the one clip.

Finally, the last battle took a sec to figure out but I did get it eventually. So the queen will run at you. You don't really attack the way you think you would. You use your arms (up pushes one arm, down pushes the other) to block her advance and then use her proximity to swipe her by moving left and right to "bump" her for damage. Once she's down to zero, THEN you can use the action button to grab her when she's close enough. That does the trick.