Alien Trilogy: Horror shooter game

Alien Trilogy is an old DOS first-person shooting game developed by a company named Probe Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1996 for PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and MS-DOS systems. Alien Trilogy contains many features of the Alien movie series. There are references to things such as facehuggers, chestbursters, dog aliens, adult aliens, and Queen alien bosses. This game uses several weapons from the movie and new weapons developed exclusively for the game.

The player takes the role of Ellen Ripley who experiences some elements from the first three movies in the trilogy. Some cutscene technology is used in the game to enhance some of its features. The plot is laid out in a number of mission briefings taking the player through a very action-dependent story based more on game character development rather than specific elements of the films. The game begins with Ripley in a spacecraft traveling to make contact with a certain planet. With a variety of weapons at her disposal (including the pulse rifle from Aliens) and other props such as something as simple as a shoulder lamp, the other members of the ship die in a variety of gruesome ways leaving Ripley to work her way through the infested colony, prison, and alien spaceship and set herself free. There are some thirty levels and three Alien Queen bosses. If the player is using a console, only a single player campaign can be used. If the player has the DOS version, death matches involving multiple characters can be brought to life.

Thanks to the Multiplayer emulation engine Ancient.NET which is available on freegameempire.com players can enjoy the multiplayer once again over the internet.

Alien Trilogy received some positive reviews. GameRankings rated the Trilogy at 77.5% based on only five reviews, Sega Saturn at 77% based on only one review, and the PC version 43% based on three reviews. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Alien Trilogy a “Game of the Month Award” and also thought the various “mission objectives” provided more depth to the characters. A reviewer from Maximum was pleased with the sound effects but was not impressed with the developer boasting about new “Motion Picture Capture” technology. Other reviewers talked about a confusing layout but had good things to say about the game’s “intuitive” controls, the ease of the player interacting with the environment, and a strong film-to-game translation.

While originally a DOS system standout, Alien Trilogy has gone through a metamorphosis of sorts to keep itself relevant in today’s competitive gaming environment. The paltry ratings aside, Alien Trilogy will satisfy the beginning and experienced player with a technically satisfying experience derived from a tried and true method of gaming.