Dr. K's Waiting Room

Released: 20 October 2000
Developer: Argonaut Games

A Brief Background:
The Alien films (Various, 1979 to present) have had a tumultuous history with videogames, with adaptations ranging from pixelated garbage to first-person shooters, real-time strategies and crossover titles, to survival/horror experiences. In 1997, Jean-Pierre Jeunet was given the unenviable task of resurrecting the franchise after what seemed to be a definitive end, resulting in Alien Resurrection, a minor success that was met with mixed reviews. Like its predecessors, Alien Resurrection was accompanied by tie-in comics, novels, and a videogame, one that was initially asked to simply be a miscellaneous Alien title before 20^th Century Fox gave the go-ahead to retool it into a Resurrection tie-in. Argonaut Games were supplied with scripts, storyboards, and raw footage from the film as reference materials but lost numerous team members when they decided to scrap a year’s worth of development in favour of building a third-person game engine. After struggling for another year to adapt to this new engine, the concept was reworked into a first-person shooter (FPS) and Alien Resurrection became one of the first FPS titles to utilise twin stick moving in its gameplay. Ironically, the game was criticised for this decision at the time; further criticism focused on the harsh difficulty, frustrating gameplay, and inferior options compared to the likes of Quake II (id Software, 1997). Thanks to selling only 250,000 units, Alien Resurrection was deemed a failure and Argonaut Games went out of business soon after, though the pioneering title has developed a cult following over the years.

The Review:
Alien Resurrection is an FPS title that sticks somewhat faithfully to the main plot of the film upon which it’s based. Consisting of ten missions with three difficulty settings (with the hardest setting limiting you to just one save point), the game sees you explore the Xenomorph infested USM Auriga and escape on the mercenary ship, the Betty, controlling one of four characters depending on which mission you’re on. Mostly, you’ll be in control of “Ripley 8”, an Alien/human clone of the Lieutenant Ellen Ripley, or Annalee Call, a female android. Other missions have you play as Call’s shipmate, Gary Christie, or Private First Class Vincent DiStephano, a soldier stationed aboard the USM Auriga. No matter which character you’re playing as, the controls and basic gameplay remain the same. You can pick from a bunch of different control settings, alongside toggling the crosshair and camera sway, and the game offers the unique option to move with the left stick and aim with the right! With the setup I chose, X allowed me to crouch and squeeze through vents and gaps, Square and Triangle cycled through whatever items I had on hand, Circle used whatever item I had equipped, and pressing in the right stick performed a quick turn. L1 and L2 cycled through my available weapons, R1 fired, and R2 allowed me to interact with the environment, turning handles and activating consoles to open doors or activate lifts and such. The only real difference between the four characters is in the weapons they use; Christie, for example, gets dual pistols (with infinite ammo like the other pistols) while Ripley gets an electric gun that charges a powerful shot. Other weapons include a shotgun, the iconic Pulse Rifle, a laser cannon, a flame thrower, and a grenade and rocket launcher, though some of these are limited to certain missions and won’t carry over between characters.

You’ll find ammo for these weapons (and the weapons themselves) strewn about the game’s dark, oppressive environments alongside helpful items. First aid kits replenish some health, flashlights light up the area (but only for a limited time and you must wait for them to recharge), security cards open doors, and the motion tracker alerts you to nearby enemies. The most useful item you’ll find is the mobile extraction unit, a super helpful bit of kit often conveniently placed near Alien eggs. You’ll need this if when a Facehugger latches onto you as it’s the only way to keep yourself from being instantly killed by a Chestburster and to open certain security doors that remain shut whenever “non-human lifeforms” are detected. Each mission has an objective tied to it, related through the pause menu and text dialogue between the characters between missions, and you’ll have to make a note of your surroundings as there’s no map and things get very samey very quickly. To make matters worse, Alien Resurrection is very dark (the game even recommends playing is the dark to heighten the immersion), so you may want to adjust your brightness settings to aid your exploration. Missions generally involve getting from point A to point B, generally a communications device to switch characters, activating consoles and disabling security systems as you go. Flickering lights, corpses, cries for help, and blood are as commonplace as explosive crates and you must watch for bursts of electricity, manual save points, and locked doors. These are often unlocked by finding vents or alternative routes to control panels but it’s pretty easy to get lost or muddle about in the dark. Things are pretty linear for the most part, but you’ll occasionally hit a wall. In just the second mission, for example, Call has just ten minutes to locate four detonator coils, which must be found and installed or it’s an instant mission failure. Later, you’re charged with destroying Ripley’s other clones, disabling forcefields, avoiding corridors lined with laser traps, finding five key cards to escape the maze-like maximum-security wing, and releasing the Betty’s docking bay clamps.

Naturally, you’ll be attacked by Aliens as you accomplish these tasks. Regular drones go down pretty easily, and their blood doesn’t seem to hurt, but they can bleed out of the shadows and deal decent damage with their claw swipes and bites. You’ll want to blast any Alien eggs on sight as the Facehuggers are difficult to hit and your session will end pretty quickly if they latch onto you. You can use this to your advantage, however, as you can’t be double impregnated but you only have a short time before the Chestburster breaks free. The Aliens are all fully 3D models with such limited animation frames that they’re barely superior to their 2D predecessors, though they do sometimes barge through doors and scurry about on the environment. You’ll also have to battle soldiers, especially in the first few missions. These guys use cover tactics and get set upon by nearby Aliens, but their numbers dwindle as the game progresses. Like in the movie, Ripley’s failed clones merely lay on beds or are suspended in tubes for you to destroy so you’re far more likely to be disabling systems and avoiding short circuited machinery than battling elaborate Alien variants. Similarly, Alien Resurrection is disappointingly short on boss battles. You’ll face General Martin Perez, who’s flanked by flamethrower soldiers and wields a rocket launcher and shotgun, making for a particularly tough battle since the controls are so sluggish. You’ll also battle a Xenomorph Queen in a large arena completely devoid of resources. The Queen Bitch is a large target, easily strafed around and pumped with shots, but she also absorbs a great deal of punishment, though she’s limited to simple charges, headbutts, and slashes. You’ll also have several encounters with the horrific “Newborn” Alien/human hybrid, which appears multiple times in the penultimate mission. It’s also extremely limited with its attacks, though does move a bit faster so stay back and unload with the electric gun and it’ll eventually flee. While aboard the Betty and preparing your escape, it’ll reappear, completely invulnerable and confined to the ship’s narrow corridors. You must stun it with your shots and run through the Betty’s narrow, confusing tunnels, eventually taking a ventilation shaft to a control room where you suck it out into space like in the movie.

Alien Resurrection somewhat impresses with its presentation, but only if I’m being very generous. As a PlayStation title, you can expect long load and save times, texture warping and pixelated environments as standard but the game chugs along at a snail’s pace, with none of the characters moving past a lethargic stroll. This was doubly disappointing as it would’ve been a great way to further differentiate the characters, such as having the synthetic Call and the now-superhuman Ripley move faster. Alien Resurrection does a commendable job of recreating the rusty, lived-in aesthetic of the movie, however, featuring callbacks to the first two films and recognisable areas from the film, such as the gym, the laboratory, and the flooded kitchen. This is quite a large area, full of swimming Aliens and annoying button puzzles; you must also watch your oxygen meter to avoid drowning. While you’ll hear announcements from Father, the omnipresent computer that controls the USM Auriga, voice acting is mostly limited to screams and cries for help, at least until the finale. Janky, pre-rendered cutscenes occasionally appear between missions, recreating certain scenes from the movie, though in a heavily truncated form. Aliens can be dismembered, their blood splatters on the environment, and you’ll disable flame bursts and electrical hazards to acquire key cards or progress. Unfortunately, the game is just way too dark; there’s not much variety once you’re in a mission and you’re sometimes left wandering in circles because you missed a vent or got turned around because everything looks the same. The game mostly uses ambient sounds, making for a largely dull experience, though I did like seeing corpses with holes in their chests slumped over desks, blinking monitors, and Aliens dropping from vents. There is no multiplayer option here, though you can utilise a comprehensive cheat menu to overcome the game’s difficulty and unlock a “Research Mode” that allows you to alter the appearances of the Alien models.

The Summary:
I’d heard so much good press for Alien Resurrection that it almost seems as though the game is better regarded than the movie. However, I think most of those reviews rate the game because it was the first first-person shooter to use twin stick controls and it’s a surprisingly solid and faithful recreation of the movie. However, these accolades only carry it so far; behind it all, there needs to be a solid gaming experience and, sadly, there just isn’t. Alien Resurrection is essentially just another, run-of-the-mill first-person shooter, with little to differentiate it from other, more enjoyable games in the genre except the 3D models and new-fangled control scheme. It’s kind of inexcusable to have four playable characters and nothing to differentiate them except the weapons they use, something you won’t even notice if you’re playing with the cheats enabled. The gameplay cycle gets very tiresome very quickly; characters meander around as if bored and you’ll be activating the same switches and consoles over and over. There are seldom more than a handful of enemies onscreen at any one time, the selection of bosses was painfully limited, and the variety, in general, is sorely lacking. Alien Resurrection is relatively short and the environments are quite large and annoyingly labyrinthine, making it a chore to play through since it’s difficult to see what’s going on thanks to the murky graphics and overuse of shadows. In the end, Alien Resurrection is a decent enough first-person shooter with some enjoyable moments but there are far better FPS titles out there and far better Alien-adjacent videogames you could be spending your time on.

My Rating:

Could Be Better

Have you ever played Alien Resurrection? If so, where does it rank for you against the other Aliens videogames? Were you also disappointed that there wasn’t more to differentiate the characters and that the game was short on bosses? What did you think to the dual stick controls and maze-like gameplay? Which of the Alien movies or videogames is your favourite and why? Whatever your thoughts on the PlayStation’s videogame adaptation of Alien Resurrection, drop them below and be sure to check out for my review of the film that inspired the game.