Alien: the best games ever

Alien

The saga of xenomorphs has recently celebrated its first forty years and is preparing to achieve important goals because it is still alive, well and very popular. This is also demonstrated by the announcement of another video game on the series, the already presented Aliens: Fireteam on which we can't wait to get our hands. In the meantime, we wondered which titles best represent the spirit of the films and of the entire series.

Even if in reality each of the many films released has its own unique and recognizable style, Alien has very specific characteristics that we find in each of them: one of these is certainly the opposition of human beings to xenomorphs. For years it has been debated on the very nature of the whole series: horror movies? or science fiction thrillers? Probably a perfect fusion of these two genres, just like many video games have been able to do. Let's find out together which are our best games dedicated to Alien!

Alien Versus Predator

Also known as AvP, it was quite successful in the late 1990s on the Windows PC platform. The plot of Alien vs Predator developed around the Pandora base, site owned by the famous Weyland-Yutani company, and was divided into three completely independent sections. It was in fact possible to use the classic space marine, a Xenomorph or a Predator as a character. Each of the three parts was not interconnected and was developed independently, letting us experience a piece of history at a time.

In the part dedicated to the marine it was necessary to find a way to escape from the planet after the xenomorphs had taken over the military base; in the story in which we commanded the alien we had to take revenge on the terrible experiments of humans, while in the Predator phase the goal was to counter both marines and xenomorphs. The various "visuals" and ways of moving of the protagonists were perfectly recreated in the game, each with its own unique abilities and characteristics.

Aliens: Infestation

Released in 2011 exclusively on Nintendo DS , Aliens: Infestation is one of our favorite xenomorph-based titles. Developed by the expert coders of WayForward, a Californian software house with thirty years of experience on all platforms and with dozens of licensed titles, this game represents a sort of MetroidVania centered on the events of Alien.

One of the best things about Aliens: Infestation was the management of the party, always made up of four characters but interchangeable each time someone succumbed under the jaws of the xenomorphs. Each marine had a flood of lines of dialogue that characterized them superbly and somehow made us fond of each of them throughout the adventure. Little pearl: the cover designed by Chris Bachalo, author close to DC Comics, Marvel and Neil Gaiman. Absolutely get it back if you missed it!

Alien Versus Predator 2

Alien Versus Predator 2 was obviously the long-awaited sequel to the aforementioned AvP released just a couple of years earlier, whose success convinced publisher and developer to continue the saga. This chapter represented the consecration of AvP especially in the competitive multiplayer field: in the years from 2002 to 2007 the title was played a lot on the official servers, and then moved to private servers after the closure by Sierra.

AvP2 was also highly appreciated for the plot that intersected the events of Alien3 and the film Alien vs Predator, acting as a tie-in that amplified and deepened many points in the history of the saga. As in the first chapter, the plot was divided equally into three parts between marine, xenomorph and Predator.

Alien 3

Between the 8bit generation and the one that was coming of the 16bit one came out of the most popular titles of the time and of the entire Alien franchise. Let's talk about the tie-in of the third film, the work of the then emerging visionary director David Fincher. The Alien3 videogame, due to its temporal collocation between the two eras, was produced in a double version: although very similar and developed largely by the same people, the NES, Amiga, Megadrive and Super Nintendo versions were not exactly identical, enjoying particularities and peculiarities for each of the aforementioned versions, additional levels, soundtrack and much more.

The assumptions of the plot followed those of the film, that is Ellen Ripley protagonist and only survivor of the crash of the spaceship Sulaco on the mining planet and Fiorina161 prison. Unlike the film, however, in the game we were "harnessed" with weapons and much more to try to counter the xenomorphic enemy. A great action-adventure full of suspense and atmosphere that has remained in the hearts of many fans of the series.

Alien: Isolation

Last we leave what seemed to us the sum of all video games dedicated to Alien, let's talk about the Isolation chapter released in 2014 by the British of Creative Assembly and published by SEGA. At the turn of the last two generations, it came out in double format and with a graphic cosmetics that is still enviable today, especially if played on high-end PCs or on new consoles such as Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, where it does not look bad next to games more current. It is a wonderful survival horror with puzzle solving and shooter sessions, against human enemies and androids that populate the lively and beautifully crafted spaceship Sulaco. A beautiful videogame tribute to all fans of the series.

The developers have in fact worked closely with the 20th Century Fox production company, obtaining infinite material useful for modeling the xenomorph, designing the environments and making the whole game in the eyes of the most attentive. The presence of the alien in the game is the leitmotif of the adventure: there is to escape, hide, avoid it, sometimes face it, always with a great and anxious sense of thrilling. For those who have lost it, of course, we strongly recommend that you retrieve it on the digital stores and enjoy it! What are your favorite Alien video games?