Alien Resurrection
Alien Resurrectionby Fox Interactive
Platform: PlayStation
ESRB Rating: Mature
ASIN: B00002STI6
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Features:
• First-person action-adventure game, inspired by eponymous movie
• Combines problem solving, strategy, and action elements
• 10 levels feature multiple walkways, galleries, rooms, and underwater areas
• Play as Ripley, Call, DiStephano, and Christie
• Weapons include pulse rifle, flamethrower, electric gun, and grenade launcher
Amazon.com: Take two parts weak plot, a hint of bad controls and crummy auto aiming, add a dash of overdone stretches of boredom amidst short stretches of rather fierce action, and you've got Alien: Resurrection's downside. But here's the upside: these are Ridley Scott's aliens, and they're coming for you relentlessly. The game gives you the heebie-jeebies when you're playing it all alone with the lights turned low. The tension often can become palpable as you reload your weapon, administer a health pack, and pray that the beasts don't hit you from a direction that you hadn't anticipated.
The premise of the game is pretty standard Alien fare: you, as Ripley, are locked in a life-or-death outer-space struggle to keep the devious Dr. Wren from bringing alien samples to earth. What more is there to know?
The atmosphere that's created by Alien: Resurrection's various environments, animations, and sounds is the primary reason to purchase this game. Because it relies heavily on suspense (the sense that these adversaries can be nowhere and everywhere at the same time has never been more real in a game), Alien: Resurrection sometimes can go even beyond what you'd consider merely scary to an entirely new terrorizing experience. The game engine supports all of this with atmospherics like lighting effects, fogging, dripping water (and blood?), and other particle effects, without causing you to endure much--if any--slowdown.
But suspense can go only so far. As in the movies, if the actual confrontations with the aliens don't live up to expectations, the whole game suffers. Even as they start off with a bang, the alien encounters follow a script. After making a dramatic entrance, they mostly just give you the bum's rush without any thought for using available cover, or even jogging from side to side as they advance. With their plodding movements, it's no surprise, when you actually get into the alien firefight that you've been expecting and craving, that the tension completely disappears. --Todd Mowatt
Pros:
Genuinely suspenseful
Great graphics and atmospherics
Cons:
Weak plot, with boring stretches
Predictable alien encounters
Customer Reviews:
The Best!, December 21, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from Johnstown, PA, USA
The weapons are great and so are the aliens. The graphics are what really makes this game great. Buy it!
Almost as good as Quake II, October 31, 2001
Reviewer: Tom Jensen from Monterey, CA
Yes, the controls are hard. Quake II had the best configuration but there are six different settings from which to choose and after the first day you'll get used to them. BUT on that first day I found myself playing the same levels 8 or 9 times just trying to survive! It was fun, it was very scary, but it was just too damn hard! So, I highly recommend that you do as I did right from the start: Set the difficulty on Easy and use the Cheats to give yourself unlimited ammo. Conserving ammo during an intense firefight is not my idea of fun. Get yourself the shotgun and blast away! This also solves the problem trying to aim the cross-hair while running for your life! And those pesky face huggers! Ack! You'll need diapers when they attach themselves to your screaming face! This is a nice game. If you want a shooter that is almost as good as Quake II look no further. Just give yourself a fighting chance: tune the difficulty down and tune the violence up!
Fun, Scary, and very cool!, October 20, 2001
Reviewer: Jonathan Ruehs from Glendale, CA United States
This is a fun game. This game keeps close to the alien movies, and especially to the fourth one. While some gamers complain that the game has a lot of dead space, with no killing, I didn't find that to be the case. I did cheat and use the cheats codes to help me get through the game, especially with those little facehuggers lying around the floor waiting to get you. The facehuggers can be frustrating, but with the cheat on, you don't die. I like the alien genre and if you enjoy the genre as well, you too will enjoy this game. It is great when it is best played in the dark.
Great Game! But Awkward Controls!!!, October 10, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from Vancouver, WA
Alien Resurrection was a example of a great game. Great graphics, good sound, great gameplay, but it does suffer from one major factor (THE CONTROLS!!!). The controls are the only major issue in Alien Resurrection. They are awkward, sloppy, and just plain messed up! But if you give yourself awhile to work with it you will get it down in no time. Other than that it is one of the best games that I own. But gamers be warned it is given a M-rating for a good reason.
Great graphics and atmosphere, terrible control, August 30, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from Los Angeles
GRAPHICS: 9/10
SOUND: 8/10
CONTROLS: 4/10
GAMEPLAY: 6/10
This game has great atmosphere, sound, and fantasitc graphics (very dark and creepy), but the controls are horrible. They should have taken a look at the Quake II (PSX version) controls before making this game, because Alien Resurrection really suffers because of it. I even tried playing this with a PSX mouse, but that wasn't much better. I did get accustomed to the controls after a while, but they were still awkward and at that point I was bored with the game anyway - it's just not very exciting. If you are a diehard fan of the Alien movies you will probably enjoy this, otherwise look elsewhere.
Downright freaky, August 19, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from USA
This is one of the coolest PlayStation games ever. The film clips are one of the best ones I've seen in any movie-based game. You have the oppertunity to take down aliens with a cool arsenal of weapons. The creators of this game recommend that you play this game in the dark. I tried doing it and............OH BOY! It's awesome. I can't remember playing anything scarier. I suggest that all PlayStation owners should get this game, but be sure to play it in the dark.
ALIEN ROCKS!!, July 29, 2001
Reviewer: A gamer from Highland Park, NJ
Out of my 30 games this is the best one! It`s constant horror and action, all the creepiness of Alien is captured in this game to give you the heebie jeebies! But I got to tell you the M is well deserved. This game will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time!
And you thought the movie was bad..., May 16, 2001
Reviewer: murphy12 from Atlanta, GA
Alien Ressurection the game, makes the movie of the same title look like an Oscar winning masterpiece (well, ok maybe not). The only reason it got two stars was for the awesome atmosphere and graphics that this game has to offer plus the level of geniune fear and suspense that it conjurs up.
Now for the bad...nothing ever really happens in this game. At times, it is downright BORING. You wander around in the pitch black half the time waiting for something really bad to happen...but it never does. When I say this game is dark, I mean dark as in no light. You can't see half the time and the worthless flashlight that you have runs out of batteries every five minutes. The controls are sloppy and unnecessarily difficult. The weapons/ammo are limited and you really have to search for them in some of the later levels which makes the game seem contrived, like they added that feature only to make the game longer. Alien Trilogy was a much better game. Like the Alien movies, too many sequels makes for a predictable and downright boring ride.
Alien Resurrection: a deep pool of thick atmosphere, March 17, 2001
Reviewer: Mitch Hendrix, Jr from Lowgap, NC United States
Many reviewers have given this game a mediocre or even low review, but I think it deserves much, much more. The tension is everywhere, and there's aliens around every corner. The controls take getting used to, but once you get the hang of them, you wouldn't want anything different. Definitely one of the best PSX games ever, and one of the best single player experiences on any platform.
another unwanted sequel, January 19, 2001
Reviewer: ashley from Seattle, WA United States
graphics: a bit sub par. environments are all the same sets over and over. the aliens are in the ... flat-3d sprite-like technology from the original "Doom."
game play: it's not terrible but it just isn't that fun. i've got maybe twenty playstation titles (some, like "Vagrant Story" or "Siphon Filter" or even "Spider Man" i like well enough to continue playing on my PS2 -- there's only so much "Tekken Tag" you can take) and this is the only one i haven't even considered revisiting.
there are tons of great PS1 titles out there for cheap now. try one of them instead. or save your pennies for the new Game Boy in march, or "Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty" or just about anything else.
"Alien Resurection" (like its big screen namesake) would have been better off staying dead.