Alien 3

Probe pulled this one out of nowhere. One of the best film to game conversions, Alien 3 actually managed to be better than the movie! Great animation, varied mission objectives, super soundtrack and hordes of Aliens produced a fantastic package.

Though the game was classic platform, it wasn’t frenetic by any means.  The movie had only one Alien and the game has a lot, but the same tension is built through the mission structure.  It would have been easy to create a game where the primary objective of each level is to “kill a lot of aliens”, a la the arcade version of Aliens, but Probe retained the idea that Aliens were most difficult to deal with when you were trying to do something else.  Escape, usually :)

Through the six levels, you are tasked with rescuing prisoners or repairing the cooling pipes (using a welding torch – very distracting).  You can access the base computers to get an excellent map, which proves essential as you navigate the maze-like corridors.

Probe were later responsible for another superb film conversion on the Playstation - Die Hard Trilogy.

There is an excellent FAQ for this game over on Gamefaqs.

“A perfect organism … Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. A survivor … unclouded by conscience, remorse, or delusions of morality.”
- Ash

“It’s an eight foot creature of some kind, with acid for blood… And it arrived on your spaceship. It kills on sight and is generally unpleasant.”

- Superintendent Andrews

You grope through the darkness. Heart-pounding fear chokes your breath. Your motion tracker flashes. You want to run. But, if you don’t destroy every acid-spitting xenomorph on the planet the nightmare will never end!

3 Times the Suspense,

3 Times the Danger,

3 Times the Terror…