Developer: Probe Publisher: LJN Release: 03/93 Genre: Action-Adventure
Alien 3 was an incredibly disappointing movie that failed to uphold the sterling reputation of its predecessors. The numerous production issues certainly contributed to its lack of quality. But it would have taken a miracle for it to be decent. So it should come as no surprise that most of the video games that would follow are also bad. The sad thing is it had the potential to be good. But the NES game’s numerous crippling flaws stand out and ruin what could have been a decent adventure.
The game takes extreme liberties with its gameplay. The movie took place on the prison colony of Fiorina 161 and had one alien and no guns. That meant the protagonists in the film had to be creative to deal with their nemesis. It was tense as hell as a result but sadly would not have made for a good 8-bit action game. Instead the game says screw that premise and arms Ripley with a full suite of weapons as you rescue prisoners in every level. I could care less about the creative liberties taken with the source material if the game is good. But Alien 3 has problems.
The controls are functional but less than ideal. The buttons are backwards: B jumps and A shoots which to any 8-bit gamer is nonsense. Ripley is not the most nimble character to control which adds to the frustration. Jumping and movement in general feels stiff and she tends to tumble over if you drop more than a few feet. The only saving grace is that enemies are sparse so precision is not necessary. That is little comfort for what you have to deal with overall.
I was not joking when I said Ripley is armed to the teeth. At the beginning of every level you have a full complement of weapons. A pulse rifle, grenade launcher, flame thrower, and hand grenades. Ammo is limited with more scattered around every level. But chasing items down is not necessary. All of the aliens in each stage have braindead AI and patrol a set area. They are also largely uninterested in your presence unless you are in front of them. It is more advantageous to avoid combat as much as possible, not just to conserve resources but also to beat the clock. After two stages you fight a guardian which is merely an alien queen with a slightly different pattern than its brethren. These fights should be one of the game’s highlights but are more busywork. You can easily cheese them which makes their inclusion worthless.
Each of the game’s eight levels tasks you with saving a set number of prisoners and finding the exit before time runs out. This version features fewer prisoners to save in each stage but that makes it no less easy. The levels are gargantuan in size and complex in their layout. Even the initial levels can be confusing to navigate. Later stages feature less prisoners to save but intricate designs that force you to loop around half the map to save one person. I’ll be honest; the level design is actually pretty good. But a variety of factors ruin it. The lack of a map is a glaring oversight that almost ruins the game on its own and no, the stupid radar is not a good substitute. But the worst is the clock.
The timer is the absolute worst aspect of the game. In porting over Alien 3 someone adjusted the amount of time per level and ruined it. Simply put you have the absolute bare minimum time to rescue all the prisoners and find the exit, if even that. The truth is even with a map and following the optimal route you will reach the exit with seconds to spare at most. Most of the time if you make one wrong turn or miss a jump chances are you will not make it. Ideally you should have enough time to explore, finding items and the prisoners naturally. Instead you have to make a mad rush like your life depends on it, because it does. With no continues or passwords starting over from the beginning is soul crushing. I don’t know why they made these changes but they were unnecessary.
In Closing
The NES version of Alien 3 is a bad game through and through. The LJN logo should have been the first clue as to its quality but one can hope. Unfortunately that optimism is not rewarded as the game feels like someone made every possible decision to make it as frustrating as possible. Alien 3 was decent to good on the other platforms. On the NES it is abysmal.
