According to GameBase64.com, 1983/1984 saw the release of no less than seven C64 games that were called Alien. Only one was related to the well-known 1979 sci-fi movie of the same name. In 1990, an eighth Alien game got unleashed on the C64, and it would change the world of gaming forever.
I'm kidding. It's just a game with aliens in it.
Alien was created by Rudolf and Hans Baer. The latter was also the author of Spacefighter, and both games share some similarities.
Even before the actual game starts, it already feels familiar: As in Spacefighter, there is no title image, just a simple text spelling out the game's name. Arguably, this could be an homage to the original Alien movie which also started with some typography fading onto the screen.
The second thing that both games have in common is the option to display the game's backstory and instructions (all in German). The story is presented in a rather wordy way, so here's a basic summary:
Hegira is a planet that got colonized by humans 23 years ago. A recent emergency message from Hegira's capital city indicates that the local fusion reactor got swarmed by Gaits, alien organisms that feed on the power plant's energy and multiply rapidly. The only surviving person in the reactor's vicinity is chief engineer Shila Byron who now has to kill all aliens before their alkaline excrements destroy the whole facility.
The game starts with Shila standing right in the middle of the facility. The tranquility of the scene is interrupted by a text message that is printed with a digitized sound not dissimilar to somebody beatboxing into a microphone.
The number in the bottom left indicates the current total of aliens that are still around. The flashing message in the center tells us where the next bunch of critters can be found. Next to that is the number of shots in Shila's handgun. If she runs out of bullets, she has to recharge the gun at a computer terminal. Lastly, the percentage shown to the right is Shila's energy. Any collisions with aliens or other hazards cause her to recoil and lose one percent of energy. If she reaches zero, the game ends and the whole planet probably blows up.
The facility is split into six underground sectors, labeled A to F, that can be reached via elevators from the surface. For some reason, the sectors are ordered from right to left, which always throws me off and causes me to go the wrong way. At the start of the game, Shila is between sectors B and C, thus sector E is further to the left.
If you've seen my blog post about Spacefighter, this will look very familiar to you. Indeed, this is pretty much an extended version of the previous game's jump 'n' run finale. Once again, the animation is heavily based on the player sprite from Epyx's Impossible Mission, and this time, the somersault jump has also been included.
Jumping soon becomes a requirement, as Shila can't run very far until she encounters bars on the floor that somehow harm her when she steps on them. My guess is that they're electrified to keep intruders away. Evidently, this doesn't work at all on an alien species that feeds on energy.
The situation gets worse the further to the left Shila runs. I suppose there are automated security systems in place to defend against intruders, and our engineer is perceived as one. Since there's nobody around to shut down the system, Shila just has to evade the incoming missiles as well as she can.
Let's enter Sector E now:
That elevator ride doesn't look safe at all! The platform is moving at a speed that might as well be just a free fall down the entire shaft. How Shila manages to not get all of her bones crushed at the bottom remains a mystery.
When you enter a sector that's infested with aliens, a male voice points out this inconvenience with a pretty intelligible "ATTENTION! ALIEN IN SECTOR!". There is more than just one alien in the sector, though, but from what I've seen so far, I suppose the game's author thought that "alien" means both singular and plural.
You may have noticed that the alien counter went up by one to 81 in the meantime. As long as there are twenty or more aliens in the entire facility, a new one gets spawned about every 1.5 minutes. Thus, it's a good idea to reduce their numbers quickly.
Each sector consists of several connected rooms that may contain aliens. From the elevator entrance, Shila can either go left or right, but to clean out the entire sector she has to visit both sides eventually.
I'm taking the right side first, mainly because I know that's the easier part of Sector E. Here's where Shila's way of jumping becomes a bit ridiculous. Obviously, she is very acrobatic, but apparently the only move she ever learned is this forward somersault, and she's using it for everything, even if she's scaling a vertical wall.
Shila is about to enter the first room with actual aliens in it. You might be wondering what they look like. Are they your typical Star Trek bipedal race with a Mars bar slapped to the forehead? Or are they an actual homage to HR Giger's frightening xenomorph design? As it is often the case, a picture says more than a thousand words:
Gee, the reactor has been overrun by a gaggle of miscreant slinkies.
I have to give the creators points for not going the usual route for the alien design. As ridiculous as they may appear at first sight, the Gaits still feel like a proper menace. For starters, they can walk on the ceiling, out of your gun's reach, and then drop on your head. The way they navigate rooms is neatly informed by their bendy appearance.
Naturally, I'm here to shoot the aliens, not marvel at their weirdness. Watch the following scene where I highlight some of the game's quirks:
- Each time Shila enters a room with Gaits in it, the worms are placed randomly. So if I don't like how they're positioned, I can just leave and re-enter as many times as I want.
- Pressing fire triggers Shila's gun, as one would expect. However, as one would not expect at all, I need to keep the fire button pressed, or the bullet explodes right in front of Shila. As long as I hold fire, the projectile keeps on flying, and once I release the button, the shot explodes and kills any aliens nearby.
- The collision detection when a bullet explodes is rather buggy. Sometimes it's possible to kill several aliens at once, even if they're not in the explosion's radius, sometimes the shot does nothing.
The last point I mentioned can be a boone as well as a curse. Just look at this example where I wipe the entire room clean with one shot:
And now witness the following scene where it takes me three shots to kill the green Gait, even though all three explosions clearly collide with the worm:
The latter situation can be pretty annoying, especially because Shila's gun can only hold up to nine shots.
Speaking of which, I only just now noticed that when Shila fires the gun, her sprite looks as if she is simply pointing with her bare finger.
The next room to the right contains this sector's computer terminal which allows Shila to recharge her gun. For me, this is an iconic scene, and probably the main reason why I still remember this game. Not because I like recharging fictional energy weapons, but because of the digitized samples that are employed here: First, the computer clearly exclaims "GUN LOAD!", and then each shot added to the gun is accompanied by a sound that, again, is very likely vocal percussion performed by one of the game's authors.
The left side of Sector E reveals the first inklings that the game's main antagonist won't be the aliens but the level design itself. If I just walk to the left while on the upper platform, Shila falls down, thanks to a small gap in the next room. At least I get to shoot some aliens this way. The same trick is used in the next two rooms, so it's recommended that whenever you leave a screen while on a raised platform, you better jump.
The leftmost room contains the last few aliens in this area, and once the final worm has evaporated, a digitized voice sample declares the sector cleaned. Before I leave, I go back to the terminal to recharge my gun.
As soon as Shila reaches the surface, she gets informed which sector has to be disinfected next. Conveniently, Sector D is located directly to the right of Sector E.
This time I explore the left side first because I know the terminal is found here. What I can also find here is dodgy platforming. I need several attempts to make it onto that small ledge, and when I do, it's by a hair's width, with Shila's feet partially stuck in the platform.
The room at the end of the corridor looks like it'll be easy to get down but much harder to get back up. Eventually I'll have to climb it, though, because it's the only way back to the central elevator. Well, except if I do this:
Shila gets knocked back when she touches an
On the right side of Sector D we are veering dangerously close to what I call Eff You level design. Walk to the right, and without warning the floor disappears, and Shila gets knocked back into the previous room. Thanks, game!
What you need to do is to constantly jump while crossing that long bridge.
Except, if you're unlucky, you can still fall down. Thanks again, game! I didn't need that much health anyway!
The rest of the right corridor consists of worms waiting to be exterminated and then Sector D is also wiped clean.
Next up is Sector A which is significantly darker. I quite like the high-contrast style of this area. The sector starts out pretty benign with a couple of Gaits and a terminal on the right side. It's pretty easy to take care of this part. The real challenge awaits on the sector's other side.
The left corridor's very first room caused me so much trouble, I recorded a video just to demonstrate how aggravatingly bad the platforming is:
Even though I halfway remembered how to get to the upper platform, I still managed to fall off several times. I swear, I didn't try to show inept gameplay on purpose here. The level design forces the player several times to move right to the very edge of a platform in order to make a successful jump. It's not particularly entertaining, and the twitchy controls don't help either.
With Sector A clean, the game directs me to Sector C. This one is less irritating, even though there's a room that, at first glance, seems like a nightmare to navigate.
The secret to getting through this screen is to just keep on jumping. The way back is a bit less straightforward, but the room looks worse than it is.
Now I'm in Sector F and holy hell did I forget that the platforming gets even worse here:
I probably made that look way easier than it is. Any fall off a platform in the middle room causes Shila to fall into the alkaline sea and then she gets knocked back about half a dozen times. If you fall off, I recommend pressing the joystick immediately to the right. This way, Shila still takes damage, but at least she tumbles into the direction where you want to go.
There, Sector F is also free of aliens, and with their number being reduced to below 20, they've stopped breeding like rabbits. Unfortunately, this also means that there are now only a handful of aliens found in the sectors.
Sector B is the last one we haven't visited yet, and it features another jumping sequence that requires pixel-perfect character placement. Oh, what fun! And yes, on the way back to the right you totally have to stay on the upper platforms, as the adjacent room contains a wall that can't be jumped over when Shila is on the ground.
At this point, the Sectors I have to visit start repeating. At least this means we've seen all the rooms and all the game's cruel design decisions.
Wait, I was wrong. There's one more trick the game pulls out once the number of aliens goes below 10: From this point forward, each sector only contains one alien. In my case, this means I now have to visit six more sectors and search each of them for a single worm. I'm weeping tears of joy.
Let's just fast-forward to where I reach the final alien which happens to be in Sector C. I hope there is some sort of ending here that brings the story to a proper close and makes all of this worth the trouble:
The action freezes with the final alien in mid-disintegration, and a digitized voice exclaims "HEY, SUPER! ALL ALIEN DESTROYED!" The sample is clear enough to confirm my suspicion that the author(s) thought that the plural form of alien is alien. Guys, haven't you seen the smashing 1986 sequel of Alien that was called Aliens? You know, the one that had an S at the end of its name because it featured several aliens?
As for the actual ending, it's a screen of German text with a flashing border (that I cut out in the above animation). You are congratulated, and the title "Chief Worm Killer" is bestowed upon you. Then you are advised to repair your joystick, drink a couple of pints, and then press space. Which brings you back to the title screen.
Does this meet my definition of a good ending? No. But I am not surprised, considering that Hans Baer's previous game, Spacefighter, had a similarly cheap conclusion. Both games make the same mistake by establishing a somewhat complex story in the introduction and then ignoring it completely at the end.
CONCLUSION
For a C64 budget game, Alien has quite a lot to offer: There's an "overworld" to traverse, and six underground sectors wait to be explored, each consisting of multiple screens. There's a lot of running and jumping and shooting to be had, and the game takes about an hour to finish, probably more if you're not familiar with the sector layouts. I just wish it played better.
My main issue with the game comes down to the twitchy and sometimes imprecise controls. Shila's jump is very stiff and can't be controlled in any way once she's in the air. You're basically forced to learn how far she jumps and how (weirdly) her sprite behaves if she reaches the side of a platform. The level design frequently demands precise positioning of your character which more often than not results in Shila falling down into a pool of hurt.
The shooting feels similarly awkward, especially because you have to keep the fire button pressed and release it to make the projectile explode at the right spot. Even if you land a hit, the collision detection sometimes decides to just ignore your perfect aim.
The graphics look alright. Aside from the gender-swapped Impossible Mission sprite, I think the rest of the art is original. As I already mentioned, I really like the animation of the Gaits, the worm-like aliens.
In the sound department, I have to highlight the numerous speech samples that can be heard during the game. There are full-price games with much worse digitized voices, so this is definitely a plus in my book. There are also a couple of sound effects which are fine if nothing special. Shila's footsteps are maybe a bit too loud, considering her slim frame and acrobatic skills. There are two short music tracks, one at the beginning and one at the end, but they're both nothing more than a couple of slow, droning tones played in sequence.
Alien can be a very frustrating experience, especially if you are not yet familiar with the jumping mechanics or if you run out of bullets for reasons beyond your control. The fact that Shila has 99 hit points helps to alleviate this problem a bit. It's almost as if the game expects you to get hurt a lot. I never managed to finish Alien back when it was new, mostly because falling down the same couple of platforms for the umpteenth time made me reset my C64 and play something else. Now that I've seen the ending, I must say I didn't miss much at all. Give the game a try if you feel particularly patient or want to hear some nicely digitized speech come out of your breadbin. Just be aware that you'll probably have more fun if you skip the game entirely and drink the pints instead, as the ending suggests.
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