Reviews for ALIENS the Board Game

[markcysts]

Great but frustrating...

I love this game and I'm definetely glad someone finally stepped up to the plate and made a good Aliens game. Thats something very few developers have been able to do over the Alien franchise's 30 year span. A few notable ones would be Aliens on C64, AvP on Atari Jaguar, and Alien 3 for Sega. Considering that dozens of other games were made and thats all I can dredge up is sad, and don't get me started on the PS1/Saturn Alien Trilogy or the AvP movies for that matter.

Since I've been playing this for a long while, I noticed that there are some faults. Very, very frustrating faults. These can be easily remedied though.

ONE: Alien landing randomness. The single-most annoying element of the game is when I start ALIENS LAND ON MY MARINES' HEADS!!!!!!! What is going to stop me from aborting the game and just retarting?

If I'm lucky to make it to the opposite side and have all 9 guys still alive I think I'm in the clear. Right when I'm about to leave the reactor with all of my Marines <BAM!> an alien lands on Hicks and despite 2 or 3 Marines around him its no use and he gets pulled up. This makes your performance in the game lie more with luck than skill. Its one thing if an alien lands right next to you, but on top of you is just bad sport. I'd say a better rule would be if a marine gets far enough away from his buddies then sure, an alien will isolate him and snatch him up in quick succession, thats how they act in the movies. I would say to make it fair but still very challenging, increase the odds of an alien killing, incapacitating or wounding a Marine when grabbing him but don't have them land on top of characters' heads who are surrounded by plenty of other marines. Sure, they can land next to them, that keeps one on his toes. But I can't tell you how livid I can be when for no fault of my own, Ripley gets snagged by an alien when I'm trying to rescue Newt giving me an anti-climactic let-down.

TWO: Impossibility. There is no way you can survive Operations intact if you have the same people from the movie present which is a let down. Belive me, I've tried too. Out of the fifty plus times I played Operations with only Hicks, Vasquez, Hudson, Ripley, Gorman, Burke and Newt I was able to escape with Newt and Ripley just once. ONCE! No other time did I escape to the landing field with anyone else save for getting within two spaces of the exit with Hudson. Unluckily for him though he got snatched. Even with ten or more Marines won't guarantee many of them will survive. On average I leave operations with 3-6 marines left starting from an original 10-13. The biggest casualty producing part is in the air ducts where at least 2 will get pulled away kicking an screaming. Something I would really like to see is the ability to detonate a grenade in dire straits like Vasquez and Gorman did in the film taking a giant horde of bugs with them. That would give the others more time to escape.

THREE: Starting from scratch. Granted this is a flash game but if there was a way to save my progress in the game I'd be a happy man. Lets say you finish The Reactor with all your guys but have a pitiful game in Operations. No problem, just go back to the beginning of Operations with the guys you have that survived the Reactor. Quick fix and more fun instead of having to go back every time and replay the Reactor.

Aside from that, great game. You should expand upon it! Throw in the last scene with Ripley in a power loader fighting the queen. Make the option of playing with Ferro, Spunkmeyer, or Bishop like the original game. A special edition would be ideal for something like that. Speaking of which, remember the remote sentries in the Special Edition? That would be some nice hardware to have in the game.

homedrone responds:

Thanks for the support and encouragement. The SNES had a good Alien3 game, is that the same as the SEGA version? I'll try and respond to your frustrations:

ONE: The randomness. This won't be the answer you want, but I don't see this game as a puzzle game. It's a simulation. When I play a puzzle game, I expect there to be a perfect solution. In a simulation, there can be "no win" situations. To me, this game isn't about getting a perfect score (although it's fun to try). This game is about damage control. What you do after a disaster happens. You are right, if an alien drops on you right away you can just restart. I do it sometimes. I don't see that as a big issue. It's like how some people play minesweeper. The Alien drops in the Rescue Newt scenario are very predictable. They can only come from the stairwells or from rooms that you just entered. If you are having trouble with Ripley getting grabed by Aliens dropping on her, you might be entering the rooms too soon. Walk in a room and then back out, Wait for 3 Alien turns after you've done that to see if any Aliens will arrive. After 3 turns, it's safe.

TWO: Impossible. I can finish Operations with the movie cast with only one or two casualties maybe half the time. Usually Hudson or Vasquez. I find the trick is to use grenades early on to thin out the big swarms. There is a set up you can do that allows you to use grenades pretty safely. You might be right about getting EVERYONE out, that might be impossible, but you know my view on this from above. In the future, I should put in grenades for the marines to blow themselves up with, considering it was done in the movie and all. Problem is, it really wouldn't slow the aliens down since it would only kill 1 or 2. I'd have to increase the kill range against the aliens to make it work, and I haven't decided on the best way to do that yet. It would be a deviation from the original game rules, and I don't like to do that unless I feel it's necessary and I have the right solution.

THREE: Saving. Even though it's Flash, I could make it save your game. The new flash has some nice features. But I made a conscious decision to not do that. I don't think there is enough reward in video games these days. Most games now I finish in less than a week and then there is little reason to go back. There used to be a time when I wondered if I would ever finish some games. Sometimes it was because I couldn't save. It made playing each part very exciting. When you do well, you are rewarded. Frustration and satisfaction go hand in hand I think. Hard to have one without the other.

It has always been in the plan to have Ripley's battle with the queen. Unfortunately, it might not be for a while because I'm working on some other things now. The scene in the board game that include Ferro and Spunkmeyer is not a game. It's completely random and if you win that scenario, you are rewarded with the game being over before the Operations battle. I can't yet see how to incorperate that in a fun way. Same goes for the sentry guns, I haven't thought of a fun way to use them that also has good gameplay to go with it. The board game has years of play testing behind it. I don't want to spoil it for hard core fans by adding in my own unproven ideas. I did have an idea for whole different game that just dealt with the defense of operations and medlab. You would have a time limit to set up as many defenses as you could ( like sentry guns and sealed doors) then the aliens would attack. It would be real time, and require more AI than I'm capable of right now. So it's just an idea now.

[salad354]

good

just make it soif one grabs you you can throw them off
couse i hate it when it grabs me i cant throw with that one or i die

[JJ-420]

alien

you should have the other movies like the first movie wen thy first sow them. please tell me this is a good idea if you like it.

[Laggyteabag]

2nd mission

Ive played the 2nd mission 4 times i no wot 2 do but it wont let me do it...

[robertmmoore1968]

True Homage To The Original Board Game Version.

I saw the prototype for this game in a gaming magazine called Galaxy (if I remember correctly). They had a hex-based reactor room map with rules and charts with marine names, aim times, weapons, etc... all based on the Leading Edge (out of print) combat system. I seem to recall it went by the name Phoenix or something of that sort. After the magazine version, someone decided to make a board game version. I purchased it at a comic book shop at Charlotte, North Carolina back around 1990 or so. I was in college at the time and my buddies and I played it so much that I still cannot believe we all graduated. This flash version is an excellent rendition of a classic board game. Thank you so much for taking the time to make it. This is a part of the natural evolution of this game from a magazine article, to an actual board game, to the contemporary internet version. I am truly beside myself. How do you guys make your money? Do you take donations? I am truly that grateful.

IMPROVEMENTS
The Map;
The black sections of the map (solid obstructions) are a little hard to figure out at times. You may consider a white trim (or other color) around the perimeter of a solid area to help it stand out. Also, the grated floor is a little too real. You may consider superimposing a faint white grid (I think the board game used light blue) to help individual squares stand out a little better.
The Marines;
It is a little hard at a quick glance to tell the marines apart. Vasquez and Drake with the two smart-guns are easy to make out, however, no one else is. The board game version had color bars with the names superimposed on them. You may consider giving the Marines a "base" below the figure. What I mean is give assign a color to each Marine and fill the square they occupy with that color surrounding their overhead view body (but not overlapping the body). Now match that color with the character's weapon silhouette above, surrounding their weapon icon with the color that makes up the base of the marine on the map.
The Aliens;
The Aliens are a little hard to see on the map. Sure, that mirrors the plight of the marines in the movie, but I want to win! You may consider adding a thin white outline around the alien figures to help them stand out or maybe use the motion tracker concept. What you could try is this:
1. The Aliens move.
2. As soon as the marine turn begins, send out a sonar-like pulse from the center-most marine (or Hudson in particular). Make the pulse look the same color as the one from the movie (light blue or white?) with that popping/crackling sound effect. When the pulse (eminating from the marine in a sonar fashion) hits an Alien, cause the Alien to flash a solid white/light blue or even cause an oval blob to flash in his space like the tracker in the movie.

Robert Moore
Elementary Art Teacher of 15 Years in South Carolina.

homedrone responds:

I'm always glad to hear someone who was a fan of the original board game is enjoying my version. I make my money as a teacher as well.. nothing to do with this. I'm not associated with the original creators of the board game at all. I could probably get in trouble if I accepted money. As for your improvement comments, they are good. Some of which I have been thinking about ways to improve already. Unfortunately, I've now started on a new project, so it may be a while before I get back to updating Aliens the Board Game again. Someday.