Nerdicus NES Review #35 : Alien 3

Title : Alien 3

Publisher :  LJN

Genre : Platformer / Action

Players : 1 Player

Release Date : 1993

Estimated Value (as of today's date) : $5-7

You're all gonna die. The question is how you check out.

Before we get started on this, let me go on to say that I am probably one of the few people that actually enjoyed the movie, Alien 3. Not long ago I was involved in a very long and grueling twitter debate at the lack of appreciation this movie receives. I realize it doesn't quite fit as well as the second one did (which is still my favorite), and the premise is a little bit off the wall, but it's not a bad movie. I think of it as more of a stand alone movie in the Alien series. I mean, come on it's not as bad as Alien Resurrection which is just absolute garbage.

Now is the game good? Well, it's made by LJN first of all so that should give you the answer right there. I remember enjoying the SNES version, but the fact is why would you play this on the NES when there is a much better version on the SNES? Unfortunately, these are NES reviews so I'm going to have to suffer through it.

So join me and Ripley as we get our asses handed to us by Aliens in a game that doesn't even follow a single plot point from the movie. I give you, Alien 3.

You only have one goal in this game, and that is to get through each of the eight torturous levels and rescue the prisoners from the clutches of the army of Xenomorphs. I mean, right off the bat that's not even close to what the movie is about. The biggest discrepancy is that there is only ONE alien in Alien 3, but now in this game there are thousands.

Oh, and you have weapons. Ahem - there were no weapons on the prison facility in Alien 3. But you know, I'm not being picky or anything.

So back to the rescue mission. Doesn't sound too hard right? Well it's pretty much impossible. First of all, the maps are confusing as hell. They are a jumbled mess, and figuring out where you are supposed to go to find each prisoner on the level is a chore. But that's not even the worst part. EACH LEVEL IS TIMED. That's right, folks. You've only have around 3-5 mins per level to find all the prisoners before the clock runs out. 

Good luck with that one.

Sorry, had to take a picture of this. I fell down the entire staircase and landed at the bottom of the level. It was just hilarious watching Ripley turn into a mess of graphical glitches that rolled down the stairs and face planted. Seriously, this was the most fun I had playing the game. Sad, huh?

Back to it - as you're rescuing prisoners you'll run into a variety of xenomorphs, face huggers, and then you'll encounter the occasional boss. All of these critters are easy to kill and are just a nuisance more than anything. All they do is just drain time from your ever important clock. The trick is, ignore everything and focus on finding the prisoners. You basically need to replay each level a few times to get an idea of where the prisoners are figure out the best path.

That means there is replay value for this game! Seriously! Design your own maps so you don't get lost. FUN!!!!

Not my idea of an entertaining Alien game and it was a lot better for the SNES and Genesis. Thanks for another bust LJN. 

Game over, man. GAME OVER.

Final Score (out of 5) :

Until next time. Keep on gaming!