The Alien franchise has inspired many pieces of art form throughout the years, especially movies and video games. HR Giger is a Swiss artist whose work has created one of the most iconic monsters of our time. The creature’s design for Ridley Scott’s first Alien movie was inspired by one of Giger’s artwork called Necronom IV. Following the movies release, the creature gained popularity in the mainstream and soon after, many sequels to the first movie where created.
Action Over Horror
Among the sequels, the movie has also inspired many other forms of media, the most obvious being a number of video games. Many attempts were made in recreating the feeling and atmosphere of the movie in video game format. However, no video game company could nail the intense horror that the first movie provided. The games were mostly inspired by the second movie in the franchise called Aliens, which was directed by James Cameron and was very well received.
The movie was very ambitious for its time. It was more action oriented with a lot of overlapping themes. Most video game adaptations used Aliens as the main inspiration. With the release of Doom in 1993, first person shooters were becoming very popular and many first person shooter games in the Alien franchise soon followed.
One game, which is considered a cult classic is Alien vs Predator, released in 1999. The game was very well received and it was praised for its three distinct campaigns. You can play either as the Alien, the Predator or the Marine. Each one of them having a unique play style. Compared to the other two, the alien campaign was not so well received. Many believed that it was too simple in its implementation and had way more potential.
The next installment in the series soon followed and was released in 2001 as Aliens vs Predator 2. The game featured the same 3 distinct campaigns, but the gameplay was more polished. It did not bring anything new to the table and the Alien campaign was still considered too simplistic. Plans for a third installment were never considered and soon after, the game series was abandoned.
What followed was one of the biggest gaming controversies in gaming history. The release of Aliens Colonial Marines. This subject matter deserves an article on its own and there are many others that have explored this topic. In 2010, the developers of the first Alien vs Predator have rebooted the franchise and was simply titled Alien vs Predator.
Finding the Horror Element
All of the games were action oriented with little emphasis on horror. They were released in a time where horror games were lacking an identity. Few games where truly considered horror games, like Amnesia the Dark Descent, a game which focused more on the psychological aspect. The game uses a sanity meter and if the players spends too much time in darkness, the character starts to hallucinate. The player had no weapons to defend themselves and relied on hiding and avoiding the monsters. This game could be considered an inspiration for what is to come to the Alien franchise.
In 2014, after 35 years since the original Alien was released, fans finally got what they were asking for. The most horrific and true to form Alien experience in gaming. Instead of taking its inspiration from Aliens, like that other games have done in the past, the developers looked at the original movie which started it all, Alien, and the game was called Alien Isolation. The game followed the events of the first movie and you play as Amanda Ripley, Ellen Ripley’s daughter. What makes this game truly horrifying is that the Alien (singular) cannot be killed in any conventional way. The player uses a motion tracker to detect the Alien’s position and can hide in lockers or under tables in order to avoid it.
Other Gaming Adaptations
Besides the regular video games, there are also many Alien themed casino games that have been developed. There is a large variety of slot games that are inspired by the Alien franchise. The slots are made in such a way that try to mimic the unique atmosphere of the movies. Instead of the classic fruit symbols, the reels feature the characters from the movie or the aliens themselves. Additionally, some of the other elements of the movies are present in these online casino games, such as the well known Weyland-Yutani symbol, as well as other forms of the Aliens, such as the Facehugger or the Alien egg.
These slot games were never made with the intention to be scary in any way, but they cleverly make use of the elements found in the movies and the slots themselves look like they belong in that particular universe.
Best Adaptation
When it comes to the many attempts of porting the Alien into video games, Alien Isolation may be the best incarnation of the famous extraterrestrial lifeform. Not being able to kill the creature results the player having to focus on avoiding it and making use of the hiding mechanics of the game. Also, a lot of parise has been given to the Alien’s AI which made the creature’s actions unpredictable.