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Alien Resurrection
 
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Developer  Fox Game Type  Action
Distributor  Fox Date Posted  May 00
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image       Now how many previews and news reports have you read over the past few years claiming the 'forthcoming' release of Alien Resurrection? And where is it...? Precisely!

So what on earth is going on? API caught up with Fox Interactive at E3 and finally got a few home truths.

First of all we played it and this is going to wash out all memories of Doom, Quake and whichever archaic shooter you care to mention. The bad news is that it's not on PS2 (Booo!). The good news it on Playstation 1 (Whoopeee!).

Here's what Raphael Phaz of Fox Interactive had to say on the matter.

imageA.P.I: Can you tell our readers what they can expect from Alien Resurrection?

 Ralph: Basically this is a DooM type (first-person) shooter that follows the plot from the recent movie. Unlike most games of this type there is a massive puzzle element to the game making it far more that just a 'shoot everything in sight blood-fest'.

In addition you will play four different characters (Ripley, Call, DiStephano and Christie) as you progress through ten massive levels. Each of them has very different skills and abilities forcing you to rethink your tactics constantly throughout the game.

imageYou basic objective is to escape from the ship and to do this you will need to find all of the access keycards and solve various puzzles to make your way to the exit area. You will have the fight the awesome 'Queen' alien, face-huggers, newborn and of course tons of the full size alien warriors.

The most realistic aspect of the game that we have incorporated from the movie is that we have given the gamer a very limited amount of ammunition throughout each level. It wont just be a case of blasting everything in sight, there will be times when you have to avoid being attacked until you find more bullets. This makes it very different from most first-person shooters and increases the level of tension dramatically as the odds change depending on your current level of firepower. It also forces you to be very accurate with your shooting as every wasted bullet decreases your chances of getting out alive.

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A.P.I: Could this be the very first shooter of this type that incorporates stealth tactics?

 Ralph: Absolutely! The intelligence of the Aliens means they will always try to attack you when you least expect it - using the dark shadowy areas of the ship for camouflage... making for lots of scary situations. When you hear them approaching your first instinct is just to hold your finger down on the fire button and spray bullets everywhere until you can see where they are coming from. But as we discussed it is often better to crawl into an air duct to escape, than stand and fight when the odds are not in your favor.

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A.P.I: Are there any other major changes from the original Alien Trilogy game?

 Ralph: Yes, when you get attacked by the face huggers they will impregnate your character rather than killing them. You must then rapidly find a special piece of equipment that will scan your body and remove the rapidly growing alien before it matures and gives you the most visual and brutal chest-burst that you have seen in any videogame before. Again this adds a great new level of tension into the game.

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A.P.I: This will obviously make this a 'Mature' rated game, so are you using this age restriction to the benefit of the game?

 Ralph: : We didn't want this to be played by young kids anyway... so the rating allowed us to have lots of gore in this game, lots of blood - both human and alien. You can even kill the Marines that lie dying on the ground throughout the ship - if you don't then you are leaving an alien food source that will allow them to multiply even more, making your mission harder.

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A.P.I: What weapons will be available?

 Ralph: Jeez, we have some awesome firepower in the game: Pistol, Shotgun, Pulse Rifle, Flame-thrower, Electro Gun, Grenade and Rocket Launchers, Laser Gun and more.


A.P.I: The game looks far better than the other Alien title on our console, with the aliens being far larger and more detailed and the dark corridors of the ship make for a very scary atmosphere...

 Ralph: The music has been done in surround sound by the guys who put the move soundtrack together, so if you play it on a good sound system, or even with headphones on, the scare factor multiplies by a factor of 10.

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A.P.I: : I didn't notice any load times between levels...

 Ralph: We felt strongly that any horror game needs to keep the tension levels high at all times and pausing to load a new area just screw that up completely. So we have developed a streaming system that loads the next part of the ship before you reach it, this means that there are no pauses in the action at all.

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A.P.I: Is there any other feature that you are especially proud of?

 Ralph: We have managed to incorporate the under-water scenes from the movie and they look great. They also force you to complete tasks quickly before you run out of oxygen - which gives an added panic factor to the game.


A.P.I: Is there any chance that there will be a way to play as an Alien and hunt down marines?

 Ralph: We have some special cheats going into the game, but I really don't want to spoil the surprise just yet... lets just say that its a possibility.

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A.P.I: Will this game be upgraded for the PlayStation 2?

 Ralph: Officially we are not talking about this yet, but I can tell you guys that their WILL be an Aliens game on PS2 next year, but it won't be 'Resurrection'... They are looking to use the power of the PS2 to create something totally awesome and with the graphics that are possible on this new console, you can expect the game to take Horror gaming to a whole new level.


A.P.I: Alien Resurrection is planned for an August 2000 release on PlayStation. So until then... get plenty of sleep!


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We wish to sincerely thank Raphael Phaz and all of the Fox Interactive staff at E3 for their assistance in this feature.

please note that this article should not be reproduced in any form without the permission of A.P.I