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.
A.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.
You
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Click
HERE To read more of this Project...
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
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