Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Aliens: The Computer Game places you in the nerve center of a sprawling 255-room complex, where you command a six-man fireteam of Colonial Marines from a remote terminal. Drawing clear inspiration from Space Hulk, the game’s first-person strategic interface demands that you think several moves ahead—each character is equipped with a helmet camera and a smart gun, but you only control one at a time. Seamlessly switching between marines is key: you must find safe vantage points, lock doors or blast them open, and coordinate fireteams to prevent getting overwhelmed by the ever-lurking Xenomorph threat.

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The tension is palpable as you manage limited resources. Ammunition is scarce and must be resupplied at the armory, while medical bays serve as your only source of healing. Adding another layer of complexity, each marine has a stamina meter that depletes with every step; poor stamina means slower reaction times and the danger of being caught napping by a prowling Alien. Mid-mission, you’ll often find yourself making critical choices: do you risk a sprint through a corridor to save a flanked comrade, or do you hold position and try to bait the Alien into a kill zone?

Combat unfolds in real time when an Alien attacks a character you’re not directly controlling. A yellow status light indicates a “captured” marine, and you’ll have to guide another team member into position to rescue them. This mechanic turns every corridor encounter into a potential rescue operation, intensifying the stakes. Meanwhile, the Aliens’ acid blood burns through doors, and hostile biomass sprouts facehuggers if not incinerated—so you learn quickly that precision and timing are your best allies.

Graphics

Given its 1986 origins, Aliens: The Computer Game employs stark, functional graphics that emphasize clarity over flash. Each room is rendered in a simple wireframe-style layout, allowing you to pan a full 360 degrees via the marine’s helmet view. Don’t expect cinematic flourishes—what you get instead is a utilitarian HUD showing ammo counts, stamina bars, and the crucial status lights that tell you if a teammate is down or captured.

Despite the low-resolution visuals, the game masters the art of atmosphere. Flickering lights can go out when the Aliens sabotage the generator, plunging corridors into darkness until you dispatch your engineer to make repairs. In those moments, every shadow becomes menacing, and the limited color palette reinforces a sense of desolation and dread. Alien silhouettes emerging from the gloom still manage to startle even today.

The user interface is clean and informative. You can lock doors to slow Alien advances or blast them open at the cost of destroying the doorway permanently—actions that are clearly communicated through simple but effective iconography. While the lack of texture or advanced lighting might feel dated, the purposeful design choices serve the game’s strategic DNA by keeping the focus squarely on decision-making rather than on eye candy.

Story

Adapted from James Cameron’s 1986 blockbuster, Aliens: The Computer Game doesn’t retell the movie beat for beat. Instead, it drops you into a similar scenario: a lone Queen Alien lurks somewhere in a derelict complex and it’s your job to find and exterminate her. The plot is minimalist—presented through brief text introductions and in-game prompts—but it provides just enough context to keep the stakes high.

You don’t get Hollywood‐style cutscenes or voiceovers; most of the narrative unfolds as you explore corridors, encounter biomass infestations, and make radio calls reporting casualties and breakthroughs. The manual fills in background details about your team’s roster, protocols for handling acid spills, and the objectives etched into every mission. It’s a stripped-down approach, but one that fosters a do-or-die mentality reminiscent of the film’s relentless pace.

Atmosphere is at the forefront of the storytelling. From the moment you lock down a door against an incoming Alien squad to the instant you clear out a biomass nest before it hatches facehuggers, the tension is relentless. The sparse narrative structure invites you to imagine your own heroic last stand, making each victory—and every loss—feel personal.

Overall Experience

Aliens: The Computer Game is no casual romp. It’s a hardcore, methodical strategy title that demands patience, planning, and nerves of steel. Every mission feels like a cramped, life-or-death operation—you’ll quickly learn to move as a cohesive unit, secure chokepoints, and conserve ammo as if your life depends on it (because it does).

For fans of the film and aficionados of early tactical shooters, this title offers a unique slice of retro gaming. The learning curve is steep and the graphics are primitive by modern standards, but the immersive helmet-cam viewpoint, resource management, and emergent rescue scenarios combine into a thrilling, if sometimes unforgiving, experience. It’s a game that rewards careful thought and punishes reckless heroics.

In today’s context, Aliens: The Computer Game is best approached as a historical curiosity and a testament to how early developers captured the spirit of an iconic movie without the benefit of cinematic cutscenes or advanced hardware. If you’re looking to relive a piece of gaming history or crave a bare-bones tactical challenge set in the Alien universe, this is a title well worth digging up.

Retro Replay Score

7.5/10