Alien Breed

Probably the most iconic top-down shooter ever and a rare example of a rip-off of a famous franchise becoming a famous franchise itself.

So what that Alien Breed look, act and screech like Alien? So what that there are facehuggers running around, so what that ISRC 4 station bears close resemblance to Nostromo and the immortal "Welcome to Intex system" might as well have been said by MUTHUR (or "Mother" as most people call it). The truth is, no one cared about any of these things, because Alien Breed was a great game. Forget about the plot, although there is one, told by a couple of weird introductory drawings. Forget about NPC's. It's just you, you gun, and about a load of alien scum, exactly the way shooters were meant to be designed.

The basic scheme of Alien Breed levels looks like this: you emerge at the elevator and you need to find another one which will take you to the next level. On your way, you have to open locked doors with keys you find scattered around, which is good, because it makes you think twice before opening every door you come across, and of course - shoot aliens. You also find money which lets you buy weapons and other supplies at the Intex terminals (oh how I loved the little interference showing up each time you log into a terminal). Just throw in some side quests like destroying some nodes and there you go. Simple, yet very entertaining, the game ROCKED back in the old days.

Things got polished up even further in the Special Edition '92 (the screenshots below are taken from that version) featuring more levels, more bosses and wide variety of color themes (including the infamous dark levels). The introductory drawings were removed, thank God, and the ending sequence was replaced with... something interesting. :-) As far as I know, the DOS version of Alien Breed is the port of the Amiga's SE'92 version, but with minor graphical changes.

What about the follow-ups? The sequel Alien Breed 2: The Nightmare Continues was everything above and then some. It featured brand new ground levels and a LOT more of enemies including a dozen of new alien species (some of which actually look very ugly), cybernetic lifeforms and mechanical traps. The next release was a game named Tower Assault, about which I will probably write in one of the next Press Play on Tape episodes. And since no great 2D series would be complete without a failed 3D transition attempt, there were also Alien Breed 3D and Alien Breed 3D 2: The Killing Grounds, both of which being abysmally sluggish FPS games.

I often thought about Alien Breed while playing Starcraft's indoor levels, wishing that someone would revive this short-lived franchise. There IS an unofficial remake called Alien Breed: Obliteration and it plays well, but still a little strange and empty. I mean don't get me wrong, this is a really decent remake and I honestly think its creators ought to be congratulated, still... You just want more. More, more, more, more..............

The screenshots are taken from Hall of Light - the site which future generations will call the one true God.