With Obsidian already secured to develop an RPG game based on the ‘Alien’ films, today SEGA announced ‘Brothers In Arms’ developer Gearbox Software has been tapped to develop a first-person shooter set in the same universe.
Gearbox will be faced with a number of creative approaches to how their FPS will play. The first film, ‘Alien,’ is geared towards stealth gameplay where avoiding the ‘Alien’ is more important than taking it out. In ‘Aliens,’ guns and marines come into play for what should be a hectic ‘Doom’-like experience battling hoardes of the slippery suckers in tight quarters. In the third film, well, the style reverts partially back to the first where avoidance is the only choice when weapons are at a premium. And the fourth offers Ripley with Alien DNA, something the FPS genre has already seen a lot of.
Rather than try to stuff stealth and action into the assumed first entry in a series of ‘Alien’-based games, Gearbox should instead focus on the tried-and-tested action and team-based elements they’ve already successfully implemented in ‘Brothers In Arms.’ For example, keep the story confined within the ‘Aliens’ film and universe where the Colonial Marines are outnumbered against an Alien Queen and her army of soldiers and eggs. At the same time, elements and situations from the film can be intertwined with shoot-em-up gameplay. For example:
Motion Detectors: The deep splattering ping noise of these devices is synonmous with the ‘Aliens’ experience. Like the Colonial Marines horrifically discover in the film, the detector’s range should not only work horizontally, but vertically as well.
Make-A-Weapon: In the film, Ripley was forced to craft her own weapon by combining a Pulse Rifle with a Flame Thrower. This idea can be expanded by littering the gameplay environment with a variety of odds-n-ends that, when combined with tape, produce homemade weapons with varying degrees of effectiveness against the Aliens.
Dropship and APC: These ships are some of the coolest every designed and deserved to not only be in the game, but be fully controllable as well. Imagine online multiplayer with 40-on-40 where players can load up into an APC onboard a Dropship, then have another player drop the APC into a strategic position on a massive map.
Androids: Synthetic beings played a major role in all the ‘Alien’ films and deserve a similar role in the game. Obviously an Android can sustain more damage than a human i.e. be ripped in half and still talk, which would make for an intriguing scenario in multiplayer matches or situations where a decoy is needed.
Dynamic Environment: Colonial Marines often had to cut open doors, seal doors and blow holes in walls to escape Alien attacks. Rather than provide a completely linear single-player experience, Gearbox should consider a more open approach to level design where passages can be created with explosive devices, and subsequently sealed off to keep pursuers at bay.
Acid for Blood: Alien blood can eat you alive, but the Colonial Marine Armor is able to fend off its deadly effects for a limited time. A practical game application could be having the acid splatter from an Alien each time it’s shot up, and if it gets on your armor, you must remove it ASAP. If the armor makes it off in time, you play on without it with a substantially smaller health bar.
Playable Aliens: While shooting up Aliens will be buckets of fun, imagine stepping into the shoes of an Alien and hunting Colonial Marines. Even better yet, imagine playing alongside a legion of fellow Aliens online against a small band of Colonial Marines.
Marines with Personality: A big reason why James Cameron’s ‘Aliens’ was so successful is the Colonial Marines personalities. Hicks, Hudson, Apone, Drake, Vasquez and the rest of the gang need full representation both in how they speak and how they approach Alien combat.
Burke: This weasel of a man represents an Alien encounter with non-military personnel. The ‘Alien’ films, to this date, have yet to put Aliens on a crowded planet Earth in a free-for-all against mankind. The video game world is the perfect platform to try out this scenario without blowing the budget.
Newt: This courageous young girl is best suited for a sequel where more stealth and scare tactics can be employed. Rather than play the entire game shooting up Aliens, playing as a civilian with limited resources who must outsmart the Aliens would be a neat twist. I’d rather see Gearbox get the basics down first then toy around in different genres within FPS. Then again, if the 2009 release date is true, that leaves Gearbox plenty of time to go for a home run in their first at-bat.
