Product Review

Ask any sci-fi fan to list there top ten films and 8 out of 10 times lurking about there somewhere will be the James Cameron masterpiece, Aliens. Not Alien or Alien III or even Alien Resurrection (particualry not the last one) but Aliens. Why? I hear you cry, well I’ll tell you (wait for it words of wisdom approaching at high velocity), it’s for the big guns and cheesy lines, which, funnily enough is why the roleplayers like it to. What? I hear you scream, roleplayers tend to be intelligent academic types, and that movie was great for the suspense and story line. Well yes I am inclined to agree but every now and then there’s a roleplayer in us that is just dying to say and I quote "game over man, game over" just before getting their face ripped off.

This game is renowned among roleplayers and rightly so. But not for its system or even its ease of play, let me make no bones about it, this system is a nightmare to run. Because the players are expecting certain things and god help the referee if he doesn’t provide. Now I’m not saying that each game played should be a clone of the film, but players are expecting to be up against forces that they couldn’t possibly beat by going toe to toe with, they will however try, but don’t punish them too harshly for this.

No this game is renowned for its feel, its atmosphere, the initial curiosity at why the referee has handed out more character sheets than there are players, trust me some of you will not be coming home. Then there’s the desperation when they realise there are probably more foes than the party has bullets and it all culminates in the euphoria that they can set the nuclear reactor to blow and still fly the drop ship of the planet. This is usually then followed quickly by shouting at one of the player’s for getting the pilot killed in the first hour of game time.

In my time as a roleplayer I have never found a roleplay game set in Vietnam but if its Americans with guns shooting at anything that moves while screaming lines that are too cheesy for most Japanese animated films, then Aliens is for you.

The Aliens Adventure game was indeed a masterpiece and still is. But for one reason, it’s a cheap merchandising shot, the system was looted from Leading Edges main product, Living Steel which was ultimately an average game that got to bogged down with mathematical formulae. Personally I find the vehicle rules a nightmare to administrate and tend not to bother with them. Character generation can be very long winded and is best done the night before by the referee.

However this is still a great game as long as players realise one thing, that Aliens has to be a one off a treat if you will. After long hours of battling unseen foes in Call of Cthulhu or nurturing your 16th level wizard in AD&D there’s nothing better than dying at the hands of the Alien Queen while screaming “get some, get some!” and firing a pulse rifle at approaching face huggers.

If you can get hold of this game, and there are some copies still floating around, then I highly recommend that you snatch them up.

Just remember, in housing estates everyone can hear you scream!

Reviewed By Simon Bownes