Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Alien 3 for Game Boy (1993)

Alien 3 advertisement

Original ad published in the May 1993 of Electronic Gaming Monthly (no. 46)
Press to view or download image in higher resolution.

A junk effort for a troubled movie


Alien 3 (1993) was one of those games that had enormous potential to become a memorable effort by LJN. As destiny would have it, it was another lackluster affair by the infamous brand to capitalize on a strong Hollywood franchise.

David Fincher’s Alien movie produced quite a buzz when it was released. The hype machine had given the franchise enormous expectations for the third film of the franchise after the success of James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). As an action-suspense vehicle, the second movie is unrivaled. I prefer the original Alien (1979) by Ridley Scott, but the second movie stands right beside it.

So, at the beginning of the decade, a young director named Fincher was commissioned for the third installment of the series. No one knew who did guy was. It was his debut. This was before Fincher’s Seven (1995) and more than two decades before his modern thrash masterpiece Gone Girl (2014). It was no surprised that the movie’s production was a royal fiasco, as expressed by Fincher himself on newer DVD audio tracks of such film. He was young and had practically no control of the final decisions made to the film. If you really wish to see his version of the movie, check out the Director’s Cut of Alien 3. It’s longer, better, but both the theatrical version and latter feature terrible computer graphics effects.


LJN’s game followed those troubled footsteps. It’s just as bland a game as you can release. You could take the Alien 3 attachment and make it any other game and no one would notice it. Both the NES and the Game Boy versions suffer from this blandness. They are repetitive and dull, just as most sucky franchised games by LJN.




The print material goes just as far: stamp the movie’s poster, add some wimpy teenager copy and try to sell that sucker to millions of gamers that were left forever scarred by such commercial crap. 



Alien 3 for Game Boy print ad copy

3 times the suspense…on NES
3 times the danger…on Game Boy
3 times the terror…for You!!!

Alien 3

The Xenomorph are fast, spit acid and are right behind YOU! The motion tracker is your only tracker is your only warning. No time to think, no time to catch your breath…RUN!

Can’t see very far ahead in these air ducts. Hard to breath. Blast life-sucking face-huggers with your pulse rifle and exterminate deadly Aliens with your flame thrower and grenade launcher!

Just keep telling yourself,
“this isn’t really happening…
it’s only a game.”

  • Exterminate deadly Aliens with your flame thrower!
  • Destroy the eggs, but beware of deadly face-huggers!



LJN

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