Five minutes of pure and delicious terror (All Online Games in general)

Member Name: dawnfrancis

Product:	All Online Games in general
Date:	18/02/02 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: genuinely spooky, reminds me of childhood games, great fun and free

Disadvantages: too short, popup ads

Remember the days when it was easy to be scared and it was the greatest feeling in the whole world? You didn't need the gore of a slasher movie, or the cleverly animated zombies of a Playstation game. All you needed was a dark room, some friends, and plenty of ghost stories and urban legends. Remember how good it felt to huddle together and listen to those tales, to be frightened witless yet know it to be the most delicious feeling in the world? Don't you sometimes wish you could be scared that more innocent, childlike way again, but that your senses have been dulled by too many 'horror' movies????

a couple of weeks ago I found a site that gives you just that opportunity. Bored in my office one very dark wintry afternoon I stumbled across it and relived those childhood voyages into terror for just five sweet minutes.

The site is called the Alien Interactive Game, and is based on the film Alien. I won't go into the plot of that film as there are plenty of good reviews on that already. Suffice to say that it's about a group of people trapped in space with an alien on board. Now I'm a dedicated science-fiction hater and find all references to aliens hysterically amusing, but this film is, quite simply, fantastic. The feeling of claustrophobia, of moving relentlessly towards some terrible climax is brilliantly exploited in this film.

The Alien Interactive Game recreates this. You are now a member of the team in space. You too are trapped in this terrible atmosphere and you need to find your way out without being detected by the said Alien.

So far so good I hear you say. But here's the twist to the games:

There's no animation
There's no way to physically 'control' your character.
There's no joystick, mouse, or key that will move a little figure on the screen.

This is the sheer brilliance of the game. It is very much in the style of the old advent
ure Dungeons and Dragons type books you may have had as a kid.

Basically you read the story. At the end of each page you are faced with a decision - e.g. turn left, right, or go straight ahead, approach the alien or do a runner, investigate the ship or get your ass out of there.

Sounds like a barrel of laughs - NOT i hear you say! I know in this modern age of Playstation frenzy it sounds a bit pants, but it is the pictures and the sounds that make this game.

The site is dark, very, very dark. The pictures are real photos taken from the actual movie (though without permission, I'm afraid). But the photos are not well-defined, they seem somehow blurred and difficult to make out, which serves to heighten the suspense. Added to this are some of the creepiest sounds I've ever come across.

Played in a dark room, preferably alone, with the sound turned up, this game can really freak you out. I actually came away with my heart racing and feeling as though I'd actually been on that ship.

There are 22 possible endings to this story, so you can play the game lots of times. At the end, if you don't get killed (I always have) I think you are rewarded with a special set of links, but most of these are relevant to Web-TV users only apparently. It doesn't matter, as the game is worth playing in its own right, not for any end purpose.

The only drawback to this game is it's too short, it's so easy to get killed off just as you're at the height of your fear. In a way, it's an anticlimax when you get killed. It's the buildup that is so scary....what IS behind that wall? Should I really climb it? Dare I click on that link??

Another incredibly irritating feature which will be only too well known to Dooyooers is the existence of popup ads. These can totally ruin the suspense of the game. My advice is - don't close the first one that pops up. when you click on to th
e next screen on the game it then hides the popup. Otherwise the wretched things will persist in appearing.

The Alien Interactive Game, brilliant in its simplicity, exploits very basic human dreads and terrors. Dark places. Shapes you can't make out. Unnerving noises. The fear of what might be around the corner. In an age where so much of our entertainment is spoonfed to us while we passively soak it up, this game harks back to an earlier age when we did not need computerized or televised material to get our kicks......imagination was more than enough.

Enjoy........

http://www.angelfire.com/al/metalalien/

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