Themes: Evil Aliens, Robots and Androids, Technology Run Amok
Main Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon, Michael Wincott
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 108 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Two centuries after Ellen Ripley's death, doctors aboard the space station Auriga clone her using a blood sample taken from Fiorna 161 in hopes of harvesting the queen embryo that was incubating inside of her when she was trapped on the remote penal planet. Finally succeeding after numerous attempts, they remove the alien and repair the clone for further study. Before long the Ripley clone has gained consciousness, and displays superhuman capabilities that suggest it possesses alien DNA. When Ripley discovers that General Perez (Dan Hedaya) is keeping the queen in a heavily fortified room of the space station, she warns the military man and his scientists that the creature cannot be contained no matter how hard they try. Meanwhile, General Perez has hired a crew of space pirates to deliver the cryogenically frozen bodies of another ship to the Auriga so they can be used to breed more aliens. The leader of the pirates is Johner (Ron Perlman), a gruff mercenary who engages Ripley to no avail. When Call (Winona Ryder), one of Johner's crewmembers, admits that she was sent to assassinate Ripley, General Perez attempts to have the pirates executed. The result is a tense stand off between the pirates and the military men, with the aliens causing havoc after breaking free of their containment cells. Attempting a daring escape, Ripley and he pirates discover the lab where she was cloned before being forced to swim through the mess hall, which has been submerged in water during the aliens' escape. Discovering a carefully guarded secret about Call's past, Ripley attempts to convince her to alter the Auruga's course, which was set to Earth when the ship went into emergency mode. With the fate of mankind hanging in the balance, Ripley is captured by the aliens and taken to their nest, where she comes face to face with the mutated results of the scientists' experiments. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Dan Hedaya - Gen. Perez; J.E. Freeman - Dr. Wren; Brad Dourif - Gediman; Raymond Cruz - Distephano; Kim Flowers - Hillard; Gary Dourdan - Christie; Leland Orser - Purvis; David St. James - Surgeon
Credit
Andrew Neskoromny - Art Director, Stephen Cooper - Supervising Art Director, Rick Pagano - Casting, Sigourney Weaver - Co-producer, Bob Ringwood - Costume Designer, Michel Cheyko - First Assistant Director, Mark Oppenheimer - First Assistant Director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Director, Herve Schneid - Editor, John Frizzell - Composer (Music Score), Nigel Phelps - Production Designer, Darius Khondji - Cinematographer, Gordon Carroll - Producer, David Giler - Producer, Walter Hill - Producer, Bill Badalato - Producer, John M. Dwyer - Set Designer, Richard Bryce Goodman - Sound/Sound Designer, Leslie Shatz - Sound/Sound Designer, Ernie F. Orsatti - Stunts Coordinator, Pitof - Special Effects Supervisor, Erik Henry - Special Effects Supervisor, Joss Whedon - Screenwriter, Amalgamated Dynamics - Creature Effects
Ellen Ripley has been through a lot in the course of her encounters with the mysterious xenomorphs she and her Nostromo crew discovered nearly three centuries ago. She's battled soldiers, queens, mutant varieties, and even experienced her own death, but now she's been brought back by a team of scientists hungry to gain access to the alien queen hosted in her body at the time of her demise. Yet something during the cloning process changed her. She now has aspects of the aliens she has so long despised. Acid blood, super strength, adept senses ... is she still even human? But is no time for philosophical debate, because the aliens bred by the queen extracted from her are loose on the research ship USM Auriga, and it's up to Ripley to protect the crew and the whole of Earth from being infested. Once again, it's up to Ellen Ripley to save the day.
Take on the role of Ripley and three other characters in Alien Resurrection for the PlayStation, a first-person shooter from Fox Interactive. Based on the 1997 film, you'll take on a whole host of alien opponents as you make your way through the dim corridors of the military research vessel on which you've been involuntarily trapped.
The game will take you throughout the Auriga, both above and below water, and you'll have to battle aliens in their various forms of gestation as well as military personnel who've been ordered to silence you permanently. Many familiar items will be available to you during the course of the game, including the familiar motion tracker that sounds a telltale beep when danger is at hand. Along the way you'll pick up 11 weapons of various strength, from pistols and shotguns all the way to rocket launchers, lasers and electric guns. The plot will reveal some sudden allies for Ripley, and at certain points of the game, you'll even control them in their own levels.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Alien Resurrection was a potentially interesting game that spent a long time in development and shifted genres completely during the course of its creation. Now that it has been released, Alien Resurrection is a disappointment. When it comes to atmosphere, the developers at Argonaut know how to manipulate our senses. It's just as shame that we aren't allowed to manipulate the controls with the same finesse.
On its surface, the game is a straightforward first-person shooter where you trudge through levels while collecting key cards, shooting enemies, and generally playing a technologically advanced game of Berserk. There are no Half-Life trappings here. The plot is given to you via cut-scenes, and these are extremely limited and of poor quality. But what sets this game apart is its atmosphere. It is stronger at developing a palpable sense of dread than many of the other Alien titles previously released.
Dark corridors billow with steam, scratching noises and strange clanks are heard in the distance -- your heart beats quickly as you're battle-weary body presses on into the darkened room. The tracker registers a life form ... you know something is there, but you see nothing. Suddenly, from the ceiling or through the wall, out pops the alien, usually with great effect. This part of the game, the waiting, is outstanding.
The rest of the game falls apart, with the chief offender being the control. Controls are too loose, whether you're using digital or analog, so you'll more often than not find yourself staring at the floor or the ceiling when you try to turn around, instead of at the enemy currently attacking you. In fact, with no auto-aiming feature and enemies that come at you from all directions, the control makes this game extremely difficult if not impossible to complete.
Although the atmosphere is excellent, the actual game is so dark that it hides most of the graphics. Upon closer examination, everything from the textures and models to the animation of the Aliens is substandard. The Aliens, who should be crafty and nimble like in the movies, run at you awkwardly. Of course, if they ever moved with any sense of purpose, the controls would keep you from hitting them.
With Alien Resurrection, we're left with a title that offers scares but not much else, giving us repetitive gameplay that boils down to a keycard hunt, murky visuals that contribute to the atmosphere but are difficult to navigate, and a control scheme so horrible that it kills any enjoyment you'll have while playing.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
While the fear factor is there, the fun factor most certainly not, with painful controls and cut-and-dry gameplay that ruin the entire experience.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
While the atmosphere is suitable, the actual graphics and animation are not, if you can actually see them through the murk.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
The sound is certainly the best part of the game, with ambient noises and a subtle soundtrack that fuels the frightening atmosphere.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
The replay value is undermined by the poor control and unoriginal gameplay. Yet the atmosphere is scary enough to make you play for an hour or so.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
The manual explains a quite a bit about the items, objects, weapons, and enemies that you will encounter.
~ Jon Thompson, All Game Guide
Production Credits
FOX INTERACTIVE Producer: Gary Sheinwald; Associate Producers: Erik Larson, Pete Cesario; Lead Tester: Eic Asevo; Assistant Lead Tester: Jeremy Luyties; Testers: Ken Anderson, Geoff Bent, Ben Borth, James Carone, Francis Choi, Kristian Davila, Matt Dell, Ryan Dowling, Danile Du, Mike Dunn, Corey Evett, David Farkas, Mike Graham, Tim Harrison, Shaun Kennedy, Igo Krinitskiy, Roni Kwang, Javier Lagos, Duc Lai, Joe Lamas, Frantz Latten, Cris Lee, Donald Lewis, Red Magpantay, Kery Marshall, Jonathan Masterson, Adam Orth, Young Park, Denis Pater, Ralph Paz, Alvaro Silva, Nathan Sutter, Jeff Tatman, Tim Tran, Daan Wisehart, Hal Zabie, Brian Zenns; ARGONAUT GAMES Lead Programmer: Simon Hargrave; Programmers: Jon Raymond, Steve Mortimer, Martin Piper, Dan Laufer, Phil Wilkins; Audio Programmer: Richard Griffiths; Lead Designer: Paul Crocker; Sound Design: Jason Bringans; Level Design: Paul Crocker, Jason Bringans, Chris Tudor-Smith; Lead Artist: Michael Wilson; Artists: Kim Tran, Vanessa Pouillard, Karyn Mchale, Masoor Naim, Adam Hill, Guillaume Camus, Duncan Brown, Saurav Sarkar; Testers: Neall Campbell, Dan Mcneill, Carl Ross, Richard Pareja, Sebastian Canniff, Mete Djemal; Head of Sound Department: Justin Scharvona; Sound: Adam Fothergill, Karin Griffin; Producer: Ben Tuszynski; FEATURING AUDIO PRODUCTION Sound Design: Leslie Shatz; VOICE TALENT Father: Steven Gilborn; Ripley: Lani Minella; Call: Theresa Rizzo; Destephano: Raymond Cruz; Christie: Gary Dourdan; Special Thanks: Bill Badalato, Priscilla Bourbannail, Clive Burdon, Fracie Brown, James Cameron, Charlie Davis, Gary Dourdan, Emily Ferry, Kim Flowers, J.E. Freeman, H.R. Giger, Alec Gillis, Brett Gollin, Matthew Gratzner, Simon Grell, Kimberly Harris, Nik Hemmings, Maria Hernandez, Ian Hunter, Sabrina Ironside, Brooks Jewel, Penny Juday, Lisa Knaggs, Tina Kowalewski, John Larsen, Cos Lazouras, Louis Leteriere, Luke Letizia, F. Cameron Macrae, David Moss, Jim Mummery, Marty November, Elaine Oliver, Leland Orser, Ron Perlman, Christine Pernin, Nigl Phelps, Dominique Pinon, Steve Price, Jerry Righmer, Keith Robinson, Lynne Robinson, Nancy Rushlow, Jez San, Dave Stalker, Angela Sutherland, Rozita Tolouey, Paul Urmson, Jack Van Leer, Mark Vitello, Tom Woodruff, Jr., Ian Wright, Karly Young
