
Alien Breed (video game)

Alien Breed is a shooter video game, the first in the "Alien Breed" series. It is played with a top-down view, for one or two players. It was released in 1991 by Team17 for the Commodore Amiga and later in 1993 by MicroLeague for MS-DOS.
Gameplay.
The game is based on the "Alien" films, specifically "Aliens", and also on the 8-bit-era games "Laser Squad" and "Paradroid" (although the game bears some gameplay similarities with "Gauntlet", with which it has been compared, as well an obvious comparison with Sega's "Alien Syndrome", and Pandora's "Into the Eagle's Nest"). "Alien Breed" consists of the player or players having to find the lift down to the next level, occasionally setting the self-destruct sequence to blow up the level above them. The players collect or purchase a variety of weapons from the space station's computer terminals. In some versions of the game, these so-called "Intex" terminals provide additional features such as a clone of the classic computer game "Pong". Credits found on the ground have to be saved for these weapons and other enhancements, each giving the players an edge over the gradually more and more powerful alien forces. In advanced levels, players are occasionally trapped in enclosed spaces with huge "boss" aliens.
Reception.
"Alien Breed" was released to critical acclaim. "CU Amiga" awarded it 90%, noting that "Team17 have come up with a winner", while the Channel 4 video game program "GamesMaster" gave the Amiga version a 70% rating.
"Computer Gaming World" in March 1994 criticized the "asinine copy protection", but said that the DOS version "is still a good action title for those who like their play quick and simple". The magazine in April 1994 stated that while "right at home at the local arcade or any cartridge game machine", the DOS version of "Alien Breed" "has fallen behind in the tech race". Citing the "European" use of mission codes instead of save games and "pretty" but shallow gameplay, the reviewer unfavorably compared it to "Doom", with "an almost identical (somewhat tired) premise" but of which "the execution makes all the difference". Despite the good graphics and "fast-paced" action, he concluded that "Alien Breed" was "not suitable for the average computer gamer on this continent", but might be for the "less demanding player" or one who wanted a Nintendo.
Intro disk.
Team17 also made an "intro disk" available, containing a short animated introductory sequence with on-screen narration which follows events leading into the start of the game. After the introduction is finished, the player is prompted for disk one of the game, effectively making the introduction disk "disk zero". Team17 produced a similar introduction disk for "Superfrog", animated by Eric W. Schwartz, although this was included with the retail edition of the game.
Other releases.
"Alien Breed Special Edition '92" was an expanded version, published in 1992, at budget price. It was hugely popular, staying in the British software charts for more than a year. It also featured a film trailer-style advert for Team17's upcoming "Superfrog", which was unusual at the time. As well as being released on the Amiga, this version of the game was also released on the Amiga CD32 in a double-pack with "Qwak".
Both the original and the "Special Edition" did well enough to merit further sequels, almost all of which have been commercial and critical successes.
The player characters in this game and its sequel were named Johnson and Stone. By the third game (""), the player characters were named John and Nash. In keeping with the "Aliens" theme, a female voiceover (the voice of Lynette Reade) provided warnings and other messages to the players.
In 2012, a port of "Alien Breed" for smartphones and tablets was released for iOS and Android, to very favourable reviews.