Having been the proud owner of my Sega Mega Drive for at least a week or two and played Sonic the Hedgehog for the umpteenth time, to the point that I began to turn a funny shade of blue. I decided, for my own well being to find another form of gaming exhilaration.
With this implanted into my expansion slot (Errm?), I quickly raced off into the real world, with the intention of purchasing a totally different kind of gaming experience altogether.
Not being the bravest of shoppers, (Strange, you might think) but it’s dangerous out there! It’s like a battlefield, carrier bags and shopping baskets flying everywhere. The constant pushing and shoving, I even witnessed a suicidal act they called jumping the queue, (the aftermath was horrendous), another two were involved in what can only be described as trolley rage, the carnage! Desperately I fumbled around for the on/off button having had enough of this weird and violent game. Realising to my horror, I was in the real world (Bizarre or what!)
I retreated to the security of the games department. The idea of a harmless platformer or RPG wasn’t on my mind at all. Under the signs labelled action and adventure and hidden amongst the many other choices of games, was a rather plain looking title called Alien Storm. Reading the games description, words like shape-shifting aliens, slimy horrors, ray guns, whips and flamethrowers immediately grasped my depraved imagination.
With an anxious wait I handed over my hard earned cash and prepared myself for the storm of all storms.
The depravity starts when from the far reaches of outer space aliens, for some strange reason decide to settle down on our perfectly rounded peaceful planet, (What on Earth!)
Imagine the scene; you’re sat on the bus, listening to the usual boring conversation, then glancing out of the window to see a person, with what looks like a mouth implanted in its chest vomiting on pedestrians.
That’s not the last of this weirdness, Skippy the kangaroo hops up the street and from its pouch tentacles appear to entwine themselves around a lollipop lady and sucks the life out of her lollipop! Then there’s this giant slug, you know, the ones that greedily devour your vegetables, but this ones not a vegetarian. No, it’s going around gobbling up the local residents. Then inanimate objects like the rubbish bins and post boxes suddenly spring to life and attack the postman. Turning and pointing, and letting out a little whimper, to the passenger sat opposite, who starts to turn into a totally different kind of being altogether. No wonder there’s mass hysteria as we have become the main ingredient in an alien’s recipe for world domination.
Then without warning, the passenger exploded. This meant one thing; the Alien Busters have come to the rescue, to blast these morons from outer space into small pieces. Three hero-otic characters, there’s Gordon, a typically action packed all round super guy, who likes nothing better than to discharge his big Bazooka. Equipped with a super gunship that in an instant annihilates anything and everything in its path, (be warned, using this special attack will drain our hero’s energy, making his bazooka droop a little). The second Buster goes by the name of Karla, a rather butch looking lady! Who with her hair drier, sorry flamethrower, barbecues these aliens into charcoal. But if things get intimate, she will incinerate a wide area using her Ballistic Missile. (Nice)
The final and strangest Buster is the tin man from the Wizard of Oz; who now likes to be called Slammer, or is it Scooter, (Genesis version). A robot whose weapon is a little whip, but it’s an electrically charged whip, Oh the power. Beware he will self destruct when he’s cornered. Then his headless body reappears, picks up his head and pops it back on, no wonder he forgets who he is.
With their weapons still in hand and ready, they prepared for the next storm. Each level of attack seemed to get harder and harder. Which meant relying on certain stunts, (yes I did say stunts) involving running, leaping and jumping attacks to avoid being eaten themselves. With this they raced off up the road chasing what looked like an alien space ship (How do they do it?) while fending off huge dive bombing flying worms (Who dreams all this.)
Making a cowardly run for cover to the local convenience store thinking this is nice and safe (Oh dear!) Suddenly and without warning an Alien Buster charges in. Then, an ugly looking alien charges towards him where all hell breaks loose, as the store turns into a fair-ground shooting gallery (Operation Wolf Style) with every wave of aliens being targeted and blown to smithereens.
With the threat of more aliens and end of level bosses (who are even more powerful), I decided to make a tactical exit, yes I am a coward. So I paused the game and had another sip of my lemonade, (those bubbles go right to my head). “Come on, you didn’t think it was real did you!”
Wait a minute I’m going all serious! (Here goes). My personal opinion of Alien Storm is it’s a good attempt at an easy to get into action filled game for an amateur gamer like myself, not everyone is a gaming whiz.
Yes it is repetitive, but wasn’t Golden Axe and the Streets of Rage series? (Possibly using the same six cylinder gaming engine.) The missions could have been made a tad longer to make the game that little bit more challenging. As you go deeper into the game-play the different coloured aliens and bosses do become hard to defeat in battles, and sometimes seem to out number the Alien Busters.
The shooting sections are a welcome change for that era, with a bit more detail and depth that section could have been much better.
The Mega Drive and its controller managed to handle the overall game quite well, keeping it simple, with a bash of the buttons for the different attacking styles.
Sega to my knowledge never saw fit to release a sequel, leaving me to wonder what could and should have happened at a period in time when gaming fever was at its hottest. So if you see a sad looking game entitled Alien Storm in a bargain bucket and are into a quick and easy blast from the past, go on buy it, you just might be pleasantly surprised.
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