Alien Earth

Last updated
Alien Earth
Alien Earth Box Art.jpg
Box art
Developer(s) Beam Software [1]
Publisher(s)
Platform(s) IBM PC compatible
Release NA July 21, 1998
Genre(s) Action role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Alien Earth is an isometric pseudo-3D action-adventure game with role-playing elements. It was released for Windows. [2] It was developed by Krome Studios Melbourne, (known as Beam Software at the time) and released in 1998. [3]

Contents

Plot

What remains of Earth and most of its inhabitants after a nuclear holocaust is dominated and enslaved by the insect-like humanoid Raksha, invaders from another planet. [4] Many years later, only the Resistance remains free, in the sewers of a ruined city. The player takes control of Finn, a villager in a jungle that the Raksha use to hunt their slaves as prey. A Raksha hunting lord marks Finn as a troublemaker, [4] and he must outwit the Raksha, and seek aid wherever he can find it, to survive. His nemesis vanquished, Finn searches for answers about the fate of his civilization in a wartorn city, despite the Scavengers hunting through the ruins for scraps of remaining technology and intruders.

Gameplay

Resource management is a key part of the game; items are collected, as in most games, but also combined; the latter is crucial to completing the game. Combining a wooden pole with a metallic blade forms a Spear, for example, or an empty bottle, petrol and a rag cloth to form a molotov cocktail. Separate NPCs make scavenged Raksha weapons usable and sellable, and level up Finn's psionic abilities. Finn's fighting abilities use a skill levelling system; the more Finn uses a weapon, the better he gets at using it.

Development

The game was showcased at E3 1997. [5]

Reception

Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "Well-designed and (mostly) well-implemented, it might not be flashy, but the game possesses a depth and quality that marks it as one of the brighter spots in the lineup this month." [6] PC Action  [ de ] gave the game a rating of 53% and said the game had a good idea but implemented it half-heartedly. [7] PC Zone gave a rating of 60% and said "the storyline is mildly enthralling, but nothing makes you sit up and take notice." [8]

Reviews

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References

  1. "GameSpy: Beam Software". www.gamespy.com.
  2. "Alien Earth (1998) Windows release dates". MobyGames.
  3. "Alien Earth review by Al Giovetti". www.thecomputershow.com.
  4. 1 2 "Alien Earth - PC - GameSpy". pc.gamespy.com.
  5. Lee, Helen (June 13, 1997). "Beam Software and Melbourne House Unveil E3 Lineup". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 6, 1998. Retrieved July 27, 2022.
  6. "Finals". Next Generation . No. 42. Imagine Media. June 1998. pp. 142, 144.
  7. Aichinger, Herbert (August 1998). "Test - Alien Earth". PC Action (in German). No. 8/98. Computec Media. p. 112.
  8. Taylor, Adam (July 1998). "Reviews Extra - Alien Earth". PC Zone . No. 65. Future plc. p. 113.
  9. https://archive.org/details/PC-Player-German-Magazine-1998-09/page/n73/mode/2up
  10. https://archive.org/details/PC.Games.N072.1998.09-fl0n/page/n149/mode/2up
  11. https://archive.org/details/powerplaymagazine-1998-08/page/n77/mode/2up