Alien Syndrome

Alien Syndrome

Game No.	18
Voting	6.96 points, 23 votes
Developer	Tim Rogers, Darrin Stubbington
Company	Sega
Publisher	ACE
Musician	Jeroen Kimmel
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/R/Red_Kimmel_Jeroen/Alien_Syndrome.sid
Release	1988
Platform	Amiga, Arcade, C64
Genre	Shoot'em Up, Miscellaneous
Gamemode	Single player 2 players (simultaneous)
Operation
Media
Language

Description[edit | edit source]

They got us! These horrendous and treacherous parasites have infiltrated one of our outer colonies. All the inhabitants are held ransom by these disgusting aliens. They are slimy, poisonous and almost indestructible. The onyl way to get rid of them is a detonation. But this would cost hundres of lives. You are armed with just a simple weapon, but there are hidden weapons that are much more effective. Get them! All hostages need the get free. At the end of each level waits one of these super aliens. Find his weak point!

And there is another thing ....

We have placed a time bomb in the colony, because we need to avoid that this horrible virus spreads any further. Free the hostages. Now! Before the explosion puts an end to this (and to all people involved).

Design[edit | edit source]

2D graphics which can be scrolled in all directions. A small map is built in. This is activated by wall switches and shows the drawing of the station and the location of the inhabitants. Sound and music fit the game. The partially very many sprites in the shape of hostile aliens move quickly and seem very realistic. It is possible to save the highscore list on disk when you habe 40.000 points or more.

Start of the game

Section overview

Hints[edit | edit source]

Weapons[edit | edit source]

Icon	Weapon	Description
S	Shoot	Standard weapon, that you carry at the beginning
FB	Fireball	This highly modern weapon shoots great rolling fireballs.
L	Laser	This effective weapon can eliminate a group of aliens with one shot.
F	Flame thrower	Constantly sprays a fire blast. But only with a low reach!
B	Bomb	Is helpful against some of the super aliens.

Keyboard controls[edit | edit source]

F3 Music off
F5 Music on
RUN/STOP Pause

Game mode[edit | edit source]

Single player:
Team mode:

Controls[edit | edit source]

Walk into one of the eight possible directions
Fire a shot

Tips[edit | edit source]

Look into all directions, shoot right away at the Aliens, avoid their shots and try to get a better weapon from one of the closets.
Touch the MAP icon and you will be shown the hostages still to be freed on a small map.
Touch the ? aymbol and you will get bonus points.
When all hostages were freed, the current sector can be left through the exit gate.
Always be on the move!

Solution[edit | edit source]

End scene

General[edit | edit source]

So a fast approach is needed. If the time runs out, the game is over!
You should not use continous fire, but defeat the aliens with one well-directed shot.

Level 1[edit | edit source]

The people should be freed on a path-optimized order (work through from bottom to top) to save time.
At the beginning there is need for a better weapon (laser or fireball) to enlarge the reach of shot.
When you have collected all 16 people, just use the exit in the upper area.
Shoot into the red opening of the end boss and avoid the attacking green aliens.
Before the yellow alien snaps, dodge upwards or downwards and shoot vertically at the alien.

Cheats[edit | edit source]

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
6.96 points at 23 votes (rank 464). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	8	27.Oktober 2003 - "Super" 237 Downs
Commodore Force	84%	Issue 7 7/93
Commodore User	8/10	Issue 56 5/88
Commodore User	80%	Issue 73 10/89
Kultboy.com	7.49	21st July 2013 - 23 votes
Lemon64	7.80	21st July 2013 - 58 Votes
Ready64	7.40	21st July 2013 - 10 votes
ZZap!	90%	Issue 38 6/88

Reviews[edit | edit source]

Sledgie: "A very quick action game which needs a high reaction capacity. I personally think it is too difficult. To know the promise of all levels I played in the trainer mode. As a buff of the film, the game gets 7 out of 10 points from me."

TheKills: "A real neural killer was created here... not due to the tension but due to frustration. In fact I never made games like Frankie goes to Hollywood or Impossible Mission, but you were never so agitated after playing them."

Werner: "Clean scrolling into 8 directions. The sound is also successful. But right from the start the game has a very high difficulty grade. 8 points."