Aliens Online

Infobox VG
title = Aliens Online


caption =
developer = Mythic Entertainment
publisher = GameStorm, Kesmai, Fox Interactive
distributor =
designer =
version =
released = March 31, 1998
genre = Action game, adventure game
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: T (Teen)
platforms= Microsoft Windows
media =
requirements =
input = Keyboard and mouse

"Aliens Online" is a first-person shooter/role-playing game based on the Alien film series. It was released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows. The software was free to download and was automatically updated. Joining GameStorm for $9.95 per month was required to play the game. Online play was shutdown on May 29, 2000. Its notable features included asymmetric teams, teams consisting of more players than found in most FPS's of the day, job/class specialization, and its RPG elements.

Some time after its cancellation, a group of fans began an effort to clone the game using the Half-Life engine. The project was later dropped after FOX threatened legal action.

This game, along with all other games offered on the Mythic-Realms gaming center excluding "Dragon's Gate", is no longer available (as of early 2006). In June 20, 2006 Mythic Entertainment was purchased by Electronic Arts. They are currently working on "Warhammer Online" and "Dark Age of Camelot". [ [http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060620/20060620006061.html?.v=1] Dead link|date=March 2008]

Gameplay

Players could fight on either the side of the "United States Colonial Marines" or on the side of the "Aliens".

The "Colonial Marine" faction had the Medic, Scout, Soldier, and Heavy Weapons classes. More advanced weaponry and increased hit points became available as a character progressed in rank. Marines' equipment included the motion detector from the movie "Aliens", which was their sole method to locate Aliens, but would not locate Aliens which were not moving. In later versions of the game, the Marines could also drop proximity mines.

The "Hive Alien" faction had the Face Hugger, Drone, Queen, and Empress classes. Their capabilities included stealth, leaping, and radar of the entire map, representing the aliens' greater awareness and hive-like mentality. They attacked only at close range using tail strikes and with claws. Each map allowed one alien player to fill the role as Queen or Empress, and that player could freely swap from drone to drone. Players gained points for killing Marines and lost them by dying, except when playing as a face hugger, which loses no points for dying. Players had to score 1000 points before they could play as Queen and 5000 before playing as Empress.

Scenarios were played in one of six different types of terrain sets, with upwards of twenty to thirty players per side during each instance.

Notes and references

External links

*moby game|id=/aliens-online|name="Aliens Online"