Alien Resurrection is far from a beloved movie. While it has its fans, there’s no denying the last Sigourney Weaver-helmed Alien sequel had the cards stacked against it. This goes double for one of Argonaut Games’ final projects – the license tie-in game to that film. The once-famous studio, known for innovating 3D graphics with Starfox and the SuperFX Chip had, at this point, parted ways with Nintendo completely.
Things didn’t go very well for them after that, including with Resurrection. Originally planned for multiple consoles and PC, it would suffer numerous development delays, eventually coming out at the tail end of the PSX life-cycle. To put this into context: the PlayStation 2 was up for pre-order at the same time as this game was making a late-stage development shift from isometric camera angles into a straight-up first-person shooter. The average development cycle at this time would take several months to a year, and yet Alien Resurrection somehow took three years.
While the effort was worth it, it’s only been regarded as so in hindsight.
Resurrection’s original bittersweet claim to fame was a critic at the time railing against its control scheme – mere months before Halo would make these same general control inputs mainstream: left stick to move, right stick to aim, R1 to shoot. R2 to reload like in The Last of Us, X to interact. This was pioneering stuff!
Everything’s so seamless that, other than loading screens, the game never cuts – another rarity for a console game of this era. It’s a real shame, because while Resurrection might be tied to a weird movie, it’s an absolutely incredible game. There’s nothing like it from this era, which is precisely why it deserves to be preserved.
You just don’t get lighting and poly counts this good in PlayStation 1 games. Optimization was what Argonaut did best, and it really shows here. Loading is brief, the gameplay is surprisingly involved with AI opponents flanking and ambushing you. Bodily dismemberment is on full display eight years and two console iterations before Dead Space, gorgeous flame effects bounce off the metallic interiors, and Xenomorph acid blood can coat whole hallways during thicker fights, before eventually drying over time. There’s a flashlight that illuminates better and more realistically than its contemporaries, and even full PS Mouse support, which is as close as you can get to the canceled PC port.
This isn’t even getting into the core gameplay loop. These are the details. From its tightly balanced combat where every bullet counts to its brooding atmosphere, Alien Resurrection is a brutal first-person fight for survival. All the classic tropes are here – from key cards to environmental hazards – but they’re spaced just right. However linear the campaign may be, Resurrection weaves interlocking rooms, vents, and floors into impressively complex dungeons of death. It feels like a lived-in space far vaster than what you’re exploring, full of xenomorphs hungrily hunting you.
Resurrection manages to simultaneously be a better survival shooter than Aliens: Colonial Marines and a fitting retro take on Alien: Isolation nearly two decades prior. Its pacing is pretty much perfect, alternating between multiple characters besides Ripley, each with unique loadouts. There’s clear intent to be accessible beyond the difficulty selection, like an infinite starting pistol that, while never powerful, is useful. Inventory management is as simple as toggling with L1 and L2 through the list, but believe me, you’ll be pressed for ammo if you don’t get a good grasp on how to use that pistol effectively.
As if all this wasn’t enough, there are breakable objects in the environment holding additional loot, and optional little areas with their own risks and rewards. While these ideas are old hat, dating back to the likes of Resident Evil, remember it’s in the context of a game pushing the processing power of this console to the limit. Throwing in side areas, ventilation shafts, and the risk of being facehugged and needing a radiation kit after awakening elsewhere verges on absurd. It’s brilliant absurdity, but it also comes at a high price.
The reason I’m calling for a remaster instead of imploring you to emulate it or run it on your PS3 is due to how specifically optimized Resurrection is. Like Rogue Squadron II on GameCube, Resurrection relies on such specific precision from the PlayStation hardware. It’s possible a simple audio bug can permanently softlock your playthrough, especially if you dare to go above standard framerate.
Worse still, copies are limited due to a short production run because of course 20th Century Fox Interactive didn’t bet on a huge return on investment for a game caught up in years of development hell. Despite everything that went right in the end, much of what made Resurrection great is only regarded now with the benefit of hindsight. Which is precisely why it deserves a proper remaster.
Not a remake, just a modern port with the polish necessary to experience the game to its fullest. With Nightdive Studios and Ziggurat given great refreshes to System Shock, Rise of the Triad, PowerSlave, and Bloodrayne (among many others), there’s no reason the same couldn’t be done for Resurrection. It’s high time Argonaut’s last hidden gem be brought to light.
Indie games like DERELIKT are even trying to offer spiritual successors in lieu of a proper port. The audience is finally here for Resurrection. If Disney will fork over the money to have Tangled: The Videogame for the Wii ported to PC, then surely they could bring back this foundational piece of gaming history.
It’s high time for a whole new generation to admire its purity. Until then, cap your emulators and dig out your PS Mouse – Alien Resurrection is more than just another bug hunt.
