Alien Storm - Sega Master System

Review comments

Alien Storm box art All the human race was trying to do was coexist in peace and harmony and enjoy their lives to the full, and they would have got away with it if it wasn't for those meddling aliens.

Starships loaded with said contemptuous slimy extraterrestrials have landed and the ghastly inhabitants have taken over, terrorising the populace and generally disporting themselves in a yobbo-esque fashion.

Fortunately there are two brave survivors still willing to fight for the human cause. They are Gordon the Hamburger Stand Man and Scooter his robot assistant who have decided to take on the entire alien fleet and give their asses the kicking they so truly deserve.

Alien Storm is a conversion of Sega's popular arcade game. The action is seen in a three-quarters side view giving the screen depth that the players can move in and out. Blasting aliens whilst keeping a careful eye on your life and energy gauges is the order of the day here, so get your special “blasting aliens whilst keeping an eye on my life and energy gauges” trousers on and get slaughtering!

Staff comments

I can only express deep disappointment at this shoddy conversion. It's an instant downer as soon as you boot it up - the graphics are very poor, with small, blocky and poorly-animated sprites. The aliens are particularly bad, looking nothing like their grisly arcade counterparts. The sound is even worse, with a vile, grating, screeching that has you reaching for the volume knob in seconds. But worst of all is the playability. Even with its cock-eyed collision detection and unresponsive controls you can finish the game within a couple of sessions - Alien Breeze would be a more befitting title for this game!

Bearing in mind the excellent conversion job made of the Megadrive version of Alien Storm (except for the difficulty level) it would have been nice to think that Sega could pull a similar conversion rabbit out of the hat when it came to the Master System version. Sadly 'tis not to be. Alien Storm is lacking in three areas: graphics, sound and playability. The sprites are small, blocky, poorly animated and few of the aliens resemble their arcade counterparts in any way. The sound is dreadful, with one or two barely audible “effects” and what must be the worst Master System tune ever, it sounds like the Tone Deaf Memorial Quartet on their kazoos and Muppet keyboards.

The final nails in the coffin are the unresponsive controls and poor collision detection. It's difficult to make your character shoot accurately due to the poor 3D, and aliens who should rightly be about six feet away from you suddenly kill you. Quite simply, Alien Storm is very unsuccessful conversion that fails to deliver and of the thrills and spills of the original coin-op.