Alien
Syndrome is an arcade conversion of the SEGA game. It was released in
1987 by ACE. The C64 and Spectrum versions were very well received,
it's an excellent conversion of the arcade game. The Spectrum
version scored high in Crash while the C64 scored a Sizzler and a
healthy 90%. Now, comparing the to two versions, let's start with the
cosmetics.
Looking at the screen captures it is obvious that the C64 version kicks
Spectrum butt. The Commodore version includes the current level screen,
the Spectrum misses this. The arcade version is available on the MAME
arcade simulator. The acrade version has some speech and a limited
tune, the Commodore tune is different but still atmospheric, the tune
plays with some good sound FX.
You can play either a male or female, weapons upgrades are found on the
decks. The purpose of the game is to rescue a prefedined number of
humans from aliens of different space ships within a time limit.
Beforetime runs out the players, one or two, have to kill off the end
of level monster. This is no easy task, nut very satisfying.
The Spectrum version has the usual
Spectrum scrolling problem, the screen only scrolls when you are close
to the edge. This causes unexpected deaths from attackers not yet seen,
just of screen. The reason the arcade game was popular was the two
player action. On both version the game playes well as a two player
game. Even though the Spectrum has scrolling problems it is still very
playable.
The Commodore has the edge however, better graphics, better sound and
better playability. The playability is higher due to two reasons,
firstly the scrolling and secondly no slowing down when the screen gets
busy on
the Commodore. The Spectrum slows down when simultaneously
scrolling and when the screen contains many moving objects.
