Alien Syndrome - the bitter irony of fate... [Alien Breed]

[Turrican]

Well, there has been rumor these days that Sega is planning a revival of its classic franchises for PSP, and Alien Syndrome was hinted as a likely candidate.

Is there a lesson to learn from this?

Yes, and it's that Team 17 always comes late. Fans everywhere asked for Alien Breed's rebirth, but nooo. They were busy making Worms 3D. If Alien Syndrome steals the spotlight now, Team 17 deserves it.

[Marc]

I prefer the quick fix gameplay of Syndrome... but an Alien Breed re-make would be more than welcome on either platform. In my opinion, that's what the PSP in particular is missing at the moment, old-school gaming. Portables are designed to be played in short bursts, and updates of past classics are ideal for that. There should be more remakes of good old COMPUTER games as well, not just the same coin-ops over and over again.

[Shatterhand]

Team 17 actually starting working in an Alien Breed sequel, like 3 years ago, I think, but then it was cancelled.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/sc ... _82945.jpg

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/sc ... _82946.jpg

[Shatterhand]

I just found this:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/xavnet/alienbreed/

Downloaded, but all I get after I start it up is a starfield with some cool music... and I just can't get past of it.

[GaijinPunch]

I'd like to see them leave it alone, or give it a proper sequel on a console. The Sega Ages 2500 version was one of the worst 2500 titles (not that any of them shined).

[BrianC]

I'd like to see them leave it alone, or give it a proper sequel on a console. The Sega Ages 2500 version was one of the worst 2500 titles (not that any of them shined).

One of the worst? I found it to be extremely good. It stayed true to the original while including an awesome Smash TV style control scheme and making the action more intense. Heck, I actually found Alien Syndrome to be one of the best ones in the first series. Have you even played Fantasy Zone SEGA Ages 2500? I don't know how someone could say it doesn't shine (unless you don't care much for the original). Also, for the record, the two games in Bonanza Bros and Tant-R SEGA Ages 2500 were left mostly untouched.

I think Virtua Racing was the most overrated SEGA Ages 2500. While I still liked it, it's not very true to the original. There is no car damage, the game runs much faster than before, and the game is very glitchy.

Edit: Sorry for that Mario Picross comment. I deleted it becuase it was off topic and I felt it was a bit harsh. It's frustrating to see incorrect information like that on a Japan gaming site, though (I do think the site in general is very well done, however). Isn't there a pen/paper picross in Japan?

[Ganelon]

I dunno. I'm like the entire opposite. VR was by far the best on Sega Classics Collection IMO, esp. with the doubled framerate and new extras even though the game is really easy now. Still the best port of VR although admittedly not perfect.

Alien Syndrome plays like a really generic "save stuff within a time limit" type of game now...

[BrianC]

I dunno. I'm like the entire opposite. VR was by far the best on Sega Classics Collection IMO, esp. with the doubled framerate and new extras even though the game is really easy now. Still the best port of VR although admittedly not perfect.

Remember to save the Virtua Racing data first before any other game in the SEGA classics collection if you plan on keeping those extras. Also, I like the port of VR a lot, but it keeps being toted as arcade perfect when it isn't. Some of the glitches are annoying too. Maybe overrated was the wrong choice of words, though.

[K-J N.]

Yes, and it's that Team 17 always comes late. Fans everywhere asked for Alien Breed's rebirth, but nooo. They were busy making Worms 3D. If Alien Syndrome steals the spotlight now, Team 17 deserves it.

They've tried to make a new Alien Breed several times but the publishers just aren't interested. Here is a Eurogamer interview with Team 17 about the current climate for game developers.

From the interview:

"Martyn Brown: We've developed a couple of ideas using the Alien Breed universe. One was a kind of RTS called ABA (Alien Breed Assault) which got quite far into development around 1998 and more recently we did a more action/RPG-light return to the original mood with "Alien Breed 2K4". This version was to use the Snowblind Engine (used in Baldur's Gate on PS2) and we were quite excited by how it looked and played, the co-op two-player options etc. To us - and in our experience, the project seemed like a no-brainer. We had nothing but very positive response from everyone who saw it. At publishers, product development people loved it and wanted to do it, but for one reason or another, it never got signed up despite a few "very nearly" situations.

We haven't pursued the Breed thing for a year or so and we've just tried to forget about the annoyance of not getting it away and crack on with ensuring we meet our salaries by producing titles that publishers do want rather than what the press and the public seem to think we should do! I think for Alien Breed it was a case of right game, wrong time. I still hope we can get the opportunity to re-do the game in the future - it looked the dogs! Recently there's been a bit more publisher interest in bringing the game back, so you never know. It might resurface one fine and sunny day.

Eurogamer: Why don't you use the cash from Worms games to fund pet original projects? A bit like Traveller's Tales has done over the years.

Martyn Brown: Heh, if only it was as easy as that. We've had so much bad luck in terms of publishing and suffered a lot of bad debt - as recent as last year - that this is generally a very risky policy. For the record we had two titles with Acclaim when they went Chapter 7, which was almost disastrous for us. Given that publishers have become risk-averse in the extreme, we've adopted the same policy - and guess what? We're still in business when many other developers have gone out of business."

[Turrican]

Necrothreading because rumors of Team 17's new interest for Alien Breed have resurfaced again:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=238791



Maybe it's finally time to send those worms back in their can?