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This game should be subtitled "Aliens American Style". The game requires you to compete in six separate game sequences to save Ripley, Newt, the marines and the rest of humanity from hordes of Aliens who not inhabit the planet Archeron.

Ripley has been to Archeron before as part of the crew of the doomed ship Nostromos that was eaten by a single Alien. Now you must return to battle with a planet full of them in the second game of the film sequel.

The British version of the game was reviewed in February Gamer. It used the film to set the mood of the game whereas this American version goes for the plot.

The game opens with a text introduction detailing Ripley's interrogation on her return. She brings news that there's now an Alien colony on Archeron. You must join Ripley and a squad of Marines on the subsequent bug hunt. The crew are briefed, using comic style speech bubbles, and you also undergo an equipment identification test before starting game one.

Remember an awful old Activision game called Master Of The Lamps? Remember the part where you guide your character through a moving tunnel? Game one is similar except that you steer your ship down to the planet's surface. If you stray off course however you have to start again, to complicate things an ion storm hits you just when you think you're getting things under control.

After landing, you send out four Marines to find the enemy. Unfortunately the Aliens find them first and in game two you must get them back to the safety of their armoured personnel carrier. This is the closest the American game gets to the British version. TV screens warn of nearby Aliens and a blank screen means that a crew member has been chomped. You must move your crew through a 3D maze while watching a motion tracker that plots any approaching Aliens. If you get caught you have to gun your way out.

In game three, they've got you cornered, but you have a slim chance of escaping *if* you can hold them back with flame-thrower while the others cut through to the air duct. The Aliens come at you in waves. You must fry or frighten them with your flame-thrower. If they get past you they'll chomp your marines and if they get them all before the others cut through you're doomed.

The game is not as easy as it sounds, as you have to guard a wide corridor and the Aliens swarm at you at alarming speeds - one wrong move means supper time for an Alien with the loss of yet another marine.

The scramble around the air duct is the most disappointing part of the game as it's a Pacman-style chase around a maze as you try to ind your way back to the ship. Every time you're caught by an Alien, a marine - a white dot - is chomped.

Finally the Marines set a time bomb to blow up the Aliens. With only seventeen minutes to go, Ripley has her work cut out as she sets off to rescue Newt, the compulsory cute kid. Again, you must navigate a maze, frying aliens as you go, while you track down Newt using the range locator at the top of the screen.

Finally, Ripley comes face to face with the Queen Alien in a duel to the death. With your designer robotic exoskeleton power-loader you must deflect the Alien who attempts to grab you. To win the game, you must dump her through the air lock.

Aliens is a typical American multi-screen game in which fast action takes priority and graphics take a back seat. Over here, we're used to great gameplay and great graphics however. Although there are some impressive screens - the rest are hampered by stick man animation.

Overall, I prefer the British version of Aliens but this does run a close second. Unbelievably, a film has managed to inspire *two* good spin-off games!