Xenomorphs – Aliens vs Predator. 9 iconic & notorious enemies from 90s' games
Table of Contents
- Genre: FPS
- Release year: 1999
- Developer: Rebellion
What were the xenomorphs?
Xenomorphs – introduction hardly needed. It's an extraterrestrial life form – a model of a perfect predator that has mastered the ability to survive and kill its victims to perfection. These creatures had humanoid shape and four limbs, which they used to move around like monkeys. They could climb, run fast on walls and ceilings, hide in tight corners and darkness, as well as swim. Instead of blood, they had a corrosive acid that was dangerous to anyone who wounded a xenomorph at close range. The creature's main weapon was its powerful tail.
In addition to these features, the creatures from the Alien universe created by HR Giger were designed in a way that tapps into the most popular, innate human phobias, giving them the greatest impact on human imagination. The way they multiply, infecting their prey, and their successive stages of development and pupation increase the fearsomeness of these parasites. Catching victims as their incubators and immobilizing them with secretions resembles the behavior of some spiders, and arachnophobia is a hell of a thing.
Why were they memorable?
Xenomorphs have been present in computer games even earlier – for example in the shooter Alien Breed for Amiga – but it was in the 3D FPS Aliens vs Predator that the atmosphere of the movie Aliens appeared for the first time in a game. The steady beeping of the famous motion detector made the heart skip a few beats as the sounds became more and more intense, creating an extraordinary tension and causing shivers even without the xenomorphs on the screen. And when a horde of aliens came out of the walls and vents, hell was unleashed upon us. These creatures were very agile and immediately flung at the player. The only way out was to frantically retreat and lay down as much fire as possible while doing that; there was no time for precise aiming, and the onslaught was so intense there was no point trying to hit specific targets. Immersion straight from cinemas!
