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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Jun 05, 2017 9:38 pm

After having finished the very rewarding yet equally grindy AD&D CRPG Curse of the Azure Bonds, I really needed a bit of a break. My next game needed to be arcade-style and ideally it would offer some atmosphere. After running a quick poll on Twitter for a little light-hearted help, I locked in on Sega's 1987 arcade sleeper Alien Syndrome. Out of 41 total votes cast, Syndrome collected 32% of the total - just enough to make it the winner.

I then happened across an insanely lucky auction on Ebay for a NOS shrink-wrapped and sealed box for the 1987/88 sci-fi shooter (originally made in 1987, ported in 1988). I remembered the game being a ton of fun on the C64 so went ahead and picked it up. I'm not familiar with the Amiga version, but I'm looking forward to it.

Naturally, I needed to destroy history and open this box a.s.a.p. once it arrived today. I mainly needed to see if the disk still worked, but I'm always curious about the packaging and content. To be honest, the contents were pretty lame: just a black and white manual with just a few pages of cross-platform instructions and a warranty card.

But I'm happy to report that the disk does still work!

And while the slow synth music isn't particularly mind blowing it is quite foreboding and a bit creepy, and sounds quite a bit like the arcade IIRC.
alsyn-box0.jpg
The price sticker is still on the shrink-wrap outside the box. That's freakin' cheap!

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The Amiga was still quite young as a platform when this game was released.

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Box of the box for Alien Syndrome.

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Air that had been trapped for 30 years finally released. This is how zombie films start, right?

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The packaging being removed from the box for the first time. The discoloration of the sticker made me a tad nervous (and surprised). Must have been a cheap glue/paper combo...

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Getting to the SEGA loading screen let me breathe a sigh of relief.

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Pretty cool intro screen, albeit bizarre. For a game that tried to borrow themes from Alien, H.R. Geiger it is not.

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Looking forward to jamming on Alien Syndrome on the Amiga in the near future!


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mattsoft

Posted Sun Jun 25, 2017 2:04 pm

I assume you've played Alien Breed (1 or 2) from Team17 for Amiga? It's a lot like Alien Syndrome, though with some Amiga style. :)

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TenLeftFingers

Posted Mon Jun 26, 2017 4:43 am

Alien Breed is good as a two player game. As a one player game, I found it a bit too difficult - and maybe a bit scary now that I think of it haha!





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