Alien Syndrome (1987)

"Catastrophic accident in experimental genetic lab. . .stations overrun by hideous organic mutations – scientists captured! Activate station's self-destruct cycle! Send in Ricky and Mary, veteran Alien Exterminators, to rescue hostages! GO – Through the maze of corridors, blasting the slimy hordes, pick up new weapons on the way, rescue the prisoners and find the exit – HORROR – the doors are guarded by the biggest, most grotesque mutants imaginable! Can you get out before the time bomb goes off. . .?"

A well made conversion for the C64. You can tell the developers cared about this one. Not without it's issues such as having to wait for the screen scrolling to catch up with you but other than that, its stands up well against other platforms.

The game has plenty of music and the title screen plays out for 7 mins or so. I've let the full title music play out at the end of the video. The game is a multiload containing 6 levels and 7 boss battles and even an animated end screen! Rare for a 1988 game.

The game can be played in 2 player and it is an eight way shooter although it can be difficult to aim in a diagonal stance. Once the game starts you have to move around the map and find all the people to collect. They do appear on a map console dotted around the ship. You can also collect weapons upgrades which can help or hinder you. Once you have them all, you can go through the exit to fight the boss. Sound easy right? .. Wrong! This C64 conversion like others can be brutal. The aliens will appear on the screen in a random fashion, you have no idea where the next one will appear and it is so so easy to walk right into em. Constantly firing helps but if you try to push forward faster than the screen moves you'll likely get hit. You get four lives, and only four lives. No more can be collected and it's game over, no continues if you lose em.

I wanted to show the different weapons and not stick to just the Laser which maybe the best weapon in the game. However this approach caused problems at the boss stages so make sure you are properly equipped before going through! Once the game is beaten it loops round and starts over. I'm not sure but I think the difficulty has shot up judging by number of aliens on screen at once. I lose lives here and wind up on the high score screen before letting the title music play out.

00:00:00 Title Screen
00:02:00 Round 1
00:06:15 Round 2
00:10:30 Round 3
00:14:30 Round 4
00:17:20 Round 5
00:20:55 Round 6
00:24:25 Round 7
00:26:55 Full title Music