Standup Fight or Bughunt?

Aliens is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I haven't seen it since the '90s because I didn't want to get burned out on it. HBO recently showed an extended version in my viewing menu, but I could only find the standard version yesterday and so watched that. Anyway, I thought it might be fun to take a look at all the boardgames directly inspired by the Alien franchise. See which standard elements are included and which are left out, and which games are the best. I haven't played any of the recent releases. Anyway, here are some points of comparison for each game:

Space marines?
Flamethrowers?
Xenomorph life cycle?
Acid blood?
Traitor?
Escaped cat?
Self-destruct countdown?
Standup fight or bughunt?
Is the game good?

The Awful Green Things From Outer Space (1979): This wacky Tom Wham game was originally published as an insert in Dragon Magazine #28, in August of 1979, just two months after Alien debuted in movie theaters. Realistically, that means that the game was underdevelopment before Alien came out, so it is not inspired by Alien despite some uncanny coincidences. It's at least a 2-player game, and difficult for the heroes to win. The most entertaining aspect of the game is trying out an improvised weapon for the first time, to see if it kills, stuns, or even helps the xenomorphs.

Space marines? yes
Flamethrowers? maybe
Xenomorph life cycle? yes
Acid blood? no
Traitor? no
Escaped cat? no
Self-destruct countdown? yes
Standup fight or bughunt? Standup fight
Is the game good? yes

Intruder (1980): This game was definitely inspired by Alien, and does a very decent job of simulating that movie. One of the scenarios replaces the normal crew with space marines, anticipating Aliens by 7 years. The default mode is solitaire, but the rules easily adapt to a 2+ player game, with one player running the xenomorphs. The most interesting part of the game is that the xenomorph can evolve through a six-stage life cycle, gaining random abilities at each stage. The first two life stages are small enough to be stunned and captured, while the final stage is a brutal killing machine.

Space marines? yes
Flamethrowers? yes
Xenomorph life cycle? yes
Acid blood? maybe
Traitor? no
Escaped cat? yes
Self-destruct countdown? yes
Standup fight or bughunt? Bughunt
Is the game good? yes

Well I suppose Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game needs to be in here since it covers four movies and most main characters, correct me if I get any of these wrong:

Space marines - Yes
Flamethrowers - Dunno
Xenomorph life cycle - Probably
Acid blood - Yes
Traitor - Think so
Escaped cat - Yes
Self-destruct countdown - Think so
Standup fight or bughunt - Dunno, probably the fight as they're coming for ya
Is the game good - Yes, hard to beat, only game I know where you have to ask the next player if they can cover you.

EDIT: Whoops, you're doing them all, sorry, correct mine as you get to it.

Last Frontier: The Vesuvius Incident (1993): The first edition had really nice art design, but the components were cardboard chits, small dice, and a foldout paper map. There was a Kickstarter remake a few years ago that organized the rulebook and had a real board plus wooden chits. That same Kickstarter also offered an updated version of the previous game, renamed Hidden Intruder. Gameplay was definitely inspired by Aliens, and the system is a bit gnarly with details and chrome rules. One neat aspect is that the whole takes place on a spaceship in a decaying orbit, so players are threatened by potential disaster once atmospheric re-entry begins. Sometimes the game ends quickly after one or two bad combats, but usually players have a chance of completing the mission and surviving. Co-op play with dice rolls and chit draws to simulate the mysterious behavior of the xenomorphs.

Space marines? yes
Flamethrowers? no
Xenomorph life cycle? no
Acid blood? yes
Traitor? there is an insane survivor who might attack
Escaped cat? no
Self-destruct countdown? yes
Standup fight or bughunt? bughunt
Is the game good? yes

I didn't get into Space Hulk until 3rd edition, so that's the version that I am covering. Lavish components, probably the best of any game in this thread, especially the textured cardboard tiles and the lovely miniatures. However, each scenario plays like a tactical puzzle, and once solved, is less challenging. Though not solitaire, the xenomorph moves tend to be so obvious that you could probably play solitaire.

Space marines? yes
Flamethrowers? yes
Xenomorph life cycle? no
Acid blood? no
Traitor? no
Escaped cat? no
Self-destruct countdown? no, but sand timer on every marine turn
Standup fight or bughunt? Standup fight, despite the blips
Is the game good? yes

Space Hulk: Death Angel (2010): This was an amazing deal back in the day, with so much replay value in a small box that retailed for something like $20 or $25 USD. Strictly co-op, but with a nice mechanism to keep a bossy player in check. There were a few expansion, and each of the added exponentially to the replay value. On a per dollar basis, this is one of the best games in my whole collection.

Space marines? yes
Flamethrowers? yes
Xenomorph life cycle? no
Acid blood? no
Traitor? no
Escaped cat? no
Self-destruct countdown? no
Standup fight or bughunt? Standup fight
Is the game good? yes

Nice catalog!

southernman wrote: EDIT: Whoops, you're doing them all, sorry, correct mine as you get to it.

No, I am just doing the ones that I have played, and hoping that others will fill in the blanks for the games I don't have. Your post covers one of the games that I haven't played, so it's great.

Nemesis - this game is like a combination of Prometheus and Alien. It's less like Aliens because in general, fighting is to be avoided when possible.

Edit- thinking back, I have referenced Aliens when describing this game to new players. I tell them "It's like Aliens, but everyone is playing as Burke."

Space marines - one
Flamethrowers - yes, if you craft it
Xenomorph life cycle - sort of, including different weaknesses each time
Acid blood - I believe an injury does indicate acid, but not in general. You can get slimed.
Traitor - in normal play there is almost certain to be someone out to get you
Escaped cat - no, he was found and is the first player token
Self-destruct countdown - yes
Standup fight or bughunt - a fight, if you are forced into it
Is the game good? - it certainly is!

Has anyone played Bug Hunt - SPI's take on Aliens using the Sniper simultaneous move system?

trif wrote: Has anyone played Bug Hunt - SPI's take on Aliens using the Sniper simultaneous move system?

I picked SPI's Bug Hunter Sniper! up at GenCon many years ago, and was disappointed to see that it apparently wasn't a standalone product and I would need the Sniper! game to play it. Sniper! was OOP by then, and I just never got around to tracking down a copy. But I just looked at the BGG entry and it claims that this is a standalone game that includes the relevant Sniper! rules. I will need to paw through my large collection of storage boxes and bins and see if I can find it intact.