Rediscovering James Cameron’s Aliens

I'm glad to be able to bring you another article by Jordan Siron. Jordan has previously written about the first "Alien" movie and what he thinks makes it so great.
This time Jordan takes on the sequel "Aliens" and illuminates us as to why he thinks it is a lesser movie than the original.

The (not so) cleverly named Aliens has been considered by many fans to be the best in the series. While I respect others’ opinions, I am afraid I have to respectfully disagree. Directed by Hollywood Hot Shot, James Cameron, Aliens is vastly different in terms of tone, themes, and effects. It’s so different from Alien that one such as I have often wondered if it had originally been planned as the first entry in a totally different franchise. It is by no means a bad film – it’s downright entertaining, to say the absolute least – but it left me a tad sad over what might have been.

The Story
It just so happens that the planet from the first film has since been colonized, but all contact has been lost. A team of Marines, accompanied by Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and an obnoxious bureaucrat (Paul Reiser), venture to the planet’s surface in hopes of discovering the catalyst behind the radio silence. The team discovers the entire colony has been torn asunder by the titular creatures, and must fight to survive.

Rediscovering Ridley Scott’s “Alien”

Today I'm happy to bring you another great guest post. This time Jordan Siron joins us to rekindle our love for the original "Alien" movie. I remember being seriously freaked out after watching Alien as a small kid, and it still remains one of my personal favorite scary sci-fi movies.

As a fan of science fiction, it shames me to admit that I had not once watched the Ridley Scott classic Alien over the past six years. For sci-fi fans, that is essentially akin to a gambler saying he hasn’t stepped foot in Las Vegas since Frank Sinatra used to roam the strip.

It isn’t that I didn’t love and respect the film, but my focus had drifted elsewhere for a moment. However, upon hearing murmurs regarding the in-production prequel (Prometheus) that should hit theatres next year, I knew I had to revisit my old friend.

How does Alien stack up after all of these years? Is it still the classic example of space-horror as so many have claimed? The answer, of course, is a resounding “Yes!”, and here’s why.

10 mins of "Aliens: Colonial Marines" gameplay

I've never been the biggest fan of the Alien movies but they still rank pretty high on my personal cool wall.

An Aliens FPS is nothing new, but in Aliens: Colonial Marines the slimy black critters are not accompanied by Predators for a change.

Gearbox (of "Borderlands" fame) is making this game, which means that it could turn out to be rather cool.

This just released trailer shows the first in-depth actual gameplay that has been released to the public:

I don't know who did the voice over to this trailer but I think they should not have shot him up with horse tranquilizer before he did the speak.

He sounds about as excited for this game as I was about my last visit to the dentist.

The game itself looks alright, I think. A bit bland perhaps, but with some nice atmosphere.

If you're a big Alien geek then this could be something to really look forward to.

Need cheap sci-fi fun for the weekend?

If you're looking for some passable sci-fi action video gaming fix over the weekend for less than the price of a pint of beer at the pub (depending on how greedy your local pub owner is), then I have just noticed that Aliens vs Predator is on sale on Steam this weekend for 5 euro.

It's a first person shooter that lets you play as a Predator (shoot poor marines and rip their skulls off), an Alien (jump on poor marines and eat their faces) or marines (get shot by Predators or eaten by Aliens).

"All right kids, for the last time, stop fighting or I'm not taking you to Disneyland tomorrow!"

It didn't exactly set the world on fire when it was released and it's certainly not of the quality of something like Crysis 2, but for 5 euro it should keep you satisfied for long enough that you feel you got your moneys worth.