GAME CLEAR No. 30 -- Alien Storm

Alien Storm (1990, Multiplatform)

Developer: SEGA AM1
Publisher: SEGA
Clear Date: 5/30/2021
Clear Platform: Astro City Mini (Arcade)

With shots in arms, I finally had the chance to take my Astro City Mini to a friend’s house and play some co-op games. The first one we knocked out was Alien Storm. I had previous played the Genesis version of this game years ago and found it pretty good, but I never finished it. But with a friend to play with and infinite credits, it only took probably 30-40 minutes to see this one through. Not bad!

Alien Storm sees the player take controll of the Alien Busters, who are referential to the Ghostbusters in more than just name. They ride around in a custom car, one of them zaps the aliens with a device he carries on his back, and during the ending cutscene, they even do a very similar dance to the one seen in Ray Parker’s music video for “Ghostbusters”. Anyway, they gallavant around various locations on Earth destroying the aliens that seek to destroy them. The gameplay rotates pretty frequently from standard beat ’em up fare to gallery shooter stuff and some forced scrolling shooter sections. It’s all competently made and plenty of fun. I’m sure some sections would be pretty frustrating without the benefit of infinite credits, but that’s not a problem for me!

The art and music has that early ’90s SEGA feel and does the job. The aliens are varied in apppearance and style, as are the Alien Busters. A couple of the bosses are particularly grotesque, which is sort of the point, right? The final two stages take place inside a giant alien in space, giving them a nice intestinal aesthetic. Overall the game shoots for a camp vibe and mostly nails it.

Pretty solid effort imo. Nothing mindblowing, but it was a fun way to spend a half hour with a friend.