Alien Carnage

Alien Carnage is a quirky little game that plays well despite being fromt the DOS era. The readme recommends using DosBox to run this game but I found it worked perfectly well under WindowsXP SP3. I never played the original game when it was first released so I came to this game with completely unbiased expectations. The game does look graphically dated, being 2D and pixelated, but it's not bad for a game of the time. It does bring back memories of my youth and playing old Amiga games, and it certainly feels like a traditional platform adventure.


The story is simple, aliens have invaded Earth and turned innocent people into zombies and you have been tasked with eradicating the alien presence and stopping their evil plan to enslave all of humanity. Armed initially with only your trusty flamethrower and jetpack, you are dropped into the danger zone and immediately into the action. The flamethrower is suitably powerful and destroys most of the early enemies with ease. I forgot about my secondary weapon so never actually tried the mini heatseeking missles I was armed with, while trying out this game. However, the list of additional weapons you can find sounds equally as powerful, with nukes, and the incredible "Omega" (whatever that is) just a couple of possibilities.

The jetpack is a great alternative to regular platform jumping. Being able to fly arounrd the levels is fun in itself, however the major challenge comes from the shared fuel that the jetpack and flamethrower have. They can be recharged at charging stations throughout the levels, but making sure you can get to each one without running out of fuel whilst navigating the levels, is a careful balancing act. Do you gamble on fairly flat levels and go all out killing, or do you try to avoid enemies in favour of navigating the complex tunnels and platforms in each level?

The plays well and the character controls and very responsive. You can configure the keyboard or joypad controls to suit your needs, and the freeware version of the game also includes a 'turbo' mode; allowing you to speed up the main character to either help or hinder your quest.

I'll admit to not playing this game for a very long time as it didn't hold my attention. Mostly for lack of direction and no clear explanation of how to interact with elements in the game. There is an instructions option on the main menu but I dived straight into the game to get a feel of it quickly. It's certainly a great game to pass a few hours though and does include the ability to save, so you can dip in and out as you want.

You can download the game for free from http://www.fileplanet.com/177324/170000/fileinfo/Alien-Carnage-(Free-Game)