''Alien Brigade'' is a horizontally-scrolling

rail shooter Rail shooter, also known as on-rails shooter, is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video game. Beginning with arcade games such as the 1985 '' Space Harrier'', the gameplay locks the player character into a set path, only allowing for limited or no di ...

released by

Atari Corporation Atari Corporation was an American manufacturer of Home computer, home computers and Video game console, video game consoles. It was founded by Jack Tramiel on May 17, 1984, as Tramel Technology, Ltd., but then took on the Atari name less than ...

in 1990 for the

Atari 7800 The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a home video game console officially released by Atari Corporation in 1986 as the successor to both the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200. It can run almost all Atari 2600 cartridges, making it the ...

. Similar in style to ''

Operation Wolf is a light gun shooter arcade game developed by Taito and released in 1987. It was ported to many home systems. The game was critically and commercially successful, becoming one of the highest-grossing arcade games of 1988 and winning the Gold ...

'', ''Alien Brigade'' tells the story of a soldier battling with alien invaders that take over the bodies of fallen soldiers. Despite being released late in the Atari 7800's life cycle, Atari Corporation made more efforts to market the game than it had with other Atari 7800 titles. The game had its own print advertisement and was referenced in Atari's 1990 shooter, '' Planet Smashers'' (''Alien Brigade'' would return the favor by advertising ''Planet Smashers''). ''Alien Brigade'' is 144K in size, making it one of the largest commercially released Atari 7800 games.

Gameplay

The game is played from a first-person point of view and scrolls horizontally in two directions as various enemy creatures, possessed soldiers, human vehicles and alien vehicles attack the player character. ''Alien Brigade'' can either be played with the Atari 7800

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

or with an Atari light gun. The game has five levels and four difficulty modes. The initial mission is to rescue hostages from an enemy camp, but the game then progresses to a waterfront battle, an underwater melee, a showdown in an underground mine, and then a final mountaintop battle. Adding to the challenge, the player must be careful not to shoot innocent bystanders. Between levels, the player is briefed by the commanding officer, who advises of the situation and rates the player's performance in the level.

Reception

''Alien Brigade'' was reviewed in the September 1991 issue of Atari's own ''Atari Explorer'' magazine.Atari Explorer, September 1991. Page 61 Funkmaster V of Wrestling With Ghosts reviewed the game on Atari 7800 Forever and gave it a 4 out of 5, and ranks it as the 10th best officially licensed game on the system.

Re-releases

Evercade The Evercade is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by British company Blaze Entertainment. It focuses on retrogaming with ROM cartridges that each contain a number of emulated games. The Evercade was released on 22 May 2020, and ...

(2020)

Atari VCS (2021 console) The Atari VCS is a home video game console produced by Atari VCS, LLC, an affiliate of Atari, Inc. (1993–present), Atari, Inc. part of the Atari SA group. Part of the ninth generation of video game consoles alongside Microsoft Gaming, Microso ...

(2022)

References

External links

''Alien Brigade''
manual * 1990 video games Atari 7800 games Atari 7800-only games Light gun games Rail shooters Single-player video games Video games developed in the United States {{rail-shooter-videogame-stub