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The alien will attempt to kill any of the crew that encounter it. If the alien kills a crewmember, the remaining crew will re-assemble on the bridge to "discuss the situation". The alien will also metamorphose during the course of the game and becomes more lethal as it changes. Eventually, the alien
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Although the player issues commands to each crewmember, the characters in the game will not necessarily obey those commands. For example, a crewmember may refuse to attack the alien or to enter a restricted area. If the player instructs a crewmember to attack the alien early in the game, the player
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Gameplay proceeds in turns and requires an analogue joystick to play. Actions are selected through a series of menus which are only accessible by holding the controller in varying degrees between up, centre and down. Using a digital controller with only absolute up, centre and down positions will
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Play then moves to each room where a crewmember is present. During the text-screen phases, the player is given a description of the room and which crewmembers are in it. This also includes objects and creatures in the room. In this mode, the player can interact with objects in the room, such as
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attempting to capture an animal or attacking an alien. During the second phase of the game, which takes place on the map screen, the player can move the crew around the ship and have them drop and take items. The third phase returns the player to the text screen.
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The game has two screens: a text screen and a map screen. Each turn has three phases - one phase uses the map screen and the other two use the text screens. The first phase of each turn takes place on the text screen. Every turn begins with the message:
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is a game in which the crew of a ship must deal with a hostile alien species.
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regulations forbid killing of creatures which can be controlled otherwise
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in 1982. It borrows heavily from concepts in the 1979 film
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Sensors indicate movement of life forms within the ship.
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240:Wilson, Johnny (May–Jun 1983). "Micro-Reviews".
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244:. Vol. 1, no. 10. p. 39.
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30:For other games of the same name, see
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324:Turn-based strategy video games
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304:Avalon Hill video games
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18:The Alien (video game)
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109:Turn-based strategy
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36:Alien (video game)
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260:The Alien
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164:The Alien
134:The Alien
159:Gameplay
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