My Alien Breed 3D experience!

[vroom6sri]

Thanks to the total awesomeness of my A1200 with its ACA1230/28 card, WinUAE, WHDLoad and the efforts of numerous peoples in making AB3D available I have finally played it from start to finish. On the whole I enjoyed it but I feel compelled (due to the lack of anything else to do) to share my experience and observations with y'all...

To list all the things I find impressive about it:

• It runs OK on my lovely A1200 with the even more lovely ACA1230/28 I have in it!
• It runs VERY nicely on my laptop under the totally fantastic WinUAE.
• The geometric size of some of the levels especially when I think that it only needs 2MB of memory.
• The true 3D environment as opposed to the "undulating floor" of Doom.
• The true 3D robot walker about half way through is an impressive inclusion. At the time I first played the game in the 90s I remember thinking "wow, that's different".
• The number of objects in some levels (baddies and power ups) and that I think the corpses remain where they fall. I think.
• The water effects which appear more advanced than the original Duke Nukem 3D.
• Considering the 16 level game is on just 2 disks it is quite impressive.

But now, the things I find frustrating and disappointing:

• You can run out of ammo which means you are completely screwed. I suppose some might argue that this makes it more "realistic" or exciting but to me I find it stupid considering you haven't got a simple base weapon that doesn't need ammo (your fist, a knife or a sort of recharging laser-type-thing!) and that you can not pick up ammo from the dead robot-type-men which appear to also have pulse rifles, plasma cannons and shotguns as their weapons.
• Some of the level layout and palette limitations combined with the quality of the 3D engine mean that some passageways, etc. are virtually invisible under a casual/normal glance.
• None of the "green aliens" from the playable demo are in there. Why the hell not? They actually looked pretty good.
• The auto-aim can be a little iffy to say the least. I found there to be a few occassions where none of the baddies in my line of site would get hit when I fired.
• The damage factoring could also be a little iffy. On several occassions I have wasted about 2/3 of a full set of grenades terminating one of those plasma shooting slug-things and yet only about 1/3 to 1/2 of a full round of shotgun cartridges.
• The levels don't seem to have much about them. The demo level, as I have said lots before to anyone who'll listen, was so much better than anything in the released game. It had a much better feel.
• The border around the game window - they might as well not bothered and just left it black!

I just read somewhere that the source code to AB3D (and number 2 I think) were made open source back in the late 90s. If I had the talent and the time I would love to:

• Change the operation of the pulse rifle so that it gradually recharged itself so that you would never run out of ammo. OK I know it's supposed to shoot bullets as opposed to energy of some sort but, with the corresponding sound effect and ammo graphic changed I think it would be OK.
• Remove or replace that horrible border around the game window.

That's about it. Thanks for reading what is a bit of a rant. My final verdict? Pretty much the same as it was when I first played it - quite enjoyable but the demo was SO much better!

[LuMan]

Good overview, vroom. Well done on completing the game

I remember playing AB3D when it first came out. Me and a pal played it constantly and were totally stoked by how well it played. We also liked the fact that it was proper 3d, instead of the id-style faked versions seen in Doom and Wolfenstein. I cranked it up again a couple of months back and had another bash. Amazing to see how things have moved on!!

Thinking about it, though, would we have had Gloom, Fears, Genetic Species and Breathless if Team 17 hadn't released AB3D??

For the sake of nostalgia, crank up Citadel on a stock A500 and marvel at what Amiga coders were capable of.

Right - off for another AB3D bash now

[Heavy Stylus]

I was massively disappointed with the retail version after playing the demo with 'proper' alien breed style aliens in it. I guess they had a polite letter from 20th Century Fox asking them to change the gfx.

You are right - everything about the demo is so much better. The final release felt half arsed in comparison (imo). Not a Doom beater

I wish it was possible to swap the robot sprites with the alien ones.

[vroom6sri]

And I wish I had the talent and time to be able to tweak it in the ways I suggest and especially adding in the aliens in place of the robot things as you say.