Alien Gate is a fixed shooter developed by SPC Vision and published by Philips for the CD-i. The background gives the impression of a vertically scrolling shooter, but the attackers stay in position relative to the player's ship.

Alien Gate
European cover art
Developer(s)SPC Vision
Publisher(s)Philips
Producer(s)Franc Beernink
Rob Hormann
Programmer(s)Stefan Posthuma
Tim Moss
Artist(s)Niklas Malmqvist
Platform(s)CD-i
Release1993
Genre(s)Fixed shooter

Gameplay edit

Alien Gate is a shooting game.[1]

Development edit

Alien Gate was developed by Dutch studio SPC Vision and was primarily designed by Stefan Posthuma.[2][3] The code and graphics were all written using the Atari ST.[4] The project began as a demo provided to publisher Philips who were so impressed that they commissioned a full release as well as a five-game contract with the developer.[5]

Reception edit

Next Generation reviewed the CD-i version of the game, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "Those who actually want shooting action from their CD-i will do better to stick with games like Mystic Midway than to delve into this painfully deficient travesty."[1] Power Unlimited gave the game a score of 82% commenting: "Alien Gate is very difficult. You will have to practice for a long time, because if you don't know the levels by heart, you won't get very far. If you're a stickler this game will have a long shelf life."[6]

Reviews edit

  • Joystick - Sep, 1993[7]
  • Defunct Games (2006-03-19)[8]
  • The Video Game Critic[9]
  • The World of CD-i (2020-03-28)[10]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Finals". Next Generation. No. 2. Imagine Media. February 1995. p. 93.
  2. ^ Karsmakers, Richard and Posthuma, Stefan (July 26, 1996). "THE ULTIMATE "ST NEWS" REFERENCE GUIDE". ST NEWS Disk Magazine. Vol. 11, no. 1–2. Archived from the original on January 21, 2024.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Software Gids staff (November–December 1994). "Steel Machine". Software Gids (in Dutch). Uitgeverij Herps. p. 44.
  4. ^ Karsmakers, Richard and Posthuma, Stefan (November 15, 1992). "EDITORIAL". ST NEWS Disk Magazine. Vol. 7, no. 13. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Retro Gamer staff (January 2007). "Retroinspection: CD-I". Retro Gamer. No. 32. Imagine Publishing. p. 44. ISSN 1742-3155.
  6. ^ "Power Unlimited Game Database". powerweb.nl (in Dutch). November 1994. Archived from the original on October 22, 2003. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  7. ^ http://download.abandonware.org/magazines/Joystick/joystick_numero041/Joystick%20041%20-%20Page%20170%20(septembre%201993).jpg
  8. ^ "Alien Gate Review for CD-i (1993) - Defunct Games".
  9. ^ "Philips CD-i Reviews A-D by the Video Game Critic".
  10. ^ "Chronicle 8: Alien Gate – Review – the World of CD-i".

External links edit