Okay! We’re trying something new for Name That Game. Rather than use screenshots (which I either have to find or take and either way can now be googled), I’m going to present a series of descriptions of games with a common theme – in this case, human/alien first contact and interaction, and you guys are going to try to guess what games I’m talking about. I will NOT be limiting the games to the PC; classic games and console games will also be used. The person who posts the comment with the most correct responses gets a no-prize! (Which is no prize. Get it?)
So here we go!
1. You and your crew are transported to another world that once held sentient alien life. Alone and with limited resources, you must contend with strange weather, ancient and malfunctioning technology, and a substance that makes you immortal but is highly addictive. Eventually you persevere and save not only yourself, but the entire alien race, who had been trapped in an alternate dimension.
2. You’re a special agent, sent to investigate a ship’s distress beacon. Once on board you find the ship overrun by Giger-esque aliens who want nothing more than to eat you for lunch. While you have laser weapons with which to defend yourself, the mission isn’t as simple as “arm the self-destruct and get out” because there’s at least one survivor who must be rescued. Meanwhile, the aliens hatch their latest, massively-evolved offspring – a white specimen that is immune to all of your weapons. (Warning – this one’s a toughie.)
3. You awaken on a ship to discover it overrun by intelligent, assimilating, hive-minded aliens who want to add you to their collective. The alien hive-mind is evolutionarily adaptive, constantly throwing dangerous new life forms at you (the biomass for which it got from…er…eating the ship’s crew). You also have to deal with not one, but two psychotic artificial intelligences before you can finally blow the ship to smithereens and escape in a pod.
4. Your idyllic planet is suddenly attacked by a hostile alien force; fortunately the government has a well-equipped army specifically created to deal with these alien attacks. Funny how they always seem to show up after the attacks are over… Using your Nosy Reporter Skills, you discover that not only are the government forces in league with the aliens, but you yourself are the reason they are attacking!
5. Aliens attack Earth en masse, literally out of the blue. After the efforts of individual countries to stem the tide prove futile, a multinational organization is created specifically to counter the attacks, which you are made leader of. While you’re initially outgunned and all your soldiers are complete rookies, through experience and researching alien tech you finally gain the upper hand and not only push the aliens off earth, but end the invasion by destroying their forward base on Mars.
6. You wake up to an ordinary morning, only to discover that your best friend is an alien and the Earth is about to be destroyed. After narrowly avoiding getting destroyed along with it, you end up jetting around the galaxy (and back and forth in time) in order to…well, we don’t know. The game ends on one of the best/worst cliffhangers in gaming history.
7. They’s up in your base, killin’ your d00dz. Return the favor.
Good luck and have fun!