‘Aliens: The Video Games’ By Mike Diver Book Review
The perfect organism. Spoken by Ash in 1979’s Alien, the Xenomorph is perhaps one of the best-designed creatures in horror. The creativity of authors, artists, and other visionaries have guided this franchise beyond just the films. Aside from the nine Alien films, nothing has been more immersive than the games based on this series for more than 40 years. That is where Aliens: The Video Games by Mike Diver comes in. This book covers the complete history of every video game based on this beloved property and provides a plethora of insight and passion that was put into the games.
This may be an unofficial guide to every game based on Aliens made to date, but after reading this book, I truly believe that this is a must-read for any die-hard fan of the series. I have played a small handful of the games covered in this book, so I don’t exactly consider myself a stranger to this topic, but I was surprised by how much I did not know.
As I immersed myself into this collection of details, interviews, and behind-the-scenes information, I can safely say that my appreciation for the Aliens franchise and the art of game development has grown immensely.
The first time I played an Aliens video game was with 1993’s adaptation of Alien 3 for the Super Nintendo. I have especially fond memories of this game, not because I was attached to the film (which I did not watch until 2001), but because of its stunning visuals and incredibly fun gameplay. This is notable because most video games based on films during those years were considered mediocre to just plain awful.
I had read online over the years about some details mentioned in this book, but I never fathomed what I would learn while reading Aliens: The Video Games. I developed a stronger connection and appreciation for the Alien 3 video game because of what I read in this book.
[Note: While I am reviewing this book independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by the book’s author, Mike Diver, and the publisher, Pen and Sword Books, for the purpose of this review]
Diving into Aliens: The Video Games
This is Mike Diver’s sixth book, all of which has covered a different topic related to the world of gaming. I only became aware of Mr. Diver’s works after seeing a post of his mentioning this book. I subsequently looked up everything else that I could about his previous works and found out that he has been a writer, critic, and has been covering gaming topics for over 20 years.
Undoubtedly, I felt like Aliens: The Video Game was written for a person just like me. I was eager to know more about the development and impact of every game based on the Aliens franchise.
Glancing over the book’s list of contents, you will notice that this is not a particularly lengthy book. But in the case of this guide, all nine chapters are stuffed with useful information. Mr. Diver went through great lengths to chronicle the beginnings of how every single unofficial and official game based on Aliens were developed.
The flow of the book confused me at first as it isn’t ordered by chronological releases of games, but the first four chapters are covering games and the release order of the films. The first three chapters cover Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3. The fourth chapter is about the games based on the later Aliens films. Original Alien games are in Chapter 5, while Chapters 6 and 7 focus on Alien vs. Predator and Predator, respectfully.
Reading the interviews that Mr. Diver had with developers of these games gave me a more in-depth understanding of why and how fundamental changes had to be made from the source material. It also makes sense that he sometimes had to resort to using properly sourced archival interviews that have been published elsewhere, just to round things out.
There are Alien games where you will need to replace your dying squad, intense arcade shooters (some that I can personally attest to being really fun), and many others that will leave you scratching your head while playing.
This is not a direct criticism against any of the games, but reading into stories about the development of one of the more controversial games, notably the infamous Aliens: Colonial Marines. While Mr. Diver tries to avoid reiterating strong and biased opinions about the troubled development of this game, it’s nice hearing more about why that game was such a mess pre- and post release.
Discovering new details for classic games with this book
As I made my way through each chapter, I was amazed by all the new facts about some of the games I’ve loved. I was surprised by the vast amount of games and accompanying information that I hadn’t heard of before.
Reading about the first game mentioned in the book, which also happens to be a bootleg title, is Uchū Yusōsen Nostromo (Space Freighter Nostromo.) While it is true that this game was passed up by the well-renowned games publisher Taito, it’s still remarkably fascinating that the first game based on this property, even if it was unofficial, had such humble beginnings.
Chapter 2 was when Aliens: The Video Games started to get me really excited as it pertains to my favorite film in the series: Aliens. Have you heard of the exclusive game Aliens: Alien 2 for the MSX line of computers? I know I haven’t. Seeing the screenshots, the box art of the games (mostly provided by Mike Diver himself), and all the promotional images for games based on Aliens makes me want to play every single game detailed in this book.
There are so many more examples of games from each chapter that I now want to actively seek and play for the very first time. I know that some may be impossible to play on original hardware or even to emulate on modern systems, but I’m not going to let that completely dissuade me.
What I found most surprising about this book was that I originally expected it to only focus on games based on the Aliens series. As I was going down the list of chapters, I was more eager to continue when I read down the list of chapters pertaining to games based on the Predator and Alien Vs. Predator properties. In this day and age, almost everyone has heard of Alien Vs. Predator thanks to the infamous series of films that started over 20 years ago.
This crossover initially began as a series, titled Aliens Vs. Predator, in Dark Horse comics in 1989, making way for the first Alien Vs. Predator game in the series to hit shelves in 1993 for the Super Nintendo. The one game dearest to my heart mentioned in this chapter is Capcom’s arcade hit released in 1994 of the same name. The variety of playable characters, enemies, special moves, and stages were all fixtures of this amazing game, and reading more about this classic brought back a flood of memories.
Final thoughts on Aliens: The Video Games by Mike Diver
Whether it’s a game directly adapted from the source material, loose adaptations, or completely original takes on this series, this book literally covers it all. Everything from the earliest home computers, arcade cabinets, to handheld gaming systems, there has always been an Aliens game for players to engage with.
Not all of them have been full of action or well received, but I can’t imagine a world without them. This series has been influential on the gaming industry as a whole. Who knows if the gaming landscape would be the same as it is now if it were not for the titles that have been categorized in this sizable compendium?
If you’re only familiar with the Aliens series and have never heard of or played any of these games (or vice versa), this book is an exceptional read. Diver’s wondrous telling of what exactly happened behind the scenes regarding the development, marketing, and post-release of these titles has been eye-opening even to someone like myself who has been immersed in gaming for her entire life.
This is a book that I can easily recommend to anyone with even the slightest remote interest in this topic. Heck, even if you thought you had no interest in this subject, I still recommend giving it a read.
Aliens: The Video Games by Mike Diver releases on August 30, 2026. Readers can pre-order directly from the publisher, based in the UK, Pen and Sword Books. Readers in the US can order it from online retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but as for now, the listed release date through those two stores currently shows a date of October 30, 2026.
