Alien Gate Explained

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.

Gameplay

Alien Gate is a shooting game.

Development

Alien Gate was developed by Dutch studio SPC Vision and was primarily designed by Stefan Posthuma.^{[1] [2]} The code and graphics were all written using the Atari ST.^[3] 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.^[4]

Reception

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."^[5] 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

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

External links

• https://www.gamespot.com/alien-gate/

Notes and References

1. Karsmakers, Richard and Posthuma, Stefan . July 26, 1996 . THE ULTIMATE "ST NEWS" REFERENCE GUIDE . https://web.archive.org/web/20240121034050/https://st-news.com/issues/st-news-volume-11-issues-1-2/features/the-ultimate-st-news-reference-guide/part-1-1st-word-drinknuts . January 21, 2024 . 11 . 1–2 . ST NEWS Disk Magazine.
2. Software Gids staff . November–December 1994 . Steel Machine . Software Gids . Uitgeverij Herps . Dutch . 44.
3. Karsmakers, Richard and Posthuma, Stefan . November 15, 1992 . EDITORIAL . https://web.archive.org/web/20230926133300/https://st-news.com/issues/st-news-volume-7-issue-3/regulars/editorial . September 26, 2023 . 7 . 13 . ST NEWS Disk Magazine.
4. Retro Gamer staff . January 2007 . Retroinspection: CD-I . . . 44 . 32 . 1742-3155.
5. Finals. Next Generation. 2. Imagine Media. February 1995. 93.
6. Web site: November 1994 . Power Unlimited Game Database . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20031022173402/http://www.powerweb.nl:80/database/img/index.php?page=database&&query%5border%5d=datum&ending=DESC&query%5bstart%5d=4000 . October 22, 2003 . November 22, 2022 . powerweb.nl . nl.
7. http://download.abandonware.org/magazines/Joystick/joystick_numero041/Joystick%20041%20-%20Page%20170%20(septembre%201993).jpg
8. Web site: Alien Gate Review for CD-i (1993) - Defunct Games .
9. Web site: Philips CD-i Reviews A-D by the Video Game Critic .
10. Web site: Chronicle 8: Alien Gate – Review – the World of CD-i .