Alien Brigade

Alien Brigade is a side-scrolling shooting game, released in 1990 for the Atari 7800 Prosystem. Similar in style to Operation Wolf, Alien Brigade tells the story of a soldier that is forced to do battle with aliens that are invading the planet and taking over the bodies of fellow soldiers in the process. One of the last releases for the Atari 7800, Alien Brigade is a sought after title due to its relative scarcity, above-average graphics and Nintendo-like gameplay.

Alien Brigade is 144K in size, making it one of the largest commercially released Atari 7800 games.

Gameplay

Like Operation Wolf, the game is played from the point of view of the soldier. The game scrolls horizontally in two directions as various enemy creatures, possessed soldiers, human vehicles and alien vehicles attack mercilessly. Alien Brigade can either be played with the Atari 7800 joystick or with an Atari light gun.

The game takes place over five scrolling levels. The initial mission is to rescue hostages from an enemy camp, but the game then progresses to a waterfront battle, an underwater melee, a showdown in an underground mine, and then a final mountaintop battle. Adding to the challenge, the player is must be careful not to accidentally shoot innocent bystanders.

Between levels, the player is briefed by the commanding officer, who advises of the situation and rates the player's performance in the level.

Source: Wikipedia, "Alien Brigade", available under the CC-BY-SA License.

Game Manual

Aliens Brainwash Humans

Some of the guys in the barracks have been acting a little odd lately. You were assigned to a special task force investigating the soldiers' strange, almost alien behavior.

The investigation revealed the astounding fact that aliens from another dimension have invaded the Earth. The aliens have brainwashed soldiers into M-16 toting zombies who will instantly obey their alien masters. (Sort of like boot camp.)

Worse yet, some aliens have actually taken over the bodies of soldiers and civilians. Every day more humans are being mysteriously possessed or brainwashed.

You also discovered that the aliens possess a deadly secret weapon. If the aliens are not stopped, this weapon will brainswash the entire human population of Earth! Ok, so you realize that in most people the difference would go unnoticed; still, it is your job to try to save the people of Earth. Your task force must seek out all the alien fiends, destroy them, and save the Earth.

Think you can handle it? Your Alien Brigade quest leads you through five different scenarios of increasing difficulty. Your mission is to blast aliens, rescue hostages, collect weapons and other helpful items, and stay alive! The bloodthirsty alien nasties are on to you. If you fail in your quest, the Earth is doomed.

Now don't you wish you'd listened to your mother and enrolled in law school?