Aliens

"Multiple signals! They're closing!"

- Private William Hudson

Aliens is one of the three pinball tables in the Aliens vs. Pinball mini table pack, released in 2016 and available for Zen Pinball 2, Pinball FX 2 and Pinball FX 3. It is based on the 1986 film Aliens, directed by James Cameron. This sequel to the 1979 film Alien sees Ellen Ripley joining a squad of Colonial Marines on a dangerous mission to investigate Hadley's Hope, a colony on the planet LV-246, exterminate a Xenomorph infestation there and rescue anyone who survived their attacks.

Table overview[]

The upper half of the table and mini-playfield[]

The table is framed after the interior hallways of Hadley's Hope, the colony established on the planet LV-426. A large figure of the Alien Queen is rooted to the back of the table, which is covered in Alien cocooned webbing used to construct Xenomorph hives. Three Alien eggs are placed on the back left corner of the table and a raised mini-playfield where three more can be planted is present on the opposite corner, representing the Alien hive. A reverse habitrail scoop drops the ball inside this mini-playfield, which contains a miniloop near where the ball enters it. On one side of the barrier that isolates the loop are three targets, and three similar targets line the left wall of the mini-playfield. All six targets spell RIPLEY, and eggs can grow in the space between the two clusters of targets. A right flipper is positioned to the bottom-right portion of the mini-playfield, which also has a jutted-out outhole habitrail that drops it down onto a longer habitrail that leads the ball into the right inlane. The back left corner of the mini-playfield also contains a saucer that can trap the ball.

A large orbit wraps around the table. The left side of the orbit is marked with the name VASQUEZ. A crosslane with a spinner midway through it leads into the right side of the orbit, bringing the ball counter-clockwise through it, while the right entry of the orbit has three bumpers in front of it. To the right of these bumpers is a sinkhole directly at the right inner wall of the table. To the left of the large orbit's apex is a small side area that the ball will drop into if a weak counter-clockwise shot is made into the orbit, passing through one of three rollovers that spell EGG before returning to the left entry of the orbit. Besides the left orbit is a ramp marked with the name HUDSON, which takes a brief U-turn onto a habitrail leading into the left inlane. To the right of this ramp is a figure of Ripley, with a magnetic trap and a target positioned in front of her. To the right of this figure is a diverter ramp that sends the ball down either of the two abovementioned long habitrails that lead the ball into either inlane. Between this diverter ramp and the crosslane is another ramp dedicated to HICKS, which arcs the ball back into the left orbit. Throughout the upper half of the table, there are four out of six total target posts that spell BISHOP. An upper flipper is embedded onto the left wall of the large orbit's left entry, and two targets line the left side of the leftmost bumper.

The lower half of the table[]

In front of the left mini-flipper is a miniloop with a rollover switch that the ball will hit once it crosses its apex, which will raise a post that briefly locks the ball inside the miniloop. The miniloop exit will bring the ball through the left outlane and into the left inlane via a one-way gate separating the two. A sinkhole is placed in front of the leftmost bumper, to the left of the right orbit. To the right of that orbit entrance is another ramp that spells BURKE. It can take the ball through either of two paths through a gate system: a short, looping path that returns it to the long, right habitrail going to the right inlane, or a longer, straight ramp leading into the entrance of the hive mini-playfield. The final two of six target posts that spell BISHOP flank the ramp’s entrance. A short, downhill ramp is directly next to Burke's ramp, which drops the ball into the mini-playfield after being launched from the plunger.

There are four return lanes that spell NEWT, two rebounds and two flippers at the bottom of the table. Each outlane has a subway kickback representing escape vents found in the colony. The dead space contains a motion tracker that displays the formation of Alien drop targets during a battle against them. The left apron contains a pop-up UA-571C sentry gun that can fire at the drop targets, while the right apron has a M577 APC that can travel off the table for a mini-game and loads new balls into the plunger.

The plunger[]

The plunger is a typical, spring-loaded one that fires the ball up a short, straight path that drops it onto a down-slanted curved ramp running parallel to the beginning of Burke's ramp that will bring the ball into play. If the ball is shot too strong, it instead drops into a hole. Lamps for the bonus multipliers are positioned to the left of the shaft.

The player is challenged to execute a skill shot by shooting the ball with just enough strength, as measured by a power meter on the scoring display, such that the ball rolls down the curved ramp and directly onto the right inlane. The score for a skill shot increases by 500,000 every time both targets on the left bumper are struck, starting at 1 million and maxing at 5 million.

Objective and Missions[]

The goal of the table is to help Ellen Ripley and a squad of Colonial Marines investigate Xenomorph attacks at Hadley's Hope, rescue any survivors, and fend off the dangerous Xenomorphs and their queen through six main missions. To start a mission, the player must hit the magnetic target in front of Ripley three times. While the player can choose to complete the missions in any order, they may choose to play out each mission in sequential order at the start of a session, in which hitting the saucer three times immediately begins one of the six missions in the order they occurred in the film. A bonus of 20 million (increasing by 2 million by completing the upper playfield) is awarded at the end of every completed mission, along with a “squad bonus” with a maximum of 5 million for missions that require combat (based on the squad’s current health). Each mission can only be attempted once until the wizard mode is started.

Signals Detected: When the squad first arrives at the colony, they detect Xenomorph movement, as well as the presence of a young girl named Newt, who somehow survived their ruthless onslaughts. The player helps the team find her by shooting different lit lanes within a time limit. Once she is found, the player guides the team onto an M577 APC to advance deeper into the colony by shooting either of two sinkholes near the bumper area, then controls the APC as it travels down a straight 3-lane path, dodging wreckage obstacles along the way by pressing the flipper buttons. If the vehicle hits 10 obstacles before reaching the destination, the mission will fail. Otherwise, once the destination is reached, the team falls under attack by Aliens and must protect the squad from them for 45 seconds before having to shoot either sinkhole again to get them back aboard the APC, which must be steered past obstacles once more to bring everyone to safety. During the combat phase, the sentry gun won’t be active regardless of whether or not you played any of the other five missions first.
Setting Up Defenses: The squad must prepare for another Xenomorph onslaught by setting up barriers and powerful UA-571C sentry guns throughout the colony's mazelike tunnels to deter their advances. The player has to shoot five major lanes once to build the barriers, and hit the spinner at the crosslane 40 times to set up the sentry gun. After these defenses are established, the defense systems are tested against an actual Xenomorph attack, which lasts for 45 seconds. This time, the sentry gun will automatically eliminate a good number of Xenormorphs before running out of ammunition.
Ulterior Motives: Ripley suspects that Burke is planning to take Xenomorph facehuggers to try and breed biological weapons. She and Newt are trapped inside a lab with the facehuggers and must trigger a fire alarm to get marines to rescue her and destroy the creatures. To trigger the fire alarm, the player must shoot the magnetic saucer in front of Ripley so that she can set the ball on fire, then bring the flaming ball into the hive mini-playfield and use its flipper to lock the ball in the saucer at the back left corner. Once the fire alarm goes off, two balls representing the facehuggers will be shot into play, and the player helps the marines fighting them destroy them. To eliminate each facehugger, the player must shoot three lit lanes, which will activate a magnetic trap at the diverter lane that will trap one ball and allow Ripley to incinerate it with her flamethrower. Destroying both facehuggers will complete the mission, while draining either ball results in failure. At the end of the mission, the ball at the mini-playfield saucer will be released and dropped back into play.
UD-4L Cheyenne: The team needs to get a dropship to escape the colony so that it can be nuked from orbit. The player helps Bishop remote pilot a dropship from the Sulaco, the Smart Ass, and bring it down to the planet's surface by shooting either of two lit lanes to move the dropship in the correct direction (left, straight or right) within 20 second time limits.
They Cut the Power!: Before the squad can escape, the Xenomorphs find a way to cut electrical power and a hole in the defenses established for a renewed assault. The table will darken and glow red to reflect the power outage and 2-ball Multiball will activate, forcing the player to juggle two balls to combat another wave of Xenomorphs and hold them off for 90 seconds. The Sentry Gun will be available at the start of this mission. Draining either ball won’t end the mission, but single ball play might prove a bit tougher…
Vent Escape: In the ensuing chaos, Ripley seeks to bring Newt to safety at all costs as the Xenomorphs attack everywhere. The player helps her find an escape route by shooting a sequence of lit lanes while fending off a Xenomorph attack, then complete the escape by shooting either sinkhole.

Starting up all 6 missions will unlock a final Wizard Mode titled The Final Countdown, which is started the same way as the main missions. In this mission, the player helps the squad weather one final Xenomorph attack for 45 seconds while awaiting escape via Bishop's dropship. During this time, the player must destroy three Xenomorph eggs in the hive mini-playfield by setting a ball on fire at the magnetic target, then taking the ball into the mini-playfield and hitting those eggs with it. Once all eggs are gone and the Xenomorph attack ends, a time-limited 4-ball victory multiball will start, where lit lanes can be shot for jackpots as the team is given an opportunity to attack the Xenomorph Queen just before Bishop arrives with the Smart Ass to evacuate everyone to safety. Super jackpots can be awarded for jackpot lanes hit with flaming balls, as they inflict more damage on the Queen. Once one minute passes, Bishop arrives to get everyone aboard the ship and escape the colony as it is destroyed, and the flippers will be disabled to automatically drain any remaining balls before the process of playing through the missions to get to The Final Countdown starts again.

Alien attacks[]

In four of the six missions, the player will encounter a situation where Xenomorphs will attack in the form of drop targets that move towards the flippers. Each drop target can be eliminated with one hit of the ball, or with the continuous fire of the UA-571C sentry gun (in any mission except Signals Detected), as long as ammo for it is available. Any drop targets that get close to the flippers will disappear and inflict damage on the squad, decreasing its health, as indicated on the scoring display. The health determines the value of the “squad bonus” scored at the end of a completed mission, and once health is fully depleted, the current mission will fail.

The sentry gun can automatically thin out enemy drop targets to help the player, but has limited ammunition that must be replenished periodically by shooting the left miniloop. Reloading takes about 4 seconds by default, however; if many Aliens are near the flippers, you’ll risk some damage. The amount of ammunition left in the gun, as well as how fast the ammunition depletes, can be seen on the scoring display.

In Vent Escape, the Xenomorph attack will continue endlessly until the mission goal is met or squad health is fully depleted. In the three other missions, along with The Final Countdown, the attack will have a time limit that must be exceeded to finish the mission (or unlock the final part of the first mission).

Side modes[]

There are two side modes that take place outside the main portion of the playing area:

Hive Mini-Playfield: After successfully raising the bonus multiplier with a shot to Burke’s ramp, it will allow access to the hive mini-playfield. Once the ball is shot there, the player can shoot either hit the six standup targets followed by the saucer to increase the mission bonus by 2 million, or hit the saucer there by itself to raise the jackpot for The Final Countdown.
APC Challenge: Succinct mastery of driving the M577 APC can come in handy for quick escapes from Xenomorphs. The player has a chance to sharpen up driving skills further by hitting the bumpers 30 times, then locking the ball into the sinkhole to the right of them. The ball will then be loaded inside the M577 APC, which drives off the table and down an endless straight 3-lane road littered with obstacles. The player must avoid the obstacles for as long as possible until the vehicle hits 10 obstacles. Each wave of obstacles with no damage scores points: 100,000 per wave, increasing by about 5,000 per wave.

Multiball[]

There is only one multiball mode for this table, called the Facehugger Multiball. This is a 3-ball multiball mode that starts when three balls are seized and eaten by the Alien Queen. In order for her to eat one, the player must spell EGG on the 3 rollovers at the large orbit, then shoot the saucer on the mini-playfield so she can catch the ball. Each locked ball becomes an egg that forms on the mini-playfield as a bumper. The multiball mode begins immediately once three balls are eaten while there is no mission active. Alternatively, if the final ball is locked during a mission, the multiball will begin the next time the player accesses the hive mini-playfield. During this 3-ball multiball, the player can earn mini-jackpots by shooting lit lanes, with the chance to earn a jackpot by setting one ball on fire at the saucer in front of Ripley and then shooting the diverter reverse scoop. The jackpot can be raised by 50,000 during normal play by spelling EGG on the rollovers again, while mini jackpots can be increased by shooting the diverter 4 times. This mode will continue as long as more than one ball is active.

Perks[]

During play, the player can earn various perks by spelling out the names of various characters. Perks marked with an asterisk can only be awarded a limited number of times; once exhausted, any subsequent times the perk is awarded will instead score a bonus of 2,500,000.

Vasquez (Reload Time): Jenette Vasquez is a determined fighter willing to keep the squad's offense active. Spelling her name on the left orbit by shooting it 7 times will decrease the amount of time needed to reload the sentry gun by .4 seconds to a minimum of 2 seconds, which is crucial to improve chances of surviving a Xenomorph attack.*
Hudson (Alien Scores): Increase the amount of points scored for each Xenomorph defeated by 2,000, up to 20,000, by spelling Private William Hudson's name with 6 shots to his ramp.*
Hicks (Squad Health): Increase the maximum squad health to allow for more punishment from Xenomorph attacks by spelling Hicks' name with 5 shots to his ramp.*
Squad Defense: Every 140 spinner spins will decrease the amount of damage inflicted by Xenomorph attacks by 0.1, further improving the squad's survivability.
Burke (Bonus Multipliers): Spell Burke's name with 10 shots through his ramp, 2 per letter, to raise the bonus multiplier up to 10x and unlock an opportunity to raise the victory and mission bonuses with access to the hive mini-playfield on every other shot.
Bishop (Ball Saver): Bishop is crucial to evacuation of all personnel. Spelling his name on all 6 target posts throughout the table activates the 30-second ball saver, which otherwise activates at the start of a ball or multiball mode.
Vent Escapes (Kickbacks): Owing to her small size as a young girl, Newt can reveal escape passages to evade Xenomorphs and danger. Spelling her name on the rollovers will activate a random escape vent subway kickback that will return the ball to a back part of the table when used. Kickbacks are only good for the current ball.
Sentry Gun Reloads / Random Awards: The sentry gun is a godsend to embattled, hard-pressed Marines. Shooting its miniloop reloads it during a Xenomorph attack, while outside of missions, the shot scores a random reward. These include small points, awarding a random perk, or lighting an extra ball and are determined once the ball is briefly locked inside the loop.
Flamethrower: In certain modes, locking the ball at the saucer in front of Ripley will allow her to set it on fire. A flaming ball is crucial for certain missions and certain multiball modes. Flaming balls will extinguish after 30 seconds and must be set on fire again.
Weapon Sinkhole: The sinkhole in front of the left bumper provides powerful weapons that can be used against the Xenomorphs. Outside of a Xenomorph attack, shooting that sinkhole 3 times will increase the rate of fire of the sentry gun. During a Xenomorph attack, shooting that sinkhole 3 times will spawn a grenade that Ripley can toss into the playfield to instantly clear out any Xenomorphs.
Extra Balls: Extra balls can be lit at the weapon sinkhole by defeating 100 Aliens with a burning ball, lighting one from a random award at the Sentry Gun miniloop, scoring a jackpot in Facehugger Multiball, maxing out the score multiplier with 20 shots up Burke's ramp (spelling his name twice) or beating the wizard mode for the first time.

Tips[]

Be careful when fending off a wave of Xenomorphs and try to hit them before they get too close to the flippers. Hitting ones that are very close to the flippers may result in the ball quickly bouncing into the outhole if you are not particularly cautious. Aim for the weapon sinkhole at the left bumper a few times during attack waves to get a grenade that can wipe out many drop targets and give you a breather. Alternatively, if time is running out and you still have plenty of health, just hold a ball on either flipper and wait for the mode to end to avoid risking a drain.
You do not need to outlast Xenomorph attacks in the main missions, but you absolutely need to survive one in the wizard mode in order to win. Therefore, it is strongly advisable to try and earn as many perks as you can that improve your chances of surviving a Xenomorph attack and store them up in preparation for the final wave (namely reduced sentry gun reload time, faster sentry gun firing rate and extra squad health).
Since missions only need to be started up to unlock the wizard mode, and draining the ball during a mission skips it, it is advisable to try and look for extra balls. One earnable extra ball is available from starting the Facehugger Multiball once and earning your first Jackpot there. You can also try your luck at earning another one via the sentry gun random award.

External links[]

Aliens vs. Pinball
Alien vs. Predator · Alien: Isolation · Aliens