Aliens Online is a first-person shooter/role-playing game based on the Alien film series. It was released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows. The software was free to download and was automatically updated. Joining GameStorm for $9.95 per month was required to play the game. Online play was shutdown on May 29, 2000. Its notable features included asymmetric teams, teams consisting of more players than found in most FPS's of the day, job/class specialization, and its RPG elements. With the download is a way to play offline.

To start as a marine, players pick a name, gender and appearance, as well as a class. Each class--such as Medic or Scout--has a special skill. (For instance, Heavy Weaponry allows marines to use the large and deadly Smart Gun.) Marines then proceed to the Staging Area to choose a mission type. Currently there's only one: eradicate all aliens. The missions take place in space stations, mining colonies and other locales similar to those in the Alien movies. Marines can enter a mission alone, or join a fire team. Solo marines are limited to carrying a pulse rifle, shotgun, grenade launcher and a motion detector. In fire teams, only one marine has a motion detector, but heavier weapons like the Smart Gun and flamethrower are also available.

To start as an alien, players choose a name and the type of alien they want to play. The choices available to first-time gamers are the drone and facehugger, while veteran players who accumulate enough points can become a queen. Since facehuggers are all but useless in this beta version of the game, most players opt for drones. Then it's off to the hive, where aliens will pick a mission to join. The goal is twofold: defend the queen and kill all marines.

After the marines and aliens choose their missions, the game begins in earnest. What it boils down to is a basic firefight between the two species, a claw-and-grenade battle to the death using a Doom-like interface and every weapon that's available...

Things are tough for marines. They're slow, weak and half-blind compared to aliens. But they make up for this lack with ranged firepower. Survival as a marine basically comes down to this: see the alien first, live; don't see the alien coming, die. The motion detector helps, a little, but it must be juggled with the gun, and if a xenomorph charges up fast, a marine can get wasted without firing a shot. Expect to take plenty of dirt naps at first.

Things aren't much better for the aliens. While far more agile than marines, their close-range attacks mean they have to get right next to the grunts to score a hit. That's not too hard in the cramped confines of a twisting air duct, but in a long corridor with a good line of sight, aliens are no better than large green sitting ducks. And forget about that prized alien toughness...a few bursts from a pulse rifle will shred them rather nicely.

While the graphics of Aliens Online are primitive by today's standards, and the actual play window takes up only about a quarter of the screen, a few things make up for these limitations. The first is sound: Motion detectors ping nervously, rifles chatter and aliens screech just like in the movies. It's tough to beat that. The second thing Aliens Online has going for it is fun. This is a desperate and frightening world where sudden death lurks around every corner, and it definitely feels like being in the harsh Alien universe.

The Colonial Marine faction had the Medic, Scout, Soldier, and Heavy Weapons classes. More advanced weaponry and increased hit points became available as a character progressed in rank. Marines' equipment included the motion detector from the movie Aliens, which was their sole method to locate Aliens, but would not locate Aliens which were not moving. In later versions of the game, the Marines could also drop proximity mines.

The Hive Alien faction had the Face Hugger, Drone, Queen, and Empress classes. Their capabilities included stealth, leaping, and radar of the entire map, representing the aliens' greater awareness and hive-like mentality. They attacked only at close range using tail strikes and with claws. Each map allowed one alien player to fill the role as Queen or Empress, and that player could freely swap from drone to drone. Players gained points for killing Marines and lost them by dying, except when playing as a face hugger, which loses no points for dying. Players had to score 1000 points before they could play as Queen and 5000 before playing as Empress.