Alien Front Online was the gamification of yet another Sega screw up. This game was probably one of the worst launches in history. The Dreamcast has been discontinued about half a year prior to this being released. It did offer free to play on on-line servers which meant crappy options. Sega didn’t help the matter when they changed those free to play servers to “pay to play” later. This hurt the small player base enjoying AFO. Good job Sega.

Alien Front Online was different

If you are not familiar with Alien Front Online, don’t worry you are not alone. It is an on-line 3D shooter for up to eight players. This was accomplished on a 56k modem (or with the ultra rare broadband adapter). Up to four players on each console and connecting to the other players on another console through the Internet. It was not true eight player on-line like we know it today. For the time, it was revolutionary and quite fun.

Multiplayer focused

There was a limited single player mode available for players to familiarize themselves with the controls. Alien Front Online played slightly different than similar titles. This mode was quite limited as the game was intended to be played on-line (hence the name).

On-line play was set in arenas with players taking the role of either human combatants or alien invaders. Rounds were played for a set number of minutes. During this time everyone had to defend themselves and be on the offensive. All the while trying to find supplies scattered around the level. As usual for this type of game, the side with the most kills when the timer runs out, wins.

Alien Front Online was too late to the party

Sega really messed up the launch, and support, for Alien Front Online. First, they discontinue support for the console six months earlier. Servers that were once free were changed to “pay to play”. This turned off a lot of the fanbase due to the Sega Dreamcast “being dead”. Then they don’t allow players an easy method to play on-line afterwards (such as opening up their networking protocols). No wonder support for Sega was at an all time low around this period of history.

Alien Front Online hit the Sega Dreamcast on August 9th, 2001. There was never a Japanese release of AFO. That makes this one of the rare North American only titles for the system.

If you want a copy of AFO you can check these on-line retailers:

Amazon
Ebay

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams