Gamersmint Review: Alien Vs Predator
Whether it was the one released for the Atari Jaguar back in 1994, or the PC cult-classic of 1999 – everyone has a favorite Alien Vs. Predator game that they’ve coveted over the years. For me though, my first love affair wasn’t with either of these landmark first-person shooters, both of which were developed by the British company Rebellion (who have been long-time interpreters of the popular film/comic medium). Nope, my dance started with Capcom’s arcade beat-’em-up, which actually released before Rebellion’s first AVP title. It’s probably the least accurate of the bunch, making the Predators look as awesome as the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (you don’t even get to play as the Aliens!), but I love it like a deformed half-sister. But yeah, I suppose those shooters from Rebellion were pretty good too.
And Rebellion doesn’t seem to be letting up. Assuming you leave Requiem for the PSP out of the equation, Aliens Vs. Predator for the PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3 is a return to form for the devs. Honestly, it might as well be Alien Vs. Predator 3 by my count (again, assuming the Jaguar and the PC version were the first two entries), but would that mean Monolith Production’s AVP (which was the PC version’s sequel) be considered a part of the official continuity? Who knows!
The year is 2010, and the plot in this new AVP doesn’t really tickle my cerebral cortex. Military conspiracies, experiments gone wrong, unraveling secret technologies, yadda yadda. Holy cow, it’s science fiction! We get it! Take some familiar contrasts to the movies, and you have a video game that… makes familiar contrasts to the movies. I really don’t see the upside to that, but for the people who snuck their Predator novels into gym class one too many times, the story has a bit of semblance for you to take your nerd chart out and start drawing lines.
As far as the feel of the movies are concerned, Rebellion nails it ten-fold. There’s a reason these developers have been trusted to work on another shooter based on this franchise. From the environments, to the animations of the slithering Xenomorphs, to the nostalgic throbs made by the Predator’s thermal visor… Every visual and sound produced is made to mimic the universe rather faithfully. You have three campaigns to toggle through: play a conventional shooter from the eyes of a Marine, or go stealthy with the Predator or the Xenomorphs. While each offers a distinguishable experience from the other, most of the time they don’t feel all that special after pushing it past the first few hours.
Take the Marine campaign, for example. Forget that the developers would put a futuristic booby bar with a Xenomorph infestation at such an early stage of the game. There are some genuinely tense moments where these creepy crawlies will harbor in the shadows, until moving to the next location undetected by the naked eye, and then finally rushing at you for the kill. Too bad it gets predictable after some time though. Once you figure out that meleeing enemies with the middle-mouse button stuns them for a good amount of time, you can potentially reload your rifle, aim accordingly, sip your herbal tea, and finish the job. Even when their numbers start increasing, you’ll be less worried about the Kamikazes performed by the serpents than you are wondering how much space you have to maneuver around. Because there’s nothing more annoying than when you have to unload ammo on a Xenomorph with your piss-poor pistol, only to die in a pool of its acid because you didn’t realize how close you were to a corner. Boss fights equally suffer from lameness. Protip: Shoot flame barrels to win.
The Alien and Predator campaigns fair a bit better, but not by a whole lot. Think Arkham Asylum, but without the cool. Human enemies seem rather oblivious to your actions, and don’t pose much of a threat, so long as you can figure out their pre-defined walk patterns and stomach their annoying dialogue lines that run on near infinite loop. It’s also a chore in trying to wrap your head around the controls initially. The Preds’ cursor jumping take getting used to, as you’re not always given the best locations. Likewise, ceiling hopping with the Alien requires practice, so don’t expect to pounce from surface to surface like an extraterrestrial pro in no time. Even landing trophy head kills (which make the Fatalities from the last few Mortal Kombats look like a baby shower), while being a pleasure to behold when you get them just right, are abysmal because your timing most of the time feels 40 percent off.
Suppose that you get past the control scheme curve, what’s left for you to endure? The multiplayer, of course. Unfortunately, we were unable to play any matches via the game’s matchmaking system, nor are we able to avail the recently added patch for dedicated servers. Going by the feature list, there are several things you should definitely check out. Infestation Mode has one player take on a group of Marines as a Xenomorph. Take out a Marine player, and have him join your increasing army of soccer hooligans until no one is left standing. Predator Hunt follows a similar theme, except you’re using stealth all by your lonesome, and brute force is less of a convenience. Then you have Mixed Species Team Deathmatch, which sounds exactly what it is. I’d be lying if I didn’t wish I could play through some of these modes. But it’s also a matter of time before players decide when they’ve had their fill of it. Here’s hoping Rebellion will continue supporting the multiplayer component for months to come.
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