In 1999 Rebellion developed Aliens Vs Predator for the PC which when released went onto to become a cult hit with its exciting story and action packed multiplayer. Two years later a sequel; this time developed by Monolith was released, however it failed to live up to its predecessor. Now 10 years later Rebellion has returned with a new Aliens Vs Predator game. However it again fails to live up to its promise.
The Colonial Marines.
The game comes packaged with three campaigns and out of these it is the Marine campaign, which comes with the most story, which is not saying much. It is standard fare with your character of The Rookie sent to a colony to investigate a possible Alien infestation. The story progresses from there with you searching for other marines before attempting to escape while preventing the Aliens being captured. It is the collectable audio diaries that really add a new dimension to the story, filling in the events that happened prior to the game but again the majority of these are generic stories of scared marines or scientists.
The Predator campaign is similar to that of the Marine, you play as an Elite Hunter sent to investigate a planet after contact with Youngblood Predators has been lost and your job is to destroy all evidence of the Predators on the planet while avenging the Youngbloods by hunting down Aliens that eventually leads to you hunting down a Predalien. Once again there are collectables in the form of Predator necklaces, however these do nothing to add to the story.
Specimen 6.
The Alien campaign is by far the weakest story wise; you play as Specimen 6 and help free the Alien Queen and produce the Predalien, aside from that there is no real story connecting the Alien’s missions. However the Alien campaign takes place first and causes the events of the other two campaigns that are concurrent. Once again there are collectibles in the form of destructible containers of Royal Jelly but much like the Predator’s necklaces they do nothing to add to the story.
The gameplay mechanics of the game are basic as far as the Marine goes, he only has access to 5 weapons in the game with no variation of types or upgrades available for then. The motion tracker remains on through the whole game adding both tension and security as you proceed through corridors and it is this tension that creates a memorable experience when playing. There is a strong tense horror element in the campaign, which drops of a little in the middle before returning towards the end, however I thought that the campaign was backwards as the later stages of the game have you fighting less Aliens then at the beginning. I do feel however that the element of tension occurs due to the lack of Aliens as you progress, as a result the tension is that you are waiting for something to jump out at you rather than the fear of being overrun by hordes of Aliens.
The Predator.
The Predator’s gameplay is very much centered on stealth and killing from range. You have many tools to help you do this such as a cloaking device and the ability to distract enemies using sounds. Initially I found the Predator hard to get used to due to the leap ability which is difficult to use at first, however once you unlock all the weapons and get used to the control scheme the Predator is very fun to play as and I for one enjoyed the later Predator levels the most out of the game.
Stealth is essential when playing as the Alien, you can’t attack enemies head on and must stick to the shadows to avoid detection. Attacking is melee focused and picking off enemies is made easier by the ability to destroy lights with your tail to create darkness. Sadly the quicker movement of the Alien combined with wall running causes a sense of disorientation which gave me a headache after playing as the Alien for a prolonged period of time. While initially being fun all 3 campaigns became quite repetitive near the end, which was a real disappointment.
Graphically the game does at times look very good. The interiors of the colony are very detailed and the lighting effects are superb and this carries over into the hive sections of the game which look both organic and chilling. Unfortunately once the action moves outside the game is less impressive, while from afar the game looks decent when looked at up close the texture work is lacking and unpolished which is a real shame. In particular the trees and grassy areas outside disappoint and this becomes very noticeable as large portions of the Predator and Alien campaign are played outside. Some character models are textured poorly; in particular the Alien Queen suffers from this.
The Fight Continues.
The multiplayer caters for many tastes which several game modes such as Infestation, Predator Hunt and Species Deathmatch, some of these however are quite boring as there is not much action. Furthermore it takes a while to get a game which when found usually ends prematurely due to no host migration on either consoles or the PC, which also suffers from a lack of dedicated servers. There are not many maps and they are quite repetitive to play on due to balance issues of the species with Predators at times being overpowered due to superior weaponry.
While I did find Aliens Vs Predator a fun game it had many shortcomings; the campaigns were not the strongest and suffered from repetition and a few pacing issues. Graphically the game suffers which is disappointing as it could have been a beautiful game but what we are left with is unfinished textures and graphics that look outdated. Finally the multiplayer, which many would expect to be the saving grace of any game such as this is disappointing especially for a series renowned for its multiplayer aspect. That being said I felt more immersed and had more fun playing this than I did playing Bioshock 2, which is a superior game but has nowhere near as much variation in its gameplay.
7/10
Great review!