Review: Aliens Versus Predator
Game: Aliens Versus Predator
Platform: Xbox 360
Developer: Rebellion
Publisher: Sega
UK based developer Rebellion are no strangers to the Aliens Versus Predator (AVP) franchise. One of their first games was AVP for the Atari Jaguar, which is widely considered to be one of the console’s finest games. They returned to the franchise in 1999 to release Aliens Vs. Predator on the PC, another critically lauded title. Yet in 2007 they released Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem for the PSP, which was generally panned by reviewers. However, no-one can argue that they don’t know the source material.
Rebellion’s latest offering to the AVP franchise is something of an uneven experience. With a fairly short single player campaign that is broken up into three modes, the Marine game, the Alien game, and the Predator game. The Marine sections are little more than a painfully generic shooter, while the Alien and Predator sections blend melee combat, stealth, and platforming to create a (mostly) interesting game, even if it is a little short.
In terms of story, the game is a little light. The evil Weyland-Utani corporation has discovered an ancient Predator pyramid, and in their quest to mine it for information, have unleashed an Alien swarm. Hearing their high tech burglar alarm going off, the Predators descend on the planet in order to protect their secrets. Caught in the middle of the Weyland-Utani corporation, the Aliens, and the Predators is a small band of Marines who are stranded on the planet thanks to a surprise attack by the Predators.
Of the three campaigns, the Alien campaign is the most fun, despite being only 5 levels long. As the Alien you have no weapons other than your claws and gigantic tail, so combat is a melee based affair. Pressing the right bumper performs a quick attack, left bumper performs a heavy attack, and holding both bumpers will make your character block, which is only really useful against the Predator whose primary weapons are his wrist blades.
After successfully blocking an attack you can press either of the bumpers to perform a counter attack, which deals massive damage to your foes. If your opponent is attempting to block your attacks then the only way to break their block is to perform a heavy attack. This adds a little depth to the combat, but for the most part the melee combat is a clumsy and imprecise affair.
The Aliens can climb any surface.
The added bonus of playing as the Alien is that you can climb on any surface, Spider-Man style. When facing a wall, or ledge, simply hold the right trigger and you can crawl as much as you like. While the shift in perspective can be a little disorienting at times, overall the climbing works pretty well. Wall climbing and hiding in darkness is key to the Alien campaign, as it is far easier to take out your enemies by sneaking up behind them and performing a quick kill by pressing the X button.
Quick kills are suitably gory, for example the Aliens can impale humans with their tails, or chew through the humans skulls with their mini mouths. If you come across an unarmed human you can tackle them to the ground and prepare them for a face raping at the hands of a lone Face Hugger, which quickly jumps on your victim and deposits the Alien embryo in the victim’s stomach.
The Predator game is a close contender for best campaign, with most of the same controls applying to the Predator, except you are unable to climb surfaces. Instead the Predator can perform a massive jump in order to get in to the perfect position to kill your targets. As with the Alien stealth is your best option. While you do have projectile weapons, in the form of the plasma cannon, the gun has very limited ammo due to the amount of power each shot consumes. The power for your weapons can be refilled by draining human generators of electricity, these generators are few and far between, so more often than not you may find yourself being without your gun for lengthy periods of time. Predators also perform quick kills, and the Predator kills are the most gruesome. You can decapitate humans, or rip their spinal column out. On a visceral level these quick kills are visually impressive and would gross out most people. In a good way of course.
The Marine campaign is by far the most traditional, and it is also the longest. Armed with a pistol and two other guns, either a sniper rifle, machine gun, or shotgun, you traipse your way through one dark corridor after another. For the most part, your primary light source can be compared to the light found in the glove compartment of a mini metro. With the torch light doing little to illuminate your surroundings, it is good news that you can pop off a flare with a simple button press.
While the flares only last a few seconds, they dramatically increase the amount of light available. This lack of light is no omission on the developer’s part; it was clearly intended to increase the tension. There’s no arguing that it can be incredibly tense wandering down a pitch black corridor with only the sound of something scuttling around in the darkness and the recognisable bleep of your motion sensor, but after a while you may find yourself wishing this futuristic colony had an electrician on call.
You sometimes come across another Marine or two to help you out
The Marine campaign is chocked full of cliché characters, with tough talking Latina Marine Tequila (yes, really) being the worst offender of the lot. The other Marines you encounter shout generic military jargon at you when you pass them, and if I ever hear another Mercenary say “I think that’s the last of them!” only to get torn apart moments later, I may well dive head first off the top of a multi-storey car park.
In overall terms the single player is disappointing because the three campaigns altogether only last about 8 or so hours; with each of these campaigns happening at the same time, in the same place. This means that you will find yourself playing the same level two or three times, just from a different perspective. Fortunately the developers give you the choice of which campaign to play, rather than dictating which species you can play as.
The level design, in general, is nothing to write home about. Levels tend to range from dark facilities, to dark jungles, to dark underground temples. Even in the Jungle level, where the sun was clearly visible in the sky, it was exceptionally dark. While the Aliens can see in the dark, and the Predator has three vision modes (regular vision, thermal vision for seeing humans, and Alien spotting vision) the Marine’s reliance on a piddly flash light and short lived flares can make the single player a chore.
Aliens hide in the darkness and spring out at you from nowhere.
So, whilst the single player is a bit meagre, the online multiplayer is quite impressive. Sure, it has the generic deathmatch modes, but there are also some decent game types. Infestation has eight players, with one player randomly cast as the Alien and the other seven as Marines. When the Alien kills a Marine, that Marine becomes an Alien and must work to finish off the rest of the survivors. When there is only one Marine left the Aliens have 30 seconds to kill him, or that surviving Marine wins the game. While each round has a time limit, how long you survive depends on the people you are playing with and how you work together.
Survival mode has four players playing as Marines fighting off wave after wave of Aliens in cramped conditions, surrounded by darkness. Each player’s health bar is displayed on screen, so if one of your team mates wanders off into the darkness, you can see if he is being slaughtered. Couple that with the terrific sound effects, and you have a wonderfully tense game. Most games of Survival that I have played have only lasted a few minutes due to the sheer numbers of Aliens that swarm you all at once, so Survival seems like the perfect game mode for someone that wants a quick game online.
Predators tend to favour their wrist blades in combat over anything else
The other online modes are made up of Deathmatch (all against all), Team Deathmatch (species vs species), Predator Hunt (a team of Marines vs a Predator, with the killer of the Predator earning the right to be the next Predator), and Domination (King of the Hill) are all well put together, but nothing particularly special.
Review Round-Up
Graphics: 4/5 While the character models are particularly good, the levels themselves tend to be overly dark. I understand the darkness is an intentional design choice to heighten tension, but towards the latter part of the Marine campaign especially, they are just ridiculously dark.
Sound: 4/5 There are only a few voice actors in the game, only Lance Henricksen offers a particularly memorable performance as Karl Bishop Weyland, evil CEO of the Weyland-Utani Corporation. The sound effects are particularly good, especially the Marine’s motion sensor, machine gun, and the Alien’s screeches.
Gameplay: 3/5 The Alien and Predator have interesting abilities, focusing more on stealth and melee combat than anything else. Although they are the shortest of the Campaigns, they could potentially have worn out their welcome if they had been significantly longer. The Marine campaign is more traditional and becomes more and more tedious as it progresses. Online multiplayer has two brilliant modes, Infestation and Survival, and the other more traditional game modes are competent.
Longevity: 2/5 The three single player campaigns will last about 8 hours, and each campaign has a number of collectables: audio diaries for the Marines, Royal Jelly Canisters for the Aliens and Trophy Belts for the Predators. However, these will likely only appeal to the most obsessive compulsive gamers out there. The online modes will probably keep you coming back, so long as there are enough players still playing.
Overall: 3 Surprise Face Huggings out of 5. A short single player experience that offers little replay value is propped up by a decent online multiplayer mode. While there are no major flaws with the game, there are a number of minor issues that all mount up to decrease the overall quality of the game.
[starreview tpl=16]
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I do want to have a go on this game. My mate brought it round the other week when we had a games night but we quickly realised there’s no local splitscreen multiplayer.
BOOOOOOOOO!!
That’s always a disappointment isnt it. It’s a sad state of affairs when you buy a multiplayer game and find you can only play it online. What about us poor bastards that actually have friends that we regularly meet in person?
Pff.
I feel an Irate article coming on…