INTRODUCTION
Thinking back to the original Aliens vs Predator in 1999, which was also developed by Rebellion, I have nothing but fond memories of making my way slowly through claustrophobic hallways with nothing but the sound of my motion tracker pinging into the distance. In fact, the first level of the original AvP is in my list of all-time favorite game levels. There is not a single alien anywhere in it! You, of course, don’t know this at the time and are all set to fire off your M41A Pulse Rifle. Towards the end of the adrenaline-filled experience you are treated to an explosion of steam and what appears at first to be an alien’s head drops down from the ceiling. It is actually, just a simple pipe… The moment is classic and makes you feel like a complete dork for unloading all of your magazine into it.
Unfortunately, with this reboot of the series, Rebellion seems to have lost its way. This new Aliens vs Predator on the PC platform suffers from a myriad of issues which hold it back. Not saying that there are not moments in the game that players will enjoy and even those that some fans might find ‘epic’ but, overall, they should have done much better…
GAMEPLAY
The new AvP is broken up into three single-player campaigns, each putting the player in control of either a Colonial Marine, an Alien, or a Predator. Each campaign is broken up into smaller chapters, in-between you will be to choose if you wish to continue on or play the other campaigns instead. This is because while the three campaigns are separate, they overlap in many story aspects and progressing too far in one might spoil some of the surprises in the others.
Playing as the Marine is pretty standard for a shooter, although moving your character feels a bit ‘wooden’. Something happened about the time HALO came out for the Xbox 360 which changed how players moved their characters in shooters, eventually even hitting PC titles. Movement became very fluid, especially when alternating between strafing and forward/back keys in erratic patterns during combat. Moving the Marine in AvP feels much more robotic – forward/back, left/right. There does not seem to be a smooth transition between strafing and forward/backwards movement. Even mouse sensitivity seems ‘off’, which greatly affects player aiming. On the offensive front, the marine has a small array of weapons to wield – none of which have an ‘iron-sights’ mode a la other modern shooters. The flare system first used in the original AvP is back, albeit now it is more forgiving as you have unlimited flares but can only throw one when the last flare has burnt out. The weapons have been upgraded in the time between when Aliens took place and when the game takes place – for instance, the pistol now has a three-round burst secondary mode. One aspect of the Marine gameplay which bothers me enough to mention it again is the lack of ‘iron-sights’. Marines are trained marksmen that should be able to aim down the barrels of their pulse rifles during combat – especially given that, in the story, the existence of the Xenomorph is no longer a surprise to them. I would also have liked to have seen some sort of cover system for the Marine.
Playing as the Xenomorph, or Alien, in AvP tends to walk a fine line between moments of ‘awesome’ and moments of tedium. This creature is the only one in the game which is supposed to be able to run up walls and onto the ceiling, through ducts, etc. In Aliens vs Predator 2, this system was flawless and, sometimes, nausea-inducing with as fluid as it was. Unfortunately, in the new AvP, the controls never seem to work smoothly enough to be useful. You are just not able to run from floor to ceiling, instead having to hit the middle mouse button to cling to the surface you wish. What’s more is that even if you do this, you often get hung up on invisible obstacles on the walls and ceilings. One control which does work well is the planned-jump, in which you can jump long distances and cling to the targeted surface. This also works as a planned, long-range attack in which you can jump onto your foes. The Alien has melee attacks, ranging from claw strikes to tail stabs. You can even perform a ‘killing move’ where you grab an enemy and impale them through the cranium with your set of inner-jaws. The opening chapter in the Alien campaign also starts off in a very cool fashion, showing your character’s birth to the moment it… escapes confinement.
The Predator has its own share of tedium as it’s control scheme seems to be a cross between the Alien and Marine’s while not doing either all that well. Coupled with the fact that the player has a finite amount of energy which gets expended with weapon’s fire way too quickly, and it is just a big problem. You get both ranged weaponry as well as melee attacks, including a planned-jump attack a la the Alien. In the good news department, the Predator features its own amazing killing moves where you can tear your human prey’s head from its body! The game has gore, that’s for sure.
Rebellion has tried, with some success, to recapture the claustrophobia of their first AvP in the game’s interior levels. Unfortunately, there are just not enough of those levels. Also unfortunate is that the game’s interior levels are loosely laid-out and never feel logical in how they are put together. It just does not seem like a human being would design a colony structure that way.
Once the game goes outside, the level design really suffers. It seems like you are always fighting in either a narrow canyon, tunnel, or patch of forest which is very ‘arena-like’ in layout. Plus, in these areas you lose the ‘creep-factor’ so prevalent in the indoor areas. I am sure these outdoor areas were added to give Predators a bit of the jungle environments seen in that franchise’s films, but they make for the weakest portions of the game. The most interesting levels are found in the first couple chapters of the Marine campaign. The single-player experience also make heavy use of scripted events, some of which are very obvious. As a Marine, when asked to restore power to something, you can pretty much guarantee that you will be under siege by Aliens the moment you trigger the event. These scripted events usually serve to move the story along but often times fall flat in their reveals.
One area where the game can be a lot of fun is in the various multiplayer modes offered to players. Hanging out with your Marine buddies, fending off hordes of Xenomorphs is still a great time, even with some of the issues from the singleplayer experience bleeding over. Playing as either Predator or Alien can be equally as fun, hunting the other two species down in a variety of environments.
VISUALS
AvP can make use of a number of DirectX 11 features, leaving DirectX 10 GPU owners out in the cold. Even at the basic DirectX 9 detail level, however, the game is generally very attractive. The Marine’s flashlight has a great volumetric element to it and real-time shadows coming from various light sources add a lot to make the game look realistic. The outdoor levels, unfortunately, lose a lot of that. With that being said, the foliage and other fauna in the outdoor levels does move and undulate as players push past – a nice touch. The in-game gore is really well-done, especially in the killing moves. Giblets glisten and normally have a gross, ‘wet-look’. The one death effect that does not look good is the strange bubbling that occurs when an Alien is shot down. I take it that the effect is supposed to illustrate the blood-acid expelling from its body and bubbling up around it, but it just does not look good. To Rebellion’s credit, the three featured species are well-detailed and are easily the best they have looked in a video game to date.
SOUND
The voice-work is generally acceptable, with the exception of Lance Henriksen who is just a treat for us fans to hear in the role of Karl Weyland Bishop. Thankfully, the ambient sounds while roaming through the dark interior halls are well-crafted and add a lot to the feeling of impeding dread and claustrophobia. Once you get outside, the sound design and ambient effects are far-less effective.
OVERALL
Unfortunately, Aliens vs Predator should have been a lot better than this release for Windows PCs ended up. Rebellion had a while to work on the product and it feels unfinished, unpolished, and in serious need of patching. Sure, there are some fun moments to be had in both the singleplayer and, especially, the multiplayer – however the game’s various issues really bog the whole affair down. Game over man, game over!
*DISCLOSURE: SEGA provided GamingShogun.com a copy of Aliens vs Predator for this review.
