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This thread has been linked to the game 'Alien vs Predator'.
What makes a horror film - the storyline? The scenery? The leading actors and actress? The director? Perhaps--it's true that all of these contribute to the overall quality and scariness of the film--but the real make or break factor in any horror film has to be the baddies. There's no good having a film set in a nightmarish gothic maze if the evil baddie is a boiler-fitter from Swindon called Dave. Take a look at the Alien and Predator films--the real stars of these films are the Aliens and Predators, not the human actors. So it should come as no surprise to learn that several comic book crossovers have been written involving the Aliens and the Predators: Aliens Vs Predator, Batman Vs Predator, Batman Vs Aliens, Tarzan Vs Predator and so on. Of course, chucking the Aliens or Predators in is no guarantee of success - just look at the Aliens Vs Predator film and its slightly more enjoyable but still far from fantastic sequel, AVP: Requiem. But curiously, no-one has yet produced, to my knowledge, a Star Wars vs Aliens vs Predator book. After all, Star Wars is huge, especially with the release of the new Star Wars film, and there has to be plenty of potential there. Imagine Darth Vader taking on a Predator, or indeed Han Solo taking on the Aliens. I for one would pay good money to see an Alien punch a hole through the head of Luke 'inbred farmboy' Skywalker and his croissant-haired sister.
But tragically, the mass-slaughter of Star Wars characters by the jaw-slime dripping xenomorphs or shoulder-cannon toting hunters is something that's unlikely to happen. However, all is not lost as Aliens vs Predator does let you engage in the wholesale slaughter of screaming humans. Hang on a mo, you may be thinking – Aliens Vs Predator is a new game! Not quite – the game that has been released for consoles and for PC recently is actually the fourth in the series, despite the title. This game was the first Aliens Vs Predator game released onto the PC, but had been preceded by one on the Atari Jaguar. Confused? Just think of this as Aliens Vs Predator 1 and you'll be okay. Carrying on.. you play as either an Alien, a Predator, or a Colonial marine. Playing as an Alien, you can dash around ripping the faces off your foes; as a Predator, you get to toe one of those rather funky shoulder cannons and make yourself nearly invisible; and as a colonial marine, you get to ... er, be cannon fodder for the two other species. Ah well. Whichever species you play as, you're going to have to go out of your way to avoid getting it in the neck from the other two life-forms--and guess what? Negotiation is not an option.
The actual plot of the game varies depending upon which of the three species you play as. As the Alien, the ultimate aim of the game is to reach Earth and cause havoc there. As the Predator, you have to take down as many aliens as you can, aiming for the ultimate prize--the head of an Alien Queen. And as the colonial marine, you have to remove both these species from a variety of ships and bases and make it back home in one piece. None of these tasks will be easy, despite what you may think, having seen the films or read the comic books. And the plot also has nothing to do with the two Aliens Vs Predator films. Each species has its own distinct strengths and weakness, all of which you must familiarise yourself with if you want to make it through to the end of the game. What's more, and this is one of Aliens Vs Predator's plus points, playing as each species necessitates an entirely different approach to the game. This is a welcome contrast to many other shoot-em-ups where you can play as different characters, but where your choice of character has very little actual effect upon the gameplay. So what do each of the three characters have to offer? Let's take a look....
The Alien, as in the Alien films, is very fast and very stealthy, able to creep up on its prey virtually silently. Should you chose to play as this character you'll have not only this ability at your disposal, but the ability to climb up and down walls and across the ceiling, drop from the ceiling by releasing the climb button, and kill most characters with just a couple of swipes of your claws or tail. Plus, you have that strange slightly stretchy vision that featured in Alien 3 and you can track your prey more easily with the hunting mode, giving you the ability to see in the dark even when your prey can't. On top of this, if you can line up your jaws correctly (unfortunately there's no cross-hair to help you do this) you can execute a head-bite, a kind of xenomorphic fatality move, in which you bite your opponent's head off, killing them in one go and boosting your health to maximum. You can also boost your health by slashing and hacking at the corpses of dead opponents (before they eventually disappear).
You may think that, after having heard about these abilities, things will be easy--but you're dead wrong. You're hunting alone, not in a horde as the xenomorphs in Aliens were, and you've got more than screaming colonists or space-jockeys to deal with. You have to take on colonial marines as well, and since you don't have any ranged weapons, that can be a bit tricky. A few good blasts from a colonial marine's weapon will take you down so you have to try and surprise them--by taking out the lights, moving silently and keeping as quiet as you can, and generally not alerting them to your presence till it's much too late. It can take a short while to get used to controlling an alien but it makes for a very spooky gaming excursion indeed. You do actually feel like you are the Alien, corny and cliched as that may sound.
Next up for cross-examination is the Predator. The Predator is stronger and able to take more damage than the Alien or the marine, and he also has to hand most of the weapons featured in the Predator films, although the majority of them use up field energy, your slowly recharging energy bank which is used in place of regular ammunition. Playing as the Predator you can make yourself nearly invisible using the cloaking field, which enables you to be standing reasonably close to the marines without being spotted. There are a few catches with this handy piece of the kit though. First off, it slowly drains field energy, contrary to what the manual says, you are more visible in bright light and when you're moving, and finally, the Aliens aren't easily fooled by this. Nevertheless, it does come in useful when you're out hunting. You also get to see the action through four different views: normal, infra-red, and a couple of other views which use different areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. These allow you not only to see in the dark, but also, when coupled with your rechargeable and powerful shoulder cannon, allow you to lock onto foes and blow them away with one shot from the cannon, and even zoom close in on them.
You can also play with the powerful but slow-to-come-back disc featured in Predator 2, and the spears that cropped up in that film, as well as a medicomp, a device that uses up a large amount of energy but will replenish you health, and a laser pistol that featured in none of the films. The one weapon that is conspicuous by its absence is the net from Predator 2 which would have been useful for immobilising prey and generally showing off. There are two problems with the Predator's kit though. First off, you are reliant on field energy which can take time to recharge. And secondly, while the Predator can take out baddies close up with its claws and at medium to long range with its energy cannon, there's no weapon that can be used efficiently on enemies at close to short range. Still, the Predator is a formidable foe, especially when you consider that you can't kill what you can't see.
Last but not least--well, least in terms of strength but not in terms of equipment and weaponry--are the colonial marines. Playing as the marine is a lot like playing as the marine in Quake 2--you have access to a flamethrower, a minigun, a pulse rifle, an auto-targetting smart gun, and a missile launcher. On top of this, you can use the motion detector featured in Aliens which lets you spot moving targets including the Predator. You can switch to infra-red mode to spot the invisible so and so or see in the dark, but you then lose access to the motion detector so it's a matter of deciding which is more appropriate in each situation. All the weapons are pretty useful; as the manual points out, none of them are completely rubbish, although you do have to pick up the weapons and ammo as you go along, and for some reason you don't get to carry weapons between levels. And knowing that you don't stand much of a chance against a horde of Aliens forces you have to keep moving, making for a rather spooky game.
The levels themselves are pretty decently designed, resembling some locations in the films such as the colony on LV-240 (or whatever number the colony was), derelict bases, lead-smelting facilities (sound familiar?), hangars, ships, alien hives, and other areas. There's also an Alien temple which does somewhat go against many peoples' perception of the Alien as a killing machine with no need for religion--and doesn't exactly fit in with the Alien mythos. Though given that the rest of the levels are up to par, this can be forgiven. All of these levels, about twenty in total, are dark and spooky, with plenty of places to hide or for your foes to hide in. These foes include Aliens, Predators, Marines, Androids, Queen Aliens, Queen Guard Aliens, Alien Robots and some weird creature called the Predalien which I don't think has cropped up in the comic books as yet though I could be wrong. Naturally, you don't have to fight against creatures from your own side though you will end up taking on all the other baddies in the game, all of whom are baying for your blood and have a nasty habit of popping up in marginally different places each time round. Once you finish the game as one character, having blown away shed-loads of these nasties, you get access to some 'bonus levels'. These aren't actually new levels but just the normal non-bonus levels from the other characters, marginally adjusted so that you can play them as your character. So once you've finished playing the Alien levels you might get to play a Predator level as the Alien.
There are a couple of negative points that stop Aliens vs Predator being a truly great game. First, the voice acting – which usually only crops up when you're seeing someone on a monitor – is truly appalling. And secondly, the graphics do look a little dated, but they were well above average when the game was first released. Still, at least you know the game will run on your PC. Having said that, in Aliens vs Predator, the good outweighs the bad. Aliens vs Predator is a rather spooky and hugely enjoyable game, and easily one of the scariest games you're likely to play for ages. Plus, the ability to play as one of three characters boosts the game's longetivity. AvP does actually do the films and comic books justice, unlike the god-awful Alien Trilogy. And best of all, it's now available on Steam for a measly £2.99.
Pros:
Scary as anything.
Plenty of gameplay.
It's got Aliens and Predators in it!
It's only £2.99 on Steam!
Cons:
Dodgy voice acting.
Graphics look quite dated today.
But tragically, the mass-slaughter of Star Wars characters by the jaw-slime dripping xenomorphs or shoulder-cannon toting hunters is something that's unlikely to happen. However, all is not lost as Aliens vs Predator does let you engage in the wholesale slaughter of screaming humans. Hang on a mo, you may be thinking – Aliens Vs Predator is a new game! Not quite – the game that has been released for consoles and for PC recently is actually the fourth in the series, despite the title. This game was the first Aliens Vs Predator game released onto the PC, but had been preceded by one on the Atari Jaguar. Confused? Just think of this as Aliens Vs Predator 1 and you'll be okay. Carrying on.. you play as either an Alien, a Predator, or a Colonial marine. Playing as an Alien, you can dash around ripping the faces off your foes; as a Predator, you get to toe one of those rather funky shoulder cannons and make yourself nearly invisible; and as a colonial marine, you get to ... er, be cannon fodder for the two other species. Ah well. Whichever species you play as, you're going to have to go out of your way to avoid getting it in the neck from the other two life-forms--and guess what? Negotiation is not an option.
The actual plot of the game varies depending upon which of the three species you play as. As the Alien, the ultimate aim of the game is to reach Earth and cause havoc there. As the Predator, you have to take down as many aliens as you can, aiming for the ultimate prize--the head of an Alien Queen. And as the colonial marine, you have to remove both these species from a variety of ships and bases and make it back home in one piece. None of these tasks will be easy, despite what you may think, having seen the films or read the comic books. And the plot also has nothing to do with the two Aliens Vs Predator films. Each species has its own distinct strengths and weakness, all of which you must familiarise yourself with if you want to make it through to the end of the game. What's more, and this is one of Aliens Vs Predator's plus points, playing as each species necessitates an entirely different approach to the game. This is a welcome contrast to many other shoot-em-ups where you can play as different characters, but where your choice of character has very little actual effect upon the gameplay. So what do each of the three characters have to offer? Let's take a look....
The Alien, as in the Alien films, is very fast and very stealthy, able to creep up on its prey virtually silently. Should you chose to play as this character you'll have not only this ability at your disposal, but the ability to climb up and down walls and across the ceiling, drop from the ceiling by releasing the climb button, and kill most characters with just a couple of swipes of your claws or tail. Plus, you have that strange slightly stretchy vision that featured in Alien 3 and you can track your prey more easily with the hunting mode, giving you the ability to see in the dark even when your prey can't. On top of this, if you can line up your jaws correctly (unfortunately there's no cross-hair to help you do this) you can execute a head-bite, a kind of xenomorphic fatality move, in which you bite your opponent's head off, killing them in one go and boosting your health to maximum. You can also boost your health by slashing and hacking at the corpses of dead opponents (before they eventually disappear).
You may think that, after having heard about these abilities, things will be easy--but you're dead wrong. You're hunting alone, not in a horde as the xenomorphs in Aliens were, and you've got more than screaming colonists or space-jockeys to deal with. You have to take on colonial marines as well, and since you don't have any ranged weapons, that can be a bit tricky. A few good blasts from a colonial marine's weapon will take you down so you have to try and surprise them--by taking out the lights, moving silently and keeping as quiet as you can, and generally not alerting them to your presence till it's much too late. It can take a short while to get used to controlling an alien but it makes for a very spooky gaming excursion indeed. You do actually feel like you are the Alien, corny and cliched as that may sound.
Next up for cross-examination is the Predator. The Predator is stronger and able to take more damage than the Alien or the marine, and he also has to hand most of the weapons featured in the Predator films, although the majority of them use up field energy, your slowly recharging energy bank which is used in place of regular ammunition. Playing as the Predator you can make yourself nearly invisible using the cloaking field, which enables you to be standing reasonably close to the marines without being spotted. There are a few catches with this handy piece of the kit though. First off, it slowly drains field energy, contrary to what the manual says, you are more visible in bright light and when you're moving, and finally, the Aliens aren't easily fooled by this. Nevertheless, it does come in useful when you're out hunting. You also get to see the action through four different views: normal, infra-red, and a couple of other views which use different areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. These allow you not only to see in the dark, but also, when coupled with your rechargeable and powerful shoulder cannon, allow you to lock onto foes and blow them away with one shot from the cannon, and even zoom close in on them.
You can also play with the powerful but slow-to-come-back disc featured in Predator 2, and the spears that cropped up in that film, as well as a medicomp, a device that uses up a large amount of energy but will replenish you health, and a laser pistol that featured in none of the films. The one weapon that is conspicuous by its absence is the net from Predator 2 which would have been useful for immobilising prey and generally showing off. There are two problems with the Predator's kit though. First off, you are reliant on field energy which can take time to recharge. And secondly, while the Predator can take out baddies close up with its claws and at medium to long range with its energy cannon, there's no weapon that can be used efficiently on enemies at close to short range. Still, the Predator is a formidable foe, especially when you consider that you can't kill what you can't see.
Last but not least--well, least in terms of strength but not in terms of equipment and weaponry--are the colonial marines. Playing as the marine is a lot like playing as the marine in Quake 2--you have access to a flamethrower, a minigun, a pulse rifle, an auto-targetting smart gun, and a missile launcher. On top of this, you can use the motion detector featured in Aliens which lets you spot moving targets including the Predator. You can switch to infra-red mode to spot the invisible so and so or see in the dark, but you then lose access to the motion detector so it's a matter of deciding which is more appropriate in each situation. All the weapons are pretty useful; as the manual points out, none of them are completely rubbish, although you do have to pick up the weapons and ammo as you go along, and for some reason you don't get to carry weapons between levels. And knowing that you don't stand much of a chance against a horde of Aliens forces you have to keep moving, making for a rather spooky game.
The levels themselves are pretty decently designed, resembling some locations in the films such as the colony on LV-240 (or whatever number the colony was), derelict bases, lead-smelting facilities (sound familiar?), hangars, ships, alien hives, and other areas. There's also an Alien temple which does somewhat go against many peoples' perception of the Alien as a killing machine with no need for religion--and doesn't exactly fit in with the Alien mythos. Though given that the rest of the levels are up to par, this can be forgiven. All of these levels, about twenty in total, are dark and spooky, with plenty of places to hide or for your foes to hide in. These foes include Aliens, Predators, Marines, Androids, Queen Aliens, Queen Guard Aliens, Alien Robots and some weird creature called the Predalien which I don't think has cropped up in the comic books as yet though I could be wrong. Naturally, you don't have to fight against creatures from your own side though you will end up taking on all the other baddies in the game, all of whom are baying for your blood and have a nasty habit of popping up in marginally different places each time round. Once you finish the game as one character, having blown away shed-loads of these nasties, you get access to some 'bonus levels'. These aren't actually new levels but just the normal non-bonus levels from the other characters, marginally adjusted so that you can play them as your character. So once you've finished playing the Alien levels you might get to play a Predator level as the Alien.
There are a couple of negative points that stop Aliens vs Predator being a truly great game. First, the voice acting – which usually only crops up when you're seeing someone on a monitor – is truly appalling. And secondly, the graphics do look a little dated, but they were well above average when the game was first released. Still, at least you know the game will run on your PC. Having said that, in Aliens vs Predator, the good outweighs the bad. Aliens vs Predator is a rather spooky and hugely enjoyable game, and easily one of the scariest games you're likely to play for ages. Plus, the ability to play as one of three characters boosts the game's longetivity. AvP does actually do the films and comic books justice, unlike the god-awful Alien Trilogy. And best of all, it's now available on Steam for a measly £2.99.
Pros:
Scary as anything.
Plenty of gameplay.
It's got Aliens and Predators in it!
It's only £2.99 on Steam!
Cons:
Dodgy voice acting.
Graphics look quite dated today.
There have been no replies to this thread yet.
What makes a horror film - the storyline? The scenery? The leading actors and actress? The director? Perhaps--it's true that all of these contribute to the overall quality and scariness of the film--but the real make or break factor in any horror film has to be the baddies. There's no good having a film set in a nightmarish gothic maze if the evil baddie is a boiler-fitter from Swindon called Dave. Take a look at the Alien and Predator films--the real stars of these films are the Aliens and Predators, not the human actors. So it should come as no surprise to learn that several comic book crossovers have been written involving the Aliens and the Predators: Aliens Vs Predator, Batman Vs Predator, Batman Vs Aliens, Tarzan Vs Predator and so on. Of course, chucking the Aliens or Predators in is no guarantee of success - just look at the Aliens Vs Predator film and its slightly more enjoyable but still far from fantastic sequel, AVP: Requiem. But curiously, no-one has yet produced, to my knowledge, a Star Wars vs Aliens vs Predator book. After all, Star Wars is huge, especially with the release of the new Star Wars film, and there has to be plenty of potential there. Imagine Darth Vader taking on a Predator, or indeed Han Solo taking on the Aliens. I for one would pay good money to see an Alien punch a hole through the head of Luke 'inbred farmboy' Skywalker and his croissant-haired sister.
But tragically, the mass-slaughter of Star Wars characters by the jaw-slime dripping xenomorphs or shoulder-cannon toting hunters is something that's unlikely to happen. However, all is not lost as Aliens vs Predator does let you engage in the wholesale slaughter of screaming humans. Hang on a mo, you may be thinking – Aliens Vs Predator is a new game! Not quite – the game that has been released for consoles and for PC recently is actually the fourth in the series, despite the title. This game was the first Aliens Vs Predator game released onto the PC, but had been preceded by one on the Atari Jaguar. Confused? Just think of this as Aliens Vs Predator 1 and you'll be okay. Carrying on.. you play as either an Alien, a Predator, or a Colonial marine. Playing as an Alien, you can dash around ripping the faces off your foes; as a Predator, you get to toe one of those rather funky shoulder cannons and make yourself nearly invisible; and as a colonial marine, you get to ... er, be cannon fodder for the two other species. Ah well. Whichever species you play as, you're going to have to go out of your way to avoid getting it in the neck from the other two life-forms--and guess what? Negotiation is not an option.
The actual plot of the game varies depending upon which of the three species you play as. As the Alien, the ultimate aim of the game is to reach Earth and cause havoc there. As the Predator, you have to take down as many aliens as you can, aiming for the ultimate prize--the head of an Alien Queen. And as the colonial marine, you have to remove both these species from a variety of ships and bases and make it back home in one piece. None of these tasks will be easy, despite what you may think, having seen the films or read the comic books. And the plot also has nothing to do with the two Aliens Vs Predator films. Each species has its own distinct strengths and weakness, all of which you must familiarise yourself with if you want to make it through to the end of the game. What's more, and this is one of Aliens Vs Predator's plus points, playing as each species necessitates an entirely different approach to the game. This is a welcome contrast to many other shoot-em-ups where you can play as different characters, but where your choice of character has very little actual effect upon the gameplay. So what do each of the three characters have to offer? Let's take a look....
The Alien, as in the Alien films, is very fast and very stealthy, able to creep up on its prey virtually silently. Should you chose to play as this character you'll have not only this ability at your disposal, but the ability to climb up and down walls and across the ceiling, drop from the ceiling by releasing the climb button, and kill most characters with just a couple of swipes of your claws or tail. Plus, you have that strange slightly stretchy vision that featured in Alien 3 and you can track your prey more easily with the hunting mode, giving you the ability to see in the dark even when your prey can't. On top of this, if you can line up your jaws correctly (unfortunately there's no cross-hair to help you do this) you can execute a head-bite, a kind of xenomorphic fatality move, in which you bite your opponent's head off, killing them in one go and boosting your health to maximum. You can also boost your health by slashing and hacking at the corpses of dead opponents (before they eventually disappear).
You may think that, after having heard about these abilities, things will be easy--but you're dead wrong. You're hunting alone, not in a horde as the xenomorphs in Aliens were, and you've got more than screaming colonists or space-jockeys to deal with. You have to take on colonial marines as well, and since you don't have any ranged weapons, that can be a bit tricky. A few good blasts from a colonial marine's weapon will take you down so you have to try and surprise them--by taking out the lights, moving silently and keeping as quiet as you can, and generally not alerting them to your presence till it's much too late. It can take a short while to get used to controlling an alien but it makes for a very spooky gaming excursion indeed. You do actually feel like you are the Alien, corny and cliched as that may sound.
Next up for cross-examination is the Predator. The Predator is stronger and able to take more damage than the Alien or the marine, and he also has to hand most of the weapons featured in the Predator films, although the majority of them use up field energy, your slowly recharging energy bank which is used in place of regular ammunition. Playing as the Predator you can make yourself nearly invisible using the cloaking field, which enables you to be standing reasonably close to the marines without being spotted. There are a few catches with this handy piece of the kit though. First off, it slowly drains field energy, contrary to what the manual says, you are more visible in bright light and when you're moving, and finally, the Aliens aren't easily fooled by this. Nevertheless, it does come in useful when you're out hunting. You also get to see the action through four different views: normal, infra-red, and a couple of other views which use different areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. These allow you not only to see in the dark, but also, when coupled with your rechargeable and powerful shoulder cannon, allow you to lock onto foes and blow them away with one shot from the cannon, and even zoom close in on them.
You can also play with the powerful but slow-to-come-back disc featured in Predator 2, and the spears that cropped up in that film, as well as a medicomp, a device that uses up a large amount of energy but will replenish you health, and a laser pistol that featured in none of the films. The one weapon that is conspicuous by its absence is the net from Predator 2 which would have been useful for immobilising prey and generally showing off. There are two problems with the Predator's kit though. First off, you are reliant on field energy which can take time to recharge. And secondly, while the Predator can take out baddies close up with its claws and at medium to long range with its energy cannon, there's no weapon that can be used efficiently on enemies at close to short range. Still, the Predator is a formidable foe, especially when you consider that you can't kill what you can't see.
Last but not least--well, least in terms of strength but not in terms of equipment and weaponry--are the colonial marines. Playing as the marine is a lot like playing as the marine in Quake 2--you have access to a flamethrower, a minigun, a pulse rifle, an auto-targetting smart gun, and a missile launcher. On top of this, you can use the motion detector featured in Aliens which lets you spot moving targets including the Predator. You can switch to infra-red mode to spot the invisible so and so or see in the dark, but you then lose access to the motion detector so it's a matter of deciding which is more appropriate in each situation. All the weapons are pretty useful; as the manual points out, none of them are completely rubbish, although you do have to pick up the weapons and ammo as you go along, and for some reason you don't get to carry weapons between levels. And knowing that you don't stand much of a chance against a horde of Aliens forces you have to keep moving, making for a rather spooky game.
The levels themselves are pretty decently designed, resembling some locations in the films such as the colony on LV-240 (or whatever number the colony was), derelict bases, lead-smelting facilities (sound familiar?), hangars, ships, alien hives, and other areas. There's also an Alien temple which does somewhat go against many peoples' perception of the Alien as a killing machine with no need for religion--and doesn't exactly fit in with the Alien mythos. Though given that the rest of the levels are up to par, this can be forgiven. All of these levels, about twenty in total, are dark and spooky, with plenty of places to hide or for your foes to hide in. These foes include Aliens, Predators, Marines, Androids, Queen Aliens, Queen Guard Aliens, Alien Robots and some weird creature called the Predalien which I don't think has cropped up in the comic books as yet though I could be wrong. Naturally, you don't have to fight against creatures from your own side though you will end up taking on all the other baddies in the game, all of whom are baying for your blood and have a nasty habit of popping up in marginally different places each time round. Once you finish the game as one character, having blown away shed-loads of these nasties, you get access to some 'bonus levels'. These aren't actually new levels but just the normal non-bonus levels from the other characters, marginally adjusted so that you can play them as your character. So once you've finished playing the Alien levels you might get to play a Predator level as the Alien.
There are a couple of negative points that stop Aliens vs Predator being a truly great game. First, the voice acting – which usually only crops up when you're seeing someone on a monitor – is truly appalling. And secondly, the graphics do look a little dated, but they were well above average when the game was first released. Still, at least you know the game will run on your PC. Having said that, in Aliens vs Predator, the good outweighs the bad. Aliens vs Predator is a rather spooky and hugely enjoyable game, and easily one of the scariest games you're likely to play for ages. Plus, the ability to play as one of three characters boosts the game's longetivity. AvP does actually do the films and comic books justice, unlike the god-awful Alien Trilogy. And best of all, it's now available on Steam for a measly £2.99.
Pros:
Scary as anything.
Plenty of gameplay.
It's got Aliens and Predators in it!
It's only £2.99 on Steam!
Cons:
Dodgy voice acting.
Graphics look quite dated today.
But tragically, the mass-slaughter of Star Wars characters by the jaw-slime dripping xenomorphs or shoulder-cannon toting hunters is something that's unlikely to happen. However, all is not lost as Aliens vs Predator does let you engage in the wholesale slaughter of screaming humans. Hang on a mo, you may be thinking – Aliens Vs Predator is a new game! Not quite – the game that has been released for consoles and for PC recently is actually the fourth in the series, despite the title. This game was the first Aliens Vs Predator game released onto the PC, but had been preceded by one on the Atari Jaguar. Confused? Just think of this as Aliens Vs Predator 1 and you'll be okay. Carrying on.. you play as either an Alien, a Predator, or a Colonial marine. Playing as an Alien, you can dash around ripping the faces off your foes; as a Predator, you get to toe one of those rather funky shoulder cannons and make yourself nearly invisible; and as a colonial marine, you get to ... er, be cannon fodder for the two other species. Ah well. Whichever species you play as, you're going to have to go out of your way to avoid getting it in the neck from the other two life-forms--and guess what? Negotiation is not an option.
The actual plot of the game varies depending upon which of the three species you play as. As the Alien, the ultimate aim of the game is to reach Earth and cause havoc there. As the Predator, you have to take down as many aliens as you can, aiming for the ultimate prize--the head of an Alien Queen. And as the colonial marine, you have to remove both these species from a variety of ships and bases and make it back home in one piece. None of these tasks will be easy, despite what you may think, having seen the films or read the comic books. And the plot also has nothing to do with the two Aliens Vs Predator films. Each species has its own distinct strengths and weakness, all of which you must familiarise yourself with if you want to make it through to the end of the game. What's more, and this is one of Aliens Vs Predator's plus points, playing as each species necessitates an entirely different approach to the game. This is a welcome contrast to many other shoot-em-ups where you can play as different characters, but where your choice of character has very little actual effect upon the gameplay. So what do each of the three characters have to offer? Let's take a look....
The Alien, as in the Alien films, is very fast and very stealthy, able to creep up on its prey virtually silently. Should you chose to play as this character you'll have not only this ability at your disposal, but the ability to climb up and down walls and across the ceiling, drop from the ceiling by releasing the climb button, and kill most characters with just a couple of swipes of your claws or tail. Plus, you have that strange slightly stretchy vision that featured in Alien 3 and you can track your prey more easily with the hunting mode, giving you the ability to see in the dark even when your prey can't. On top of this, if you can line up your jaws correctly (unfortunately there's no cross-hair to help you do this) you can execute a head-bite, a kind of xenomorphic fatality move, in which you bite your opponent's head off, killing them in one go and boosting your health to maximum. You can also boost your health by slashing and hacking at the corpses of dead opponents (before they eventually disappear).
You may think that, after having heard about these abilities, things will be easy--but you're dead wrong. You're hunting alone, not in a horde as the xenomorphs in Aliens were, and you've got more than screaming colonists or space-jockeys to deal with. You have to take on colonial marines as well, and since you don't have any ranged weapons, that can be a bit tricky. A few good blasts from a colonial marine's weapon will take you down so you have to try and surprise them--by taking out the lights, moving silently and keeping as quiet as you can, and generally not alerting them to your presence till it's much too late. It can take a short while to get used to controlling an alien but it makes for a very spooky gaming excursion indeed. You do actually feel like you are the Alien, corny and cliched as that may sound.
Next up for cross-examination is the Predator. The Predator is stronger and able to take more damage than the Alien or the marine, and he also has to hand most of the weapons featured in the Predator films, although the majority of them use up field energy, your slowly recharging energy bank which is used in place of regular ammunition. Playing as the Predator you can make yourself nearly invisible using the cloaking field, which enables you to be standing reasonably close to the marines without being spotted. There are a few catches with this handy piece of the kit though. First off, it slowly drains field energy, contrary to what the manual says, you are more visible in bright light and when you're moving, and finally, the Aliens aren't easily fooled by this. Nevertheless, it does come in useful when you're out hunting. You also get to see the action through four different views: normal, infra-red, and a couple of other views which use different areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. These allow you not only to see in the dark, but also, when coupled with your rechargeable and powerful shoulder cannon, allow you to lock onto foes and blow them away with one shot from the cannon, and even zoom close in on them.
You can also play with the powerful but slow-to-come-back disc featured in Predator 2, and the spears that cropped up in that film, as well as a medicomp, a device that uses up a large amount of energy but will replenish you health, and a laser pistol that featured in none of the films. The one weapon that is conspicuous by its absence is the net from Predator 2 which would have been useful for immobilising prey and generally showing off. There are two problems with the Predator's kit though. First off, you are reliant on field energy which can take time to recharge. And secondly, while the Predator can take out baddies close up with its claws and at medium to long range with its energy cannon, there's no weapon that can be used efficiently on enemies at close to short range. Still, the Predator is a formidable foe, especially when you consider that you can't kill what you can't see.
Last but not least--well, least in terms of strength but not in terms of equipment and weaponry--are the colonial marines. Playing as the marine is a lot like playing as the marine in Quake 2--you have access to a flamethrower, a minigun, a pulse rifle, an auto-targetting smart gun, and a missile launcher. On top of this, you can use the motion detector featured in Aliens which lets you spot moving targets including the Predator. You can switch to infra-red mode to spot the invisible so and so or see in the dark, but you then lose access to the motion detector so it's a matter of deciding which is more appropriate in each situation. All the weapons are pretty useful; as the manual points out, none of them are completely rubbish, although you do have to pick up the weapons and ammo as you go along, and for some reason you don't get to carry weapons between levels. And knowing that you don't stand much of a chance against a horde of Aliens forces you have to keep moving, making for a rather spooky game.
The levels themselves are pretty decently designed, resembling some locations in the films such as the colony on LV-240 (or whatever number the colony was), derelict bases, lead-smelting facilities (sound familiar?), hangars, ships, alien hives, and other areas. There's also an Alien temple which does somewhat go against many peoples' perception of the Alien as a killing machine with no need for religion--and doesn't exactly fit in with the Alien mythos. Though given that the rest of the levels are up to par, this can be forgiven. All of these levels, about twenty in total, are dark and spooky, with plenty of places to hide or for your foes to hide in. These foes include Aliens, Predators, Marines, Androids, Queen Aliens, Queen Guard Aliens, Alien Robots and some weird creature called the Predalien which I don't think has cropped up in the comic books as yet though I could be wrong. Naturally, you don't have to fight against creatures from your own side though you will end up taking on all the other baddies in the game, all of whom are baying for your blood and have a nasty habit of popping up in marginally different places each time round. Once you finish the game as one character, having blown away shed-loads of these nasties, you get access to some 'bonus levels'. These aren't actually new levels but just the normal non-bonus levels from the other characters, marginally adjusted so that you can play them as your character. So once you've finished playing the Alien levels you might get to play a Predator level as the Alien.
There are a couple of negative points that stop Aliens vs Predator being a truly great game. First, the voice acting – which usually only crops up when you're seeing someone on a monitor – is truly appalling. And secondly, the graphics do look a little dated, but they were well above average when the game was first released. Still, at least you know the game will run on your PC. Having said that, in Aliens vs Predator, the good outweighs the bad. Aliens vs Predator is a rather spooky and hugely enjoyable game, and easily one of the scariest games you're likely to play for ages. Plus, the ability to play as one of three characters boosts the game's longetivity. AvP does actually do the films and comic books justice, unlike the god-awful Alien Trilogy. And best of all, it's now available on Steam for a measly £2.99.
Pros:
Scary as anything.
Plenty of gameplay.
It's got Aliens and Predators in it!
It's only £2.99 on Steam!
Cons:
Dodgy voice acting.
Graphics look quite dated today.