Just what is it that marks Earth as a happy hunting ground to the Predators? These intergalactic hunters seem to spend half their lives on Earth, slashing and hacking their way through the populace at will. As if taking down a commando team and half of LA's criminal underground in the two Predator films wasn't enough, their comic-based exploits have been truly prolific. They've taken on Batman no less than three times, had a go at Tarzan, picked a fight with Judge Dredd, wiped out a Russian science station and generally got up to some serious mischief.
You would think this is because humans are particularly tricky prey, but it turns out the reason they hunt us obsessively is down to the mysterious Earth markings known as the Nasca lines. When viewed from space, they read: "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough, you dreadlocked, boot-faced sissies.
But the Predators in Aliens vs Predator 2 aren't roaming around on Earth. The place they've picked for their hunt is actually a human-run research post that specialises in somewhat dodgy experiments upon Aliens, which includes a fully functioning artificial hive stuffed full of head-biting, colonist-cocooning, acid-for-blood xenomorphs. Presumably the Predators see this as an opportunity to take on two notable foes at once, collecting both human and alien trophies for their gory collections.
But what they may not have banked upon is the fact that the facility itself has run into a little trouble, the aliens breaking loose of their restraints and running amok through the two sections of the large facility, the observation pods and the operations centre.
Throw into the mix a bunch of marines who've turned up to deal with the alien infestation and you've got a recipe for havoc, gore and more brown trousers moments than you can shake a spear at. As in the original Aliens vs Predator , the single-player game gives you the opportunity to play as either a Predator, marine or an Alien. But whereas the campaigns in AvP were essentially separate stories, Aliens vs Predator 2's sports a single coherent storyline, showing the same events through the eyes of different species.
So in some situations, you'll hear word of what one species is up to, then get to experience it first-hand in its campaign. It's a welcome touch that makes the three campaigns tie together rather well. As you'd expect, each of the species has very different characteristics and technology, requiring distinctly different tactics to be employed for each one.
The marines, for example, are not as physically strong as the Aliens or Predators, but this doesn't mean you're going to get slaughtered the moment you step into the research complex. The marines have access to a wide range of weaponry including the pulse rifle, which you begin the game with, a shotgun, pistol and enemy tracking smart gun, all featured in the Aliens movies.
Plus you get your hands on some other unseen weaponry, comprised of the usual FPS assortment: sniper rifle, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, and mini-gun. To top it all off, additional toys are available, such as night-vision, flashlight, a hacking device and a welding torch that can be used to open certain doors or hatches there's very little key collecting in this game , and the marine's friend, the motion tracker.
The latter shows the position relative to you of any moving object including swinging chains and doors, which increases tension by causing a few false alarms and is invaluable in knowing when something's lurking round the corner for you, be it human, synthetic, Alien or Predator. All of the above means that the marine campaign requires you to be fleet of foot and fast of trigger finger - as in most 3D shooters. If, on the other hand, you're more of a Thief fan or chose to root for the dreadlocked one in the two Predator movies, then the Predator campaign will probably be your first stop although you'd be a fool not to have a crack at all three campaigns.
As the Predator, you pick up various weapons as you go through the game, including a net gun, a shoulder mounted cannon, a flying disc weapon and a pistol, but you start off with only a couple at your disposal - your claws and a spear gun.
However, these weapons are perfectly sufficient to take on the human foes that the first couple of levels throw at you. How so? Because your primary strength as the Predator is your stealth - your cloaking device keeps you perfectly hidden from humans and synthetics, your vision device makes your foes stand out against the background and you have a zoom facility that lets you take out targets from a distance - the disc and shoulder cannon even home in automatically, making you a formidable foe.
But there's a catch - after all, the game would get pretty dull if you were undefeatable. Actually, make that a few catches. The targeting cursor of your disc weapon and shoulder cannon can be seen by your enemies, giving them a good idea where you are. And actually firing these two weapons deactivates your cloak, as does walking through water. Also, your weapons, your cloaking device and the medi-comp device you can use to heal yourself rely on energy - you can regenerate energy by just switching to a free-energy device called an Energy Sifter which will replenish your energy meter.
This device makes a hell of a noise when you use it though so any foes in the area are likely to cotton on to the fact you're there. Additionally, when it comes to fighting Aliens, you're not so hot - they can see you cloaked or uncloaked and whereas you can deal with a few humans up close, the Aliens are far better at close range combat than you are. Combating Aliens usually involves backpedalling frantically while you're blasting away at them with your shoulder cannon.
The most suprising thing about the Alien campaign is that you don't start the game fully-grown - instead you begin life as a Facehugger, as depicted in the movies. With no defensive capabilities, you have to sneak your way around the corridors of the complex, climbing walls and skittering through vents till you find a lone victim to, er, hug faces with.
The next level then starts with a wonderfully gruesome view from inside your victim's torso, which you gnaw and burst your way out of now in the second stage of Alien development: the Chestburster.
You're quite vulnerable at this stage and can no longer crawl around walls and ceilings; again, you have to stealthily move around the complex until you find a place with fluffy animals to nourish on and grow into an Alien drone proper.
Only then do you get the ability to hack and slash your opponents to pieces, pounce at them or bite their heads off and feed on their bodies to restore your own energy.
While you might think playing as a lone Alien would require huge amounts of stealth, this isn't the case. Speed and cunning is more important - the latter is required to find alternate routes round the automated sentry guns that can cut you to pieces in seconds, while the former lets you get close to your opponents and take them out, especially with no long range weapons at your disposal.
A little disappointingly, enemies do tend to see you if even if you're hanging from the ceiling in a dark corner - in single player, at least. Also has a degree field of view as opposed to degree. To see in the dark, the Alien must use its navigation sense. Unfortunately, the alien loses the ability to differentiate between different species in this mode.
The Alien is a real bitch to control, but if you manage to get to grips with the interface and retain your bearings it's probably the deadliest character in the game. The Alien has two advantages: its speed and the ability to see everything including cloaked Predators.
The Predator is the ultimate hunting machine with deadly weapons, the ability to cloak and heal itself, and four vision modes. The only disadvantage is its constant need for field energy -fuel; without this, Mr Predator is virtually useless. Ammo is limited, so a good Predator should waft for the right moment to attack Wristblades. For really close encounters, the primary attack kills Marines in seconds. The secondary attack holding down the right mouse button can kill instantly.
The Predator also collects trophies by performing a secondary attack on the head of a dead, non-decapitated body. This baby is able to take a Marine's head clean off and pin it to a wall - also useful when attempting to keep aliens at bay. Without doubt the perfect sniping weapon. Auto-targeting weapon that can kill a Marine instantly. It can also be charged up for bigger bolts by holding down the fire button.
Primary button which heals you completely. The secondary button puts out flames. Takes between 15 and 20 energy units to use. Capable of destroying a Xenoborg with one hit. It's also lethal against most other creatures bar the Alien Queen. Auto-targeting and auto-return. Master the Predator's strange weapons and he becomes a very satisfying character. The cloaking device is useful except against Aliens and the two homing weapons can be highly effective if used from cover. The perfect character for campers.
You've probably seen a few other creatures on your travels, here's how to kill them. A total nightmare: if they get on your face, you're dead. Marines should go for the flamethrower or smartgun, and grenades if desperate. Predators can blow them away with the pistol. Look like civilians, but handle weapons better and show no fear. Easy to kill as Alien or Predator. A hybrid robot and Alien. Predators should use the speargun and aim for the head. Slightly tougher than normal Aliens but can be despatched in the same way.
Watch out though, these things actively seek out and eat power-ups. There are various ways to kill a Queen depending on which level you're on. Only one thing is constant though - explosives always work best. My Favourite Sound probably out of all of them, is the ones made by aliens when they're being horrifically slaughtered in their second film, Aliens.
It is, I think, based on a heavily distorted recording of a trumpeting elephant, sped up to make it absolutely terrifying in a way only the panicked, high-pitched scream of a flailing pachyderm can be. In second place it's the dense, tinny shred of a pulse rifle. Then there's the muffled, static veil draped over your ears when the Predator switches to thermal vision, married with his exotic, guttural clucks as he lops his tongue about inside his mandible box-mouth.
Every Aliens vs Predator game has understood the importance of replicating the most aurally recognisable aspects of its characters, and this release continues that tradition. It sounds incredible. Incredible enough to make me want to say words like "aural soundscape" and "crunchy sonic feast". Here's a game that's mostly about inflicting horrendous injuries on deserving creatures, and it's one In which you'll appreciate every sinewy crunch, gargled howl, bloody slosh and hollow snap.
Aliens vs Predator is sickeningly violent - more so in one of the three campaigns than the others, admittedly -in ways that are borderline comical and dancing on the periphery of decency. Lovely, spine-tearing, eye-socket spearing madness then. Where the films lost credibility the moment they went PG, Rebellion's A v P wears its 18 certificate with pride. These are Schwarzeneggar's Predators and, Ripley's aliens.
Sadly, these are the same one-dimensional barking space marines you've seen a thousand times before, but the point stands - this game doesn't flinch in showing you brutality on a level not seen since the early films. The good ones. So, evil megacorp Weyland-Yutani have found some ancient ruins on a distant planet, and in their efforts to exploit the artifacts found within they've attracted the attention of the ruin's guardians: the tribal, dreadlock-sporting Predators.
Bit of a pedant's minefield, this review, but we'll stick to calling the angry monsters 'Predators' for the sake of our sanity. The planet also happens to be home to a colony of Giger's xenomorphs, thereby allowing for the classic three-way struggle seen in both of the previous games to erupt all over again.
Registering false positives in nearly every darkened corner, the environment takes pleasure in suggesting random shadows might contain dripping alien death, and for the first 10 minutes you won't even meet one of the things. You'll be yelping at vents, alarmingly shaped shadows and dangling bits of wire which, in a case of misjudged engineering, look identical to the tails of lackadaisical, ceiling-dwelling aliens.
The Alien campaign, on the other hand, is a reduced affair. Weapons and frippery are replaced by tooth and claw, and the unique ability to climb on any surface allows you to stalk marines from the darkness like a pervert Spider-man. You're the smarter-than-your-average specimen known as Number Six, receiving curiously detailed orders from your Queen who's kind enough to mark objectives on your HUD, in between shitting out a thousand eggs and fighting to save her and your colony from the nefarious human threat.
Great greasy things, are the aliens, moving unpredictably along walls and ceilings, at all times beautifully animated and intricately detailed.
As absurd as it sounds, their flowing, flicking tails are their most convincing component, snaking behind their skeletal forms as they corner and leap from surface to surface. In the Alien campaign, you'll spend real minutes chasing your physics-powered tail. Your armoury increases to include a shotgun and a powerful scoped rifle, around about the same time you begin to encounter acid-spitting aliens and the Freud-baiting facehuggers.
Inevitably, when your objective changes focus and you find yourself pitched against human opponents, the change in pace throws the Alien's combat into sharp relief. Instead of frantically searching walls and ceilings for scuttling enemies, you're seeking out enemies who intelligently find cover. The notion of an enemy who, at this late stage, doesn't simply sprint towards you in an attempt to stab you from every angle at once feels oddly unnatural but wholly welcome.
Otherwise, you're dragging your lonely self through some scenic environments, locations through which all three campaigns pass. Marines have their cold, metallic, space-age grime. Aliens prefer their homes to resemble the interior of a giant decaying anus: dank, maze-like hives peppered with facehugger-bearing eggs.
No matter who you choose to play as, the campaigns are linear, checkpoint-pocked trots from one area to the next, and one from which every ounce of fat has been trimmed. AvP's campaigns are iwrryingly short - you could race through the Alien campaign in under two hours, and the Marine's in four - but they're densely packed with well-sonstructed set pieces, engineered scares and often striking locations.
The Predator campaign, in particular, is almost puzzle-like in delivering small arenas of patrolling humans and tasking you with murdering the lot of them. Your distract ability allows you to target a single marine and lure him to a point using a voice recording, a highly telegraphed they shout things like I think the noise came from here! Aliens grab too. And where Predators jab wristblades into eye sockets, aliens spear chests on barbed tailsand plunge their inner-mouths through foreheads to regain health.
You'll gag on your own nostalgia gland as, when playing as the Alien, you realise you can still slash limbs off corpses and leave them lying about the place for their friends to find. Scooting up and down walls is at first disorientating, but soon becomes second nature - and as long as you're in the dark you can take a moment to relax and figure out if you're upside-down or not, just like a real alien probably does.
Darkness effectively makes you invisible to marines who aren't alerted to your presence, working very much like the Predator's cloaking device. Once they know you're nearby however, they'll poke about with flashlights until they've found your hiding place, requiring you to move and jump between shadows, hissing to lure individuals before tearing their faces off in showers of blood, skin and bone.
So those are the campaigns. Three discrete experiences, each one adapted to suit the mechanics of its given species, with the Marine's more fully realised than the others. Number Six's journey ends all too abruptly, and does away with the fun larval stages in AvP2.
It literally and this isn't a spoiler winces and dies maybe of sadness, three hours before you'd expect. Crucially, they all work within the context of the three characters and their abilities. Survival is the co-op mode you dreamt of after watching Aliens - a desperate last stand against an unending tide of flashing claws and teeth.
It's a basic, boiled down affair though, featuring nought but players, their guns with an occasional autoaiming, xeno-seeking smartgun drop , and an endless supply of angry, angry scuttling enemies. Elsewhere, the straightforward three-way deathmatch appears finely balanced.
Both aliens and Predators can perform their unblockable trophy kills by moving behind enemies and hammering the E key. Once locked into the gruesome animation, the attacker is then at his most vulnerable, creating the potential for a ridiculous conga line of trophy killers, or for one intelligent player to hold back and toss a few grenades or plasma cannon rounds into the fray.
Marines lack the ability to tear bones right out of another player's body, and instead rely on countering melee attacks, which gives them more than enough time to pile a few shotgun J rounds into their stumbled victim. The multiplayer modes are fast paced-which makes sense, as more people are being stabbed and speared than shot - but it remains faithful to the fiction.
Few concessions are made in porting abilities from the single-player campaign to multiplayer - admirably, you'll be cloaking and leaping from shadows as a Predator, dropping from the ceiling as an alien, and running away from moving objects as a marine.
The constant exchange of what are essentially backstabs doesn't grate either, instead the experience is closer to playing on an instagib server - that is, you'll kill, die and respawn with enough regularity that you'll place little value in your continuing existence, scoffing nervously at death as it buzzes by you over and over again. Aliens vs Predator is a brilliantly authentic and cinematic experience, tinged with a vague sense that more could've been done with the single player to properly spear our eyeballs into attention.
It's savage, dark, and ultra violent, just like we said on the cover, but holding it back from a higher score are Alien and Predator too soon and don't reach a conclusion. Does it compar rest of the series? Yes, of course it does, at times it tears the throat put of the previous two games and dances on heir acid-speckled, increasingly decrepit corpses.
But will it make as big an impact? It's old-school, a shooter from a decade past, and with that all the baggage you'd expect: often startling linearity, irrelevant plot and scenes two steps away from the Modern nWarfare-style blockbuster set pieces to which we're fast becoming accustomed. I'd argue that we wouldn't want it any other way when it comes to Aliens vs Predator. It's deliriously gory, unwaveringly confident and spectacular fun. And, at the very least, it's far better than the dogshit films.
Remember the old Aliens vs. Predator game for the Jaguar? Great--now forget it ever existed. The PC version promises to take these two movie monsters into the modem 3D realm for all the acid-bleeding action you can handle. Players choose to control the Alien, the Predator, or the not-so-hapless Colonial Marine.
Aliens can slash, bite with both sets of jaws , tailwhip enemies, and scurry up walls. The Aliens soon escape, prompting a response from the United States Colonial Marine Corps, while the Predators also send three of their members to investigate.
Aliens vs. Predator is the fifth game in the Alien vs. Predator franchise. These campaigns are separate in terms of individual plot and gameplay, but form one overlapping storyline. Survive, hunt and prey in the deadly jungles and swamps in distinctly new and thrilling first person gameplay. The Predator has different vision modes, the most recognizable from the films being a thermal imaging scanner that detects targets by their body heat, but the player also has an alternate vision mode for spotting Aliens.
Each vision mode only allows for targeting a specific race — for example, the thermal vision makes human and Predator targets obvious while rendering Aliens nearly invisible, making battles between two or all three species a tactical juggle to prioritize enemies based on their threat to the player. Predator: Hunting Grounds. Predator gameplay is more based on stealth and tactics than the average first-person shooter. The player is able to utilize Vocal Mimicry to lure out human prey and make them easier targets.
For long-range weaponry, the Predator is equipped only with the Plasmacaster, but over the course of the campaign manages to secure a Smart Disc, a Combistick and the ability to drop proximity mines. Following the storyline of the campaign modes comes the multiplayer aspect of the game.
In this Multiplayer section of the game, players face off in various game types in various ways.
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