Wed 12 Oct 2011
Playstation
Alien vs. Predator Review
There was an Alien vs. Predator game released in the 90’s before the
Alien vs. Predator movie was released by rebellion, unfortunately while
that game was decent, it failed to be anything but that. It didn’t help
that the ten missions for each race were next to impossible. Ten years
and two console generations later, the same developers Rebellion have
giving AVP another shot, unfortunately the outcome isn’t much better
than before.
As with the previous Alien vs. Predator game, you either play as a Marine, a Predator or a human. The marine is the most familiar as every FPS essentially has you playing as a marine or a guy with a gun, the Predator and the Alien take some getting used to because playing as either or like nothing else. Luckily the campaign isn’t nearly as tough as the old games, however they also aren’t particularly memorable with either of the races, they are all mildly mediocre.
The marine’s campaign is fairly straight forwards and although it’s fun to pick off unsuspecting Humans with the Aliens, playing as an Alien is disorientating, they move very fast and they’re difficult to control, you can very quickly forget whether you’re on the ceiling or on the ground despite the fact that the ground glows red when you’re the ceiling.
The predator as you probably already know relies primarily on stealth, you will find yourself most successful when remaining invisible sneaking up on opponents and disposing of them that way. The game features special cinematic kills which although are enjoyable to watch don’t give you the option of cancelling them once you execute them, this can be a problem given that you can still be attacked in the process and even killed.
While the game looks ok it doesn’t compete with the cutting edge games that are currently on the market like Bioshock or Mass Effect, AVP unfortunately falls short of this standard. Despite being relatively fun, it just doesn’t feel like a game that was worth paying for, the experience is relatively short lived, not without frequent moments of confusing and frustration and the entire game just feels outdated.
There’s not a whole lot of innovation featured in AVP, instead Alien vs. Predator struggles to keep up with the current market. It does however have some redeemable features, the biggest of these is some fresh multiplayer modes, not the death match or team death match which don’t really work, but the horde option similar to the ever popular Last Man standing in games like Left 4 Dead which spawned the Left 4 Dead Starcraft 2 mod as well. This mode basically allows you to play with a friend as a marine and hold up in a particular area while Aliens are closing in, of course the purpose of the game is to stay alive. This mode is a lot of fun in spite of the mediocre combat mechanics.
Overall Alien vs. Predator is an average FPS with some redeemable game modes that although aren’t exactly original work well with the games premise.
Rating: 74% “An average game with some redeemable features.”
Pros:
If you’re a fan of Aliens and Predators this is the only game where you’ll be able to play as one
Some addictive and challenging multiplayer modes that make it fun to play with a friend
Cons:
Controlling the Aliens is nauseating and confusing
The campaigns are short lived and present frequent moments of confusion and frustration
The visuals although aren’t bad, aren’t up to par with today’s FPS’s
As with the previous Alien vs. Predator game, you either play as a Marine, a Predator or a human. The marine is the most familiar as every FPS essentially has you playing as a marine or a guy with a gun, the Predator and the Alien take some getting used to because playing as either or like nothing else. Luckily the campaign isn’t nearly as tough as the old games, however they also aren’t particularly memorable with either of the races, they are all mildly mediocre.
The marine’s campaign is fairly straight forwards and although it’s fun to pick off unsuspecting Humans with the Aliens, playing as an Alien is disorientating, they move very fast and they’re difficult to control, you can very quickly forget whether you’re on the ceiling or on the ground despite the fact that the ground glows red when you’re the ceiling.
The predator as you probably already know relies primarily on stealth, you will find yourself most successful when remaining invisible sneaking up on opponents and disposing of them that way. The game features special cinematic kills which although are enjoyable to watch don’t give you the option of cancelling them once you execute them, this can be a problem given that you can still be attacked in the process and even killed.
While the game looks ok it doesn’t compete with the cutting edge games that are currently on the market like Bioshock or Mass Effect, AVP unfortunately falls short of this standard. Despite being relatively fun, it just doesn’t feel like a game that was worth paying for, the experience is relatively short lived, not without frequent moments of confusing and frustration and the entire game just feels outdated.
There’s not a whole lot of innovation featured in AVP, instead Alien vs. Predator struggles to keep up with the current market. It does however have some redeemable features, the biggest of these is some fresh multiplayer modes, not the death match or team death match which don’t really work, but the horde option similar to the ever popular Last Man standing in games like Left 4 Dead which spawned the Left 4 Dead Starcraft 2 mod as well. This mode basically allows you to play with a friend as a marine and hold up in a particular area while Aliens are closing in, of course the purpose of the game is to stay alive. This mode is a lot of fun in spite of the mediocre combat mechanics.
Overall Alien vs. Predator is an average FPS with some redeemable game modes that although aren’t exactly original work well with the games premise.
Rating: 74% “An average game with some redeemable features.”
Pros:
If you’re a fan of Aliens and Predators this is the only game where you’ll be able to play as one
Some addictive and challenging multiplayer modes that make it fun to play with a friend
Cons:
Controlling the Aliens is nauseating and confusing
The campaigns are short lived and present frequent moments of confusion and frustration
The visuals although aren’t bad, aren’t up to par with today’s FPS’s
