As a serious fan of the Alien film franchise and also the Predator film franchise, I was extremely excited to play the most recent instance of Alien vs Predator for the PC. It is actually part of a long series of AvP games. The first one that I can remember came out for the arcane system known as “Jaguar.” This system was supposed to be cool but it was short-lived.
In 2000, I tried playing the game, Alien vs Predator for the PC, but I had some sort of sound issue. There was a popping sound consistently when attempting the human missions and thinking back on it, I may have mistaken the radar blip motion detector sound as some sort of game glitch. I spent hours in my dorm room trying to figure out the sound problem and I was pretty gruff towards my neighboring dorm-mates. After giving up on getting that game to work (which actually was working perfectly) I forgot about Alien vs Predator.
Years later, I was living in Costa Mesa, and I wanted to check out Alien vs Predator 2. This game was phenomenal. It had something that I never expected…an experience of the “Complete Alien Lifecycle.” This means you got to be a facehugger and find an appropriate victim, then you popped out as one of those chest-burster aliens until you had to find a suitable snack. And finally you got to morph into an alien drone and then go about on your adventure. Not only was the Alien aspect of the game great, but the Predator as well as Marine missions had great combat and subtle story-lines. Similar to the game, “Unreal” you would find notes and computer journals which gave additional context to the story. It made the entire game have dense atmosphere and rich ambiance.
Last year, I played the game, “Alien vs Predator” which is actually just the most recent next-gen version of the gaming franchise. Although the game lacked the full life-cycle aspect of the alien missions, it was extremely fun to play. The human missions were simply awesome with the addition of the new sniper rifle system. The marines have this rifle which not only has sniper zoom but it can see through some cover and walls…and it can also highlight enemy targets which may be cloaked. Also, there are androids in the game which are very powerful and cool, if you think you can beat them with a simple headshot…think again.
The alien missions are interesting because the Alien Queen has a psychic link with you and her drones. You get mission objectives from her and it makes the game feel like you’re part of a larger unit. In the last game I was talking about, you feel more like a mystery drone which is going about things like a rogue. But in this game you have a history with the human scientists and there is a little revenge/larger mission scope to experience.
As for the Predator missions…simply wow. The architecture and amazing artwork makes these missions feel like you’re going on some sort of expedition in Peru but there’s more danger of course. They added to this game an intuitive super-jump system which is activated by using your secondary visor/sight ability. It gives the game a more rail-type experience at first, but later in the game you will see that the leap system is not meant to limit your movement but rather to assist in showing you which leaps are possible so that you don’t waste time with a jumping test every-time there’s a ledge which you are curious about. I think this actually adds to the realism of the game because you rarely see in the movies a Predator miss a jump and then fall on his hind-quarters. He always seems to know if he can make a jump.
To make the Predator missions even more exciting and intriguing, there are holographic representations of Ancient Predator historical events within the temple. It is as if you get to witness an important event within their culture with front row seats.
Overall AvP is a great game for the PC and it is an innovative FPS with fast-paced action!
-Tyler