Aliens vs Predator February 21st, 2010
When it comes to writing anything that involves Aliens and Predators there is a very long and established custom. It is important to stress how cool Predator was and how Aliens is better than Alien because it has Space Marines in it. It’s then important to look off wistfully into the ether and contemplate how brilliant it would be if Predators, Aliens and Space Marines could all be combined into one masterpiece. I’m probably not going to mention any of that.
We all know it.
Having said that I am probably one of the few people in the world that thought AVP: Aliens vs Predator wasn’t that bad a film and it taught us how important pyramids are. I even sat through AVPR: Aliens vs Predator – Requiem which wasn’t that good. I haven’t got any real recollection of what happened in it.
I suppose that all points towards me being a bit of a fan of the AVP concept.
The one thing I’ve never done is play the Aliens vs Predator game. It was 1999, I had a Playstation, I didn’t play that sort of thing. I remember it being popular but as I didn’t have a PC that was ever going to play it I just let it pass me by.
I was quite excited by the build up to the newest version of Aliens vs Predator. If the first few attempts have worked out alright and the films had sorted out the importance of pyramids then how could this go wrong?
It’s difficult to say it went wrong. It’s just mind numbingly average.
I can see why they split the game into the Marine, Alien and Predator campaign but this, cynically seems like an excuse to just reuse levels three times. Fair enough if they are good levels but these aren’t. They are very much your standard “future complex” building blocks with a bog standard jungle and some ruins thrown in.
The Marine campaign goes on for, what seems like forever, and it plays like a standard FPS except with Aliens. Aliens which don’t seem the hardy bundles of terror I was expecting. In fact they’re really easy to kill and towards the end you’re just wading through piles of them hoping it ends soon.
The Alien and Predator campaigns are a little bit more interesting but there isn’t a vast difference between the two. The one thing they have in common is the control system being a nightmare. This is especially the case with the Alien where walking on the ceiling becomes a disorientating mess. Though both of these campaigns seem to take minutes to complete in comparison to the Marine section.
Unusually for me I decided to get this on the PC. Mostly this was through laziness as I couldn’t be bothered to go to the shops. I pre-ordered through Steam; actually that indicates I knew I wouldn’t be bothered to go to the shops which demonstrates some foresight. It was only £24 which is about ten quid cheaper than on the PS3. I notice that it’s now £18 on Amazon and it only came out on Friday. I think that points out it isn’t in danger of getting a game of the year award.
I do think there is still some justification that FPS’ work better with a mouse and keyboard. This isn’t a game where I would ever be able to prove this one way or the other. I’m left handed so I have to go through a fairly lengthy process of reconfiguring keys for games on the PC. Aliens vs Predator happily lets you change the keys for the Marine campaign but, seemingly, not for the Alien or Predator campaign. It is quite possible that I just couldn’t find the menu but that in itself is pretty bad and is very lazy programming. So I ended up playing it with a controller.
This is my first game I’ve finished in 2010 that was made in 2010. I hope this isn’t indicative of the quality to expect.
More annoyingly I’ve still got a pile of other better games that I’m still working through. I need to prioritise better.
Posted in Finished Games, Games | Comments (2)
February 21st, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Cheers, Daz. I asked about this…and you delivered!
If I find myself at a VERY loose end with a few disposable pounds burning a hole in my back pocket, then I might consider picking this up on the cheap for the PS3. But in all likelihood, I probably won’t bother.
Does AvP have any online gameplay? As I only ever play the online Deathmatches on Modern Warfare 2, I was kind of hoping that this would have a similar global free-for-all, where I could either blow some Predators and Aliens away as a Colonial Marine or prey on some humans instead.
It’s a shame you’ve found it to be a mind-numbingly average game. I got quite excited when I saw it on the shelf in Tesco the other night. (Although, it’s not like I could play it at the moment anyway – I kicked my PS3 controller to death today.) Thanks for the review!
February 21st, 2010 at 11:51 pm
It does have quite a lot of different types of multiplayer games.
I haven’t tried any of them.
Mainly because it looks like I’m going to be forced to play it with a controller against other people using a mouse and keyboard. I might as well invite them round my house, make them tea and then let them kick my arse at their leisure.
Unless I decide to be a Space Marine but given the three options, would you?