If you're familiar with Rebellion's previous forays into the realm of Alien-on-Predator-on-Space-Marine violence, you probably already have at least some sense of the rock-paper-scissors dynamic inherent to AVP, and it seems to still be one of the defining characteristics here. When playing as a Predator, you've got a menagerie of gadgets to fell your enemies with, including a cloaking device that makes it easy to get the drop and a shoulder-mounted plasma cannon that packs a lot of punch, though at the cost of a relatively slow firing rate. As such, I found that, when playing as a Predator, the regular and heavy melee attacks were the most effective way to take down an enemy, particularly when the cloaking device is active. There were several other gadgets that I didn't manage to figure out how to use during my time with the game, leaving me with the impression that this is the most technically complicated class of the three.
Predators have the freshest gear, but it's the Aliens that boast the best mobility in the game. The default movement speed is impressive, and since they don't use any conventional weapons, it's also critical in getting up close to your enemies for claw swipe and tail attacks. Both the Alien and the Predator have suitably grisly execution moves they can perform on enemies caught unawares. Aliens can also prove difficult to draw a bead on, since they can effortlessly climb on virtually any surface in the game, transitioning from one surface to another with a quick tug on the right trigger. Since they play so fast and loose with gravity, I found it easy to get disoriented when playing as the Alien, though if you get too turned around, you can reorient yourself to the ground, also performed with the right trigger. It felt like Aliens really excelled when operating in small, loosely organized packs, swarming on enemies like the horrible space insects they are.
The big surprise for me was how enjoyable the space marine ended up being, and not just because the default player model looks like a lean and grizzled Brian Doyle Murray. Within the Aliens universe, being a space marine is tantamount to being hamburger ceviche, but they can hold their own quite well in AVP. He plays like a pretty standard, armed with an assault rifle and a pistol by default, and he can also pick up other Earth-man weapons like shotguns and flamethrowers. (Quick aside: flamethrowers in games are never as much fun to use as you'd hope, and this one still suffers from reach issues, but it's undeniably satisfying to watch an Alien writhe and scream while engulfed in flames.) Even though the marine represents the most traditional first-person shooter experience, the bizarre abilities of his enemies gives it enough of a twist. Also, the assault rifle holds massive 100-bullet clips, which really facilitates some proper Bill-Paxton-style space marine freak-outs.
The game seems to be doing a good job of capturing the little touches associated with the franchise--the look of the Predator's heads-up display, the wall-eyed perspective of the Alien, and the compressed sound of the space marine's assault rifle. After spending a few hours murdering other members of the press, we got to spend some time chatting with Rebellion's Tim Jones, project lead for Aliens Vs. Predator, about the game, Rebellion's history with the franchise, and his own extraterrestrial exterminating prowess.
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