An Utterly Uninspired AVP
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ALIENS vs. PREDATOR REVIEW
ALIENS VS PREDATOR REVIEW
360 & PS3
Aliens vs. Predator has always been a pretty solid idea on paper, bridging two of the best science fiction action franchises ever by intertwining their stories with some sound back story. The original Aliens v Predator for the Jaguar was an atmospheric gem in 1994, which proved the two could be combined for great effect. The 1999 PC follow-up did nothing to change that, offering three campaign modes and excellent variety in play styles. Here Rebellion tries to rekindle the fire by bringing the series to the PC, 360 and PS3, but eleven years after the last success they aren’t able to come close to what it once was.
Just like the earlier games there’s three campaign modes; Colonial Marines, Aliens, and Predator. Each rehashes the same locations for their own purposes, but this seems less because of story than it does for lack of creative efforts, time, and budget. What Rebellion gets right, at least in premise, is that all of the species play differently and appropriate to their respective lineage. Predators utilize stealth and technology, Aliens maximize their speed and ability to harvest others and the Marines use guns and…well they use guns. The issue is that this is mostly limited to the very basics of each of those things; with only the Predator getting the most opportunity to use his skill set with some depth.
A bigproblem with these campaigns is how unbelievably slanted they are in design. The Marine run through is fairly strong, especially at the start but it fizzles out toward the end, becoming very run of the mill. Initially you’re given nothing more than a pistol and a flashlight, and forced to creep around a colony crawling with Aliens you can’t see until the last second. It doesn’t quite approach survival horror, but it at least builds a fresh tension and tone for what is otherwise a straight FPS. When you leave the confines of the darkness though, any allusion that this will stay strong is shattered. It rings in at just over five hours with a couple of boss fights that break up the pace, but they aren’t particularly difficult. An oddity since you’d think the humans were the most underpowered of anyone.
The Predator story on the other hand has a different set of balances and checks. The tutorial is very thorough, and fits within the framing of you setting out to prove your battle prowess. But from there it’s never quite maximized to its potential, often because of shallow objectives and bad environments. While it does pit you in the jungle (as do all campaigns) it’s too linear to really excel at the stealth side of the game, which you want to see with this creature. While silent kills are gruesome and rewarding, the challenge often seems just too slight to be truly fulfilling. They would have been much better off with a bigger sprawl of land to let you plot your course and attacks. In fairness though, this one of the three does a better job at elevating the goals and tasks as it pertains to your species. Still, it’s over too quickly to matter at only two and a half hours.
And then we have the worst of the bunch. An utter disgrace to the name on the cover. It’s not enough to say that the Alien story doesn’t match the other two; it doesn’t even match up with most PSN or Live Arcade titles. You’re a fast, slithering, terrifying Alien that’s known to strike fear in the hearts of men, here presented as a giant wimp with the physical dominance of a house cat. The game starts by educating you that, should you wish, to climb walls you press the trigger button and push toward that wall to do so. You can continue on with the roof as well. Immediately upon exiting the tutorial you’ll realize that the game will decide that you don’t need to pull anything and it’ll put you on the walls because you’re close to them. For good measure later on, they also spin the camera around so you have no idea where you are, and since most of the levels look the same the whole way through, that becomes infuriating. You’re also tasked with menial tasks and by the time you’ve gone through the other two missions you realize that the developers really couldn’t be bothered to come up with anything quite endearing to the Alien franchise. So much so, that you’ll be done in an hour. Yes. One hour, less if you’re good. It’s a worthless addition when it should have been the focus along with the Predator side of things.
If there’s any saving grace it’s the multiplayer, but like the rest of the game this has big problems that stop it from being excellent. The Aliens, Marines, and Predators will do battle in massive areas build around some of the campaign levels. Surprisingly, it’s actually far easier using Alien controls with the space here than during the story, and becomes an incredibly fun species to play as. A good Predator can be just deadly, and any smart Marine has a good chance at scoring kills even though they’re fairly useless in comparison. Nothing is better than the grabs from behind and the brutal nature of those kills, however, I also found that those tended to be the vast majority of all kills by everyone playing. There is a ton of modes which gives you a great selection of things to try and do. But ranking is a letdown, relegated to nothing more than a few skins and a number. That’s not what people expect anymore, they want added challenges and rewards. The online also suffers from a lack of real match-making. You join a match but it doesn’t tell you who is in it, just that there are seven of eight people and you’re waiting one or whatever it happens to be. Then it starts. It leaves ranked matches a lot worse off than private matches where you have more control, and as a result leaves the ranked matches too sparse. A lack of proper map cycling also means that on some modes you’ll see the same maps again and again.
If you played the demo, or look at sceenshots you know the graphics are sub-par. Partially the lackluster environments pile on the disappointment, but close up character models are when it really shows it’s colors. Interiors during some sections of the game are bland and lacking any detail to set it apart, don’t even let me start with the jungle sections. However, I will say that some of the earlier sections of the Marine campaign look good, assisted by the creepy darkness and scattered gore.
The audio is a bright point in this otherwise disappointing title. All of the little things you’ve come to regard in terms of atmospheric sound cues are all given proper nods. The rifles are identical to the movies, Aliens scream like only they can and the Predators speech is spot on. It might be one of the more basic touches, but it’s also one that shows some care was put into the title.
Aliens vs. Predator comes with lofty expectations, somewhat tempered by gamers cynical rapport with licensed franchises. But the pedigree is there in the developers to anticipate something better, but we don’t get it with the end product. Sloppy controls that you can eventually grasp, but shouldn’t have to, uninspired level designs and unforgivably lopsided campaign modes suffocate the prospects of the game. Potential is there, though, for the multiplayer to be reason enough to give this game a whirl, so long as you have some friends to play with because matchmaking in ranked games is awful.
SCORES:
THE GRAPHICS: Below expectations on today’s technology. Some kills look great up close but too much of the game is marred in drab and uninteresting scenery. 6/10
THE AUDIO: Sound effects are fantastic, but the score is borderline at best. Voice acting is passable, but nothing special. 8/10
THE GAMEPLAY: Sometimes confusing controls that do more than they’re supposed to, mainly with the Aliens. This is alleviated in online play when you have more open areas. Each species uses their tools, but it’s too limited. 7/10
THE PRODUCTION: There’s a lot of online content, and a survivor mode to add to the three campaigns. But seriously lopsided focus in said campaigns is unforgivable, especially when turning in one that’s only an hour long. Online could have been more streamlined too. 5/10
THE LASTING APPEAL: There’s six to seven hours of gameplay for the campaigns, and the fact that there’s three of them makes that really poor. Online, assuming you have friends with the, can be tons of fun and might make it worth your time. 7/10
GRADE: 66%
