Courtesy of Sega of America
“Aliens vs Predator”
Sega of America / Rebellion
Xbox 360 / Playstation 3
2 and 1/2 stars out of 5
Simply put, “Aliens vs Predator” is not a very good game. Developer Rebellion, best known recently for “The Simpsons Game, ” and “Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron,” has delivered a game that would have been great by the standards of five years ago, but that today just feels clunky and outdated.
What makes this outcome so surprising is the fact Rebellion was responsible for the first really great “Aliens vs Predator” game back in 1999. That game was beloved by fans and critics alike, and it established the basic framework upon which this new game is built.
The game consists of both campaign and multiplayer modes, each of which lets the player choose to play as an Alien, a Predator or a Colonial Marine. Each race plays in a unique way, offering the player a variety that is not found in most first-person action games. What’s more, the single-player campaign mode is broken down into three separate campaigns, one for each playable race.
Although you can play the campaigns in any order, the menu lists them in the order of Marine, Alien and then Predator, and as you play the game, it becomes obvious that there’s a good reason for this. The Colonial Marine’s story offers the most introduction to the world of AvP, and it brings the Aliens into the story about 15 minutes in. You will spend almost all of this campaign fighting said Aliens — in fact, there is only one Predator present here, at the very end.
The Marine campaign plays like a typical first-person shooter, but with a few additions. First of all, there are the melee combat options. Both of the other classes, but Aliens especially, attack using only melee (close-up) attacks, which Marines can block and counter using the shoulder buttons. This is important in leveling the playing field a bit, but getting the timing down is tricky and blocking doesn’t feel as satisfying as it should.
Another obstacle the player faces is the perpetual darkness of the game environments. You can barely see anything more than a few inches ahead at any time, which helps the developers by making draw distance a non-issue, but is a real limitation in a gameplay sense. It’s obvious that Rebellion intended to make everything dark and creepy, but the dinky flashlight you are given only lights up a penny-size spot ahead of the player. It makes the player feel lost and disoriented at all times, but not in an exciting, pulse-pounding kind of way.
There is also a flare to throw down that lights up the general area around you for a few seconds, but it is far too short-lived and you can only throw down one at a time. If you wanted to use the flares to effectively light up an area, you’d be popping flares every five seconds and wouldn’t have time to get a shot off. It may seem nitpicky, but this flare issue is just a microcosm of an overall flawed experience.
The other two campaigns have issues as well. The Aliens campaign is incredibly short, clocking in at about two hours total. Their main attack strategy is to run along walls and jump down on unsuspecting Marines with vicious melee attacks. When it all works, excitement can ensue, but between really lame enemy AI and disorienting camera movement when scaling walls and ceilings, frustration is a more common occurrence.
The Predator campaign, which picks the story up right at the end of the Aliens play-through, is all about stealth action, and it works moderately well. Late in the campaign, when your arsenal is complete, playing as a Predator can be tactical and fun, as you snipe and sneak your way to brutal victory. Again though, weak AI routines and a lack of close-up attack options make this campaign merely the best of a mediocre bunch.
The whole experience is dragged down by low-quality production values and unfortunate design decisions. In today’s top-tier shooters, there is a level of immersion that is achieved through the use of great voice acting, tight shooting mechanics and a tightly-wound plot that makes you actually care about the characters involved.
For example, the Marine doesn’t have a name – he is simply referred to as “Rookie.” Throughout the whole experience, NPC’s are calling out “Rookie! Get over here!” or “Rookie, what are you waiting for?” In “Halo 3: ODST,” Bungie was able to pull off the whole “We’ll call him ‘Rookie’ so the player can fill out the character with his own imagination” thing by providing a compelling world full of complex characters to surround the player. AvP’s world is not even close to interesting enough to pull of a similar feat.
There is one slightly bright spot in the darkness, however, and that is the multiplayer. If you are going to buy this game, it should be to play online and for no other reason. The three classes were designed to interact in a rock-paper-scissors kind of way, with each class possessing certain abilities that are effective against one class and weak against another. The Predator is a little underpowered overall, but the balance is pretty good otherwise.
If you love these characters, this could be a fun online experience. For the right person, who is head-over-heels about the AvP game world and associated fiction, killing a Predator as an Alien might be the sweetest satisfaction imaginable. It’s just too bad that, from the graphics to the gameplay, this game feels like it should have come out years ago. Compared to games like “Doom 3” and the first “Killzone,” AvP would seem quite impressive.
Unfortunately, this is 2010 and the bar is very high. “Bioshock” and “Fear” have set a high bar for atmospheric single-player FPS action, and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” and “Halo 3” absolutely crush this game from a multiplayer perspective.
The worst part is that this game should have been absolutely awesome. Three campaigns, a variety of multiplayer modes, a deep fictional well to draw story ideas from and a pre-established, rabid fan-base are all ingredients that should have cooked up into a better stew. As it stands, this new “Aliens vs Predator” will likely leave series fans bewildered, wondering how a game concept with such promise could yield such middling results.