Dissapointment thy name is AVP.
The marine earns the first half a point in this review with that blessed sound of the pulse rifle, thank the lord of gaming that they didn't stuff that up! However making you wait to get it was just wrong, you start off with a pistol of sorts and the first question you ask is wheres my bloody pulse rifle? Your sometimes joined in combat by another marine but wheres my bloody squad? I was allmost holding my breath waiting for the rest of the gang to show up to kick some xenomorph ass, or whatever they have, but alas no. Instead your treated to an annoying voice companion who prompts you to do this, do that, and walks you through each level like you are blind. This voice in your head even tries to give you the hurry up when your not going in the right direction even though you should be looking for audio-files, it like the designers just liked the sound of her voice! The torch is weak and shows up flaws when you approach objects too closely and the light dissapears, broken at best. The gunfights are satisfying and the spray of alien acid that adorns the walls and floors in a sizzling mess brings back good memories for a little while at least, however its let down by poor level design and similar bland enviroments. A good melee system teaches you to bash aliens first then shoot for an easy finish, it works allmost too good.
Playing as the xenomorph highlights the games poor design and controls, its a chore to try and climb a wall sometimes when other times you scuttle about like a crab on a log. The camera is not your friend as it bobs up and down as you crawl over even the smallest obsticle and getting confused and dissorientated will have you tearing out your hair in frustration. Earning a half a point for hiding in a vent and pressing Y to hiss at unsuspecting marines is fun in an otherwise short and dissapointing alien campaign.
Taking control of the predator starts off with a small intro on targeting and melee abilties that will have you blasting alien targets with ease. Then the game tells you that your plasma casters only have unlimited use in the training area, when you leave your restricted to 2-3 shots at best and then your energy runs out...??? Your cloak works sometimes when no-one is looking at you otherwise its hopeless and your better off running around slashing and hacking at everything that moves. Leaping from tree to tree is fun at first untill you try to jump half a foot up somewhere and because theres no little red icon you cant, hardly feels like a fleet footed predator should.
The multiplayer is where the next half a point gets earned and thats it. It is far more fun running around in the various multi-player game types than anything the campaign can muster. The tense dark levels are fun to play and will have you throwing flares down dark alleys and watching your movement tracker intently or climbing down vents hissing at marines or standing cloaked watching the battles take place. If you dont have live or access to online gaming forget it.
I was really looking forward to this game but unfortunately it has left me with a foul taste, something isn't cooked right. The game re-uses the same levels over and over for all three campaigns, none of which are truly inspiring locations. Each level is linear with little room for exploration or oportunity to play the game other than how the designer intended. I think this game could have been played from a third person perspective with much better results, it would have made the alien easier to control within the enviroment instead of mashing that damn green button and yelling "get in that hole you @#$#%" The predator could have skipped through the trees shooting plasma bolts at everything that moves instead of grunting up a tree and looking for the next obvious ledge to place the red "jump here" icon. The marine could have benefited from a cover system and a decent torch. I wanted this game to be great, I wanted to join Hicks and Hudson for a bug hunt, I wanted to crawl through air shafts and drag unsuspecting marines to their doom, I wanted to feel the power of invisability combined with a shoulder mounted instrument of death and destruction. Instead I got a run of the mill game with obvious shortcomings that in the end failed to capture the spirit of either movie and failed to capture my imagination in what should have had me checking the dark corners of the room before I went to bed. Dissapointed in every way, oh except for the pulse rifle....their inside the room....buddabuddabudda...weeee