Who ever wins.... we loose...
Or you wish it never had been made. Because it forever left a bad stain on both franchises. And it makes you wish that you could just strap a load of bombs on yourself and blow 20th Centrury Fox skyhigh, for making the movie. Myself however like many actully get a kick from watching the film & enjoy watching it. Even though true be told it's kinda medicore at best. However the game is actully not bad, and it does indeed do both the movie franchises justice. Just. so long as you don't go comparing it to any of the other big named first person shooters available on the market.
The game isn't great by all means. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad neather. While the game has it's flaws. Aliens vs Predator is still one game you shoul check out. So lets start with the things that are good. And that is that the Multiplayer is actully pretty funy at times..
So while they isn't any classed based multiplayer to be found in Aliens versus Predator.The three unique playstyles available do give you a very fun and different experience depending who your playing as. For instance the Marine side of the game pretty much plays like your typical first person shooter. Where you're going around shooting hordes of aliens with your pulse rifle. And your main goal is to suvive. The predator aspect of the game focuses more on stealth and planning. Although you are technically alot stronger than the marine you still can only take a few hit before dieing.
But the predator is backed by a powerful assorment of weapons like the plasma caster and smartdisk. That when used correctly can offer some very cool and fatal one hit kills while at the same time being at a safe range. The Alien is the only Race in the game that can't use Conventional weapons. And insted you are the weapon. You have your basic melee attack which are your claws. And a more powerful but slower tail attack. Knowing when to use which one to use at the right time gives the games melee system, a kind of rock, paper and sisors style of gameplay. And it keeps the melee fight's fun and intense from start to finish.
The Alien is far the most hardest of the three species in the game. Because not only are you limited to being in melee range in order to inflict damage. You also have to contend with wall waking. And while for the most part it works without being too glitchy. You will quite often find yourself getting stuck on some create or box or even in gaps in the walls. Or even at times spinning around while being on a on a pipe whileyou are trying to find the right location to jump to. It's mostly because as the alien you spend most of your time upside down or on a wall in the darkness. Making for alot of confusing moments that can quite often get you killed if your not careful. Being upside down is defently somthing you need to learn how to use right when being online. But thankfully if you learn how to effectively stay upside down or on a wall. You will do fairly well online or offline in the game for the most part.
Disappointingly though In the multi[player theres only about 6 maps to choose from. And in todays market of multiplayer games, that number is quite small. And annoyingly for some reason four of the maps are daylight jungle themed. Making them favour the predator style of play more, than it does the others, and at the same time making the alien playstyle harder. Because the Alien mostly reqires small darklight tunnels in order to be truly effectuve. So because of that it kinda makes playing the alien alot less less fun & harder at times than it should be. Note that this shouldn't be a issue however when downloadable content arives in the next few months.
The game still reqires some degree of skill order to win because of the three very different playstyles. But theres a few balance issues preventing this from being 100% true. Namly the predator disk is easly one of the cheapest weapons you will find players using. Not only does it offer a one hit kill, but it also doesn't use energy like the plasma caster does. And it can be thrown out at any range very fast. And supports the same range as the plasmacaster. This makes playing the Alien again even harder because the disk. Aliens thankfully can take out marines fairly quickly if you stay to the walls and ceiling and use your tail. I found this to be the most effective way of taking down players. Because the tail can't be blocked and it gives a quick two hit kill. So in that respect the game is balanaced in some ways.
On the flipside however i found the marine to be the far the most balanced out of the three species, I found myself using the pulse rifle alot. Mostly because it's niceclip size, reasonble damage, and a very effective long range. However the muzzle flash can be abit too much at times. And will often block your vision on your target. The other weapons for the marine incude the Powerful auto-target tracking smartgun. the Scoped Rifle sniper rifle. And the shotgun which can provide a deadly and fatal one hit kill when used on targets at pointblank range.
Knowing when to use each weapon can mean life or death. The only Marine weaponn that needs to be fixedis the Flamethrower, the damage the weapon does flatout sucks and you struggle to get even one kill with it. The fire from the weapon is delayed badly online due to the latency between you and the server. And unless you whana be a freekill i wouldn't use this gun. The predator has the same amount of weapons.
The Multiplayer modes include your normal Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Mixed species Team deathmatch. Suvival co-op which can be played offline and online with up to four others. Predator hunt where one predator must score points by killing the other marine players. infestation where you a random person gets selected as an alien and if you manage to kill a marine they become an alien. And a control point gamemode where each team has to capture these control points.
Infestation and Team Deathmatch is where most of the fun is to be had. And thankfully the maps are well balanced for each gamemode. Graphicly the Game is good. But its not the best looking game ever made. However if you have the hardware to support it. The game can run in DirectX11. Weapon models are detailed and the sound aspect of the game is well done also. Although the Smartgun is missiing it's original Sound from the movies it's based on.
Sadly the game has its flaws. Several times has the game crashed on me. And ive found several bugs that has forced me to restart the level. One instance this alien got stuck behind a wall and prevented me from moving on. On another case my character fell through the level and made me fall for about two minutes into nothing, before killing my character. And in one case the saved Checkpoint i spawned at, was actully killing me because of this sentry gun at front of me. What would shoot me everytime i would spawn. Forcing me to restart the level. Theres several other issues and bugs too. However the engine runs fairly smooth and dispite a few engine issue's i experienced the game runs fairly smooth on all hardware.
However the best thing about the game are the trophy kills. Because they are so bloody and satisfying to pull off off. The kills depend on who you are killing and what you are playing. Some of the best ones include ripping someones spine from there body. To when playing as an alien, ripping someone's head off by jamming your hand into his head and pulling his head off from his body via his eyes (kinda like a bowling bowl)
Sadly The game feels like a stepback than it does a step forward. Amd it does have some major multiplayer issues. The lack of Host mirgration , kills all the fun that can be had in a match. Dedicated server support is unstable and can be troublesome to get working at times. Since the newest patch. The game is lacking alot of series staple weapons like the duel pistols and the Minigun. Both which where in the original 1999 AVP game. not having them in the newest game 10 years later is sheer lazyness on Rebellion's side. The lack of a playible runner Alien and Predalien for instance is bafling also. Since both those alien variants where in the 2001 sequel to the original game as a playible class.
And the lack of the Alien life cycle for multiplayer and a few missing game modes. Dampen the experience. Making the game feel like another step back than it does forward for the franchise. But dispite these major and minor flaws. AVP Succeeds in what it was trying to do or be. And that is bring a classic franchise to the next gen consoles. So if you can put up with the games flaws & shortcommings. Then theres much fun to be had in this flawed but fun first person shooter.