A step backwards for the franchise, but undeserving of the harsh criticisms it receives.
In 2001, Monolith released Aliens versus Predator 2 and solidified the experience with more grounded control schemes, new (and useful) abilities, and an intricate storyline. To this day it remains one of the most fun and unique FPS experiences players can get their hands on.
Rebellion returns with the third incarnation of this franchise shooter. Since AVP2 was released 9 years ago, the crew at Rebellion didn't bother naming this one AVP3. Instead, they changed the spelling of versus to vs. Ironically, the game feels like a huge step backwards from AVP2 and undeserving of the evolutionary implication "3" would have given it anyway.
First, you start with the Marine campaign. Rebellion did a fantastic job of making the world atmospheric. The lightning effects in AvP are shamefully overlooked, as they're some of the most convincing seen in some time. The graphics aren't bad nor great but certain things, such as the Aliens, are nice to look at and have plenty of detail. The Marine campaign is pretty much exactly what you'd expect. You play as a nameless Rookie, and whenever you have the chance for teamwork the allies you're going to meet up with conveniently get slaughtered and you have to do it all on your own. You get the iconic weaponry from the Aliens franchise such as the Pulse Rifle, Smart Gun, and Flamethrower. For the most part, the weapons are fun to use and since the sound effects are taken straight from the films it really is a cool addition for the fans.
The storyline is pretty shallow, you get bossed around and move from area to area with little revelations or intricacies. But you get to shoot Aliens the entire way which is always fun. Unfortunately, Rebellion decided to make the game heavy on melee combat. Obviously, the Alien has to be and the Predator needs to use his wrist blades, but the Marine was usually overpowered by these characters so a shotgun blast to the head was their effective means of defense. But instead, Rebellion allows the player to not only hit with his gun (usually knocking an intimidating, supposed-to-be-overwhelmingly-strong Alien on the ground like a limp mannequin) but also block incoming attacks. So when a big, scary Alien just used his razor sharp claws to shred his way through a giant steel door but has trouble getting past a Marine's fleshy forearm it leads into the "what were they thinking" territory.
And it works both ways. When playing as the Alien you'll sometimes run into that tenacious Marine in the blocking stance and for whatever reason you just can't hit anything but his gun. You can use a "power attack", but it either takes time to charge up or is an instant lash out. Unfortunately, you have no control over which it will be, so if you use the power attack and the Alien begins to charge his tail, the Marine will just shoot you instead of waiting. Even with that in mind, the Alien is still a blast to play. Hiding in the shadows, breaking the lights, stealth killing the enemies and crawling through vents does a pretty great job of making you feel like the Alien. It's a shame that Rebellion got rid of some of the gameplay mechanics AVP2 introduced though, as the Alien can no longer pounce or attack nearly as quickly as it once was capable of. These things added to the speed and ferocity of the creature and is sorely missed in this outing. Another thing I'm greatly disappointed by is that you play as the Alien immediately. In AVP2, you got to play as the Facehugger, then a Chestburster, and finally the Alien. Experiencing the life cycle first hand was interesting and done extremely well and is probably the most disappointing absence from the game.
Finally, we have the Predator, which is one thing Rebellion got right. Playing as the Predator has a learning curve and a lot of people negate it for that, but once you get it down it feels very foreign and different, just like the Predator should. Your wristblades are constantly out, and you choose a ranged weaponry from a wheel list. The Predator doesn't have to hold it's weapons in order to use them and the way Rebellion implemented this idea is unique and surprisingly fresh. You might be in mid-melee combat with an Alien, and then press R2 quickly to shoot off a plasma bolt to hit it down. Or you might be overwhelmed, so you throw the disc, guide it with the laser sight, and continue stabbing/blocking the enemies that get closer. The Predator also has the ability to jump great distances. At first, it seems tedious, but once you get used to it the jumping becomes almost as tactical as the shooter/close quarter mix up. You hold L2, which generates a red marker to indicate where the Predator will jump. It makes for precise jumping, and you might have a marker set long before you jump there. One might see two Marines, lure the one out with the distraction tool, and then hurriedly jump behind the other to assassinate him and then quickly jump back into the trees. The Predator has a steep learning curve, and people often hate it for that. But once you get used to the controls, it does a great job of making you feel as intimidating and as powerful as the Predator should.
AvP comes with a multiplayer function, as does every FPS out there these days, and it has some problems. Both the Predator and Alien are capable of grabbing an enemy for a quick kill if they approach from the behind. While these kills are insanely cool looking, they leave you completely vulnerable as well. If you play a free for all it isn't uncommon to see a "conga line of death" thing happen, in which there are lines of these assassinations happening. There are some pretty cool game modes, such as one that pits a single Alien against a group of Marines. But each time the Alien kills, that Marine player becomes an Alien. These type of matches are often fun, but with some of the disappointing map layouts and designs it can wear thin quickly.
The game has it's problems. The single player campaign is short, and each species will visit the exact same maps. Certain gameplay functions that made AVP2 amazing are simply abandoned, and the enemy AI ranges from very good to very terrible. Still, the Marine campaign is atmospheric, the Alien campaign feels unique to the onslaught of FPS games out there, and the Predator campaign is all around great.
While AvP could have used some tweaking and some improvements, it isn't this terrible game so many people make it out to be. If you're a fan of the Alien or Predator franchises it's definitely worth checking out. Hopefully Rebellion can fix the problems it has and make it an amazing experience, much like AVP2 was to the first anyway. Perhaps history will repeat itself and AvP2 will be great.