Aliens Versus Predator 2

"The best FPS I've played"

Back when I upgraded from my poor old Pentium 90 to my spanking new Pentium 3 650 one of the three main games I wanted to be able to play was Alien Vs Predator. As a big fan of Sci-Fi, and more specifically the Aliens and Predator movies, the idea of being able to stalk through corridors while cloaked appealed to me greatly.

As it happened AvP was one of the best gaming experiences I had with my new PC, turning off the lights at midnight for a bit of AvP was a fave activity of mine, especially since AvP had such great atmosphere it was genuinely scary. The anticipation of turning the corner and seeing whats there mixed with the horror of actually seeing it was great, and to this day AvP still scares the living hell out of me when an Alien unexpectedly jumps around the corner.

AvP 2 gives more of what AvP delivered, but upgraded and far better. Let's go in depth...

GRAPHICS:
The graphics, simply put, are amazing. Some of the best I have seen from the PC yet, unfortunately my ''brand spanking new'' 650 can't keep pace, so if I want a decent framerate it's the medium setting. However, even the medium setting compares with some of the best looking PC games. Everything has a high poly count, and the textures are crisp and detailed. Just looking at the marines eyes in the race selection screen shows this, they actually look real.
All this comes at a price though, as as I mentioned before, the requirements are quite high. You'll need a 450 just to play it, and forget about max settings with anything less than an 800 and a GeForce 2. If you've got a good rig though, you're in for some of the sweetest eye candy the PC can offer.

10/10

SOUND:
The sound in AvP was pretty good. The music came on a seperate CD that you put in the CD drive if you wanted the music, although it could be played without it. The music has a major impact on the atmosphere of the game, you'll find the experience far more fulfilling with the CD music rather than barneys ''I love you and you love me song''. AvP 2 has great atmospheric music as before, and yay, no more seperate music CD. Not that I hated it, just that for some odd reason my Sound effects were non-existant for some odd reason with the original. I'm glad to say no such thing has been encountered with AvP 2.

9/10

GAMEPLAY
Gameplay is what it's all about, you can have the scariest game in the world, but it's worth nothing if it's not fun to play. AvP 2 is VERY fun to play. It has a good storyline that will keep you interested if nothing else. The main draw to AvP and AVP 2 is that you have 3 seperate characters to choose from, and you can pick them and have a very diffrent gaming experience. Just like StarCraft. This time Sierra have even included sub classes to be. The pred is no longer consigned to being slow and strong, if you want pred weapons, but speed at the cost of strength, pick the scout pred. Same thing for the marines. The alien lifecycle has also been included, which many, including myself have cheered for. Now when you die as an alien, you start back as a facehugger, then you must find a victim, impregnate them and burst out to begin your acent to the top again. A very cool concept and one that is bound to make a few more people like the Alien. Very little has changed with the marine, but one could say this is because the marine needed very little changes.

AvP 2 is a solid gaming experience, and one that any FPS, or Sci Fi fan would be foolish to miss.

10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/01, Updated 11/25/01