Aliens Versus Predator 2

"A vast improvement over the original AvP....but somethings missing...."

I was in the stores waiting and ready the very day that the original remake to Aliens versus Predator hit the PC game shelves. I went through hell and High heaven and pushed my system to its limits just so that I would be able to play the thing!! Turns out my entire Pc had to be replaced not long after that due to technical problems…..but that couldn’t have happened at a better time, nearly 2 weeks from the release of the game across the country! When I finally got to play AvP in all its acid blood soaked glory, the hair on the back of my neck was standing straight up it was so good! The game had its problems but the overall experience of the original was amazing, not to mention terrifying! Its one of the few games that I’ve played in my life time that actually scared me, and its more Sci-fi than horror! So as you can imagine when Sierra announced that they were teaming up with Monolith “the creators of another of my favorite games Blood 2” and Fox interactive to release the second PC incarnation of Aliens versus Predator, I was on pins and needles the entire time I waited for its release. As with the first I was waiting in line to get my copy and test drive as I knew that it was going to be so much better than the first…..and it was! But something seemed missing from the second release, something I couldn’t really but my finger on until I played through both of the series again a few weeks ago. I’ll explain as I get on with my review.

Graphics: 9 The major vast improvement of the game is the graphical detail, all the models have a high number of polygons and rich beautiful textures that still push some of the more state of the art machines to the limits. Seeing as one of my only real problems with the graphics of the first AvP were the low amount of polygons, this was a pleasant sight when I first played the game. The characters eyes actually move! The detail was jaw dropping at first sight. I remember one part that freaked me out “about the only moment of the game that really did”, I was playing as the Marine in the level where I was captured by the Cooperates. I walked into the room where Predator that you play as was locked into this container, and his eyes watched every single move I made….it was pretty creepy. The levels have been VASTLY improved over the original. All or beautiful to explore and 100% accurate to the films of both Predator and Alien. We actually get just a little taste of the Predators home turf, an extraterrestrial jungle of sorts with huge trees that the Predator can hide in while stalking human prey. The dismemberment is still they’re though not nearly as effectively or as detailed as the first, as in the original could rip off fingers and toes dude! But gore itself has gotten a bit more detailed, example as with and Alien bite off someone’s head and you’ll find pieces of skull and a lower jaw laying on the ground near the body…damn that had to hurt. New weapons also look better than ever and all of the vision modes have been touched up a bit and look a lot more realistic ”Predators inferred vision is perfect now” . All manner of explosions and so fourth look so much better than the first, and still manage to hold some eye candy that you won’t find in any other game let alone the original. Graphical the game is much more Impressive.

Sound: 9 Just like the original, the sound is one of the high points of the game, almost every sound from gun fire to the Alien and Predators signature roars and hisses are ripped straight from the movies. Screams are nicely done nicely as are the sounds or ripped flesh that you never get tired of hearing. Seeing as this game has a more compelling story line there’s quite a bit of dialogue in the game, and surprising almost all of the voice acting is top notch and makes all the characters seem alive! Although at some point they all seem to start sounding the same. The music is pretty good but it almost sounds a bit up beat for a game that’s suppose to basically freak you out…even if you are playing as one of the would be monsters. The first never had the real option of turning off the music by packing in a second disc that contained the audio tracks, but the game was much creepier without the music. However a nice bit about the music is it changes pace when you are attacked.

Control: 10 Its your standard Quake, Half - Life, AvP 1 3D shooter hum drum. Getting slightly tiresome as the same control scheme seems to be recycled for every single 3D shooter on the market, but the most effective none the less. I would have giving the controls a 9 seeing as its still a bit troublesome to get used to using the various vision mode buttons, but since I hardly used them and plus I’m a fan of the original it toke me no time to pick right up on them. Controls are solid to say the least.

Story: 10 Now this is the part of the second game that made me most happy, the story is vastly improved over the last installments. The story of the original was pretty much the same as this ones, only a lot less in depth and you never felt or seen the progression. You had an opening and closing FMV for each of the three species and small videos of USCM crew telling you want to do and what’s going on during the levels. The story is generic in AvP 2, The Cooperates want to use Aliens as weapons, and are using the Marines as cannon fodder for testing and setting traps for the Xenomorphs. The Predator as before is trying to save his fellow hunters that have be captured by the General Rykov “who hates them having had a run in with they’re kind in his youth as a grunt”, but his quest to save his clansmen turns into a bitter quest of revenge long over due. The Alien is the simplest , Ingest, burst, get back to the Hive and save the Queen.
As I said its generic but its executed very well, and plus its a lot more in depth than that but I don’t want to give away much of the plot.

Game play: 7 This is were AvP 2 falls short when compared to the first game, as the overall game seems to be nothing more than a recycled slightly hyped generic first person shooter. While the ability to play as all three killers is still present something seems to be missing from the game that the first pulled off very well. All of the attributes are still the same, the Marines are weak but have tons of fire power, and the Aliens are the fastest and are very strong. The Predator is still the man “or thing for that matter” that you fear, as he’s still the tank of the entire game. He is the strongest, toughest, and second fastest of the three. Not to mention he still has a slew of nice long ranged weapons as well as the ability to lock on his prey with certain ones. New weaponry is also available for all of the species with the exception of the Marine, his weapons have simply been tweaked with different modes and ammo. The Predator however has three auditions to his arsenal. First off his trademark Combo-stick from the second Predator movie, which is very nice seeing as it not only allows to for instant kills if you manage to get a head shot, bit but it also takes enemy skulls. Remote bombs, that are very useful as they can be planted and used for proximity or to explode on impact. And the net gun that was introduced in Predator 2 as well. Which is virtually useless as instead of being a killing weapon as it was in the film, it simply traps enemies for only about 10 seconds letting you dice them at will. But seeing as your always surrounded by enemies for the most part you don’t have the time to go tie up your lose ends “no Pun intended”. One nice audition to the Marine story however is the ability to jump into an Exo-suit which makes the Marine super powerful and able to handle most problems single handedly. The Alien has only one new attack but its very useful, the pounce which sends you flying towards enemies with claws slashing. More than often this attack causes Marines to explode heh.
But the sheer terror of being stalked by Predators, Aliens or even Marines is gone! I never once was frightened while playing the game “well maybe once”. Another sad thing is you hardly ever really need to use the various vision modes now. The first game was an extremely dark and creepy one, forcing you to use various vision modes at certain points of the game because more than likely a few bad guys are hiding in those shadows. But for some reason that’s not the case here, rarely will you find it totally necessary to illuminate areas for safety. The only time I ever changed visions was to explore a bit more or get through what few pitch black areas I found. And also most enemies seem to be preset now, in the original Aliens or Marines could jump out of nowhere at any time, the idea of this kept you on the edge of your seat the entire time. Instead now just like ever other first person shooter. “Oh I just killed everything in the level so I’ll just run and hit that switch and be done with it.”. The Aliens still seem to be rather random with they’re appearances but that’s about it. Also the number of saves is infinite as you were limited to only a few in the original depending upon the difficulty you played. This was another feature of AvP 1 that kept you on your toes, knowing that you can’t just save your game at the end of every hall way and just load a save game if you manage to get yourself killed. You had to work to get somewhere in that game, thus the number of levels were small but they were also very difficult. Also cheats are available right away when you had to unlock them by achieving certain goals in the original. The fear is gone from the game, and it seems to have been turned into a standard first person shooter with a few gimmicks to make it seem different from the rest.
However that doesn’t really mean it’s a bad game by any means, the excellent story and improved graphics and slightly improve game play mechanics more than make up for these short comings giving you a fun game still worthy of the Aliens versus Predator license.

Replay: 9 Sadly the fact that there are no cheats to unlock or extras like the original, after playing through the single player mode with all the species there’s no need to go through them again. HOWEVER, the Multi player is the main draw for this game as it is the BEST I have seen for any game I’ve seen in some time. Not only are you given the ability to play as the Alien, Predator, or Marine for a full out race way, you also have the option of choosing between various versions of them with different preset starting weapons, and attributes. Example: You can play as a normal Predator which starts with a shoulder cannon and wrist blades and has access to all the other weapons, and is balanced all the way around. Then there’s the Heavy Predator that is much stronger and starts off with a disc, net gun, but is much slower. Then the light Predator….you get the idea. You can also play as every Alien in the game, the basic drone who has all the abilities and is balanced. Then the Walker who is much faster but slightly weaker. The Praetorian which is much stronger and just as fast as the Drone, but can’t wall crawl. Then the Predalien, that can walk crawl and is stronger than the other three but can’t head bite enemies for tons of health and its also the slowest. There’s even an option for some match that allow any Alien that gets a kill can molt into a Queen!!
Also the game comes with its own built in sever, so all you have to do is start a game and click on multiplayer to find a match you want to play. The multi player is enough reason alone to play the game.

The game is lacking some of the key elements that made the first AvP so enjoyable, and seems to have been turned into your standard first - person shooter. But its still fun and still a must for any fan of either Alien or Predator. Until Alien versus Predator hits theaters later this year, this game will due as the next best thing.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/16/04