Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Guilty pleasure"

The first Aliens versus Predator PC game, which was developed by Rebellion Developments in 1999, was one of the best licensed games of its era. Packing three tense campaigns into a single package (one for each of the titular extraterrestrials and one for a colonial marine), the FPS did a great job immersing you into its terrifying universe. Two years later, Monolith Productions improved on Rebellion's work with Aliens versus Predator 2, adding a stronger storyline, a more complete alien campaign, better graphics and (most importantly) the ability to save mid-mission. Since then, however, the Alien vs. Predator license seems to have become stuck in a rut, suffering from a lousy expansion pack (Primal Hunt, courtesy of Third Law Interactive) a mediocre console RTS (Extinction, from Zono Incorporated) and two theatrical films that could hardly be described as fan-favorites. Last year, Sega and Rebellion teamed up to breathe new life into the series with Aliens vs. Predator. While Rebellion's second PC entry to the series (and their fourth on all platforms) doesn't live up to either of the 1999 or 2001 AvP incarnations, it still provides enough gory fun to entertain fans of the franchise.

Set on the distant planet of BG-386, Aliens vs. Predator follows a rookie marine, a Predator youngblood and a gifted Xenomorph (known as Specimen 6) during the fallout of a disastrous research project run by the Weyland-Yutani corporation. The story is as good as it needs to be, with the three threads occasionally crossing over in rewarding ways, though it's certainly not as intricate as in Monolith's game. Only the marine plot has any real emotional punch, largely because it's the only one with any supporting characters.

The longest, most conventional and best campaign is the marine one, which has our hero gunning down Xenomorphs, androids and a single Predator in his quest to escape the planet. Though the lack of a crouch function is strange, character movement feels solid and weapons pack a good punch. The first level does a great job building tension while the rookie examines an abandoned colony, to the point that it's almost disappointing when the Xenomorphs show up in force. The first few missions are horror-focused, climaxing with a surprisingly early (and very intense) battle with the Xenomorph queen. Slowly advancing through dark rooms with a flashlight while that famous beeping motion tracker informs you of enemies just outside your field of view may not be an original experience, but it's still a fun (and occasionally terrifying) one. The rest of the campaign mixes moments of horror with more all-out action, especially once Weyland's heavily-armed androids show up. The final boss fight ends up being insanely short (as in five seconds), followed by a decent cliffhanger that that sets up a potentially much more action-packed sequel. Counting the time spent searching for the Doom 3-style audio logs that are placed around each level, the marine campaign took me almost four satisfying hours to complete, which is a good length for a three-in-one game like this (each campaign in the previous PC game was about that length as well).

The Predator campaign abandons the guns in favor of stealth and some brutal melee attacks (including ripping peoples' spines out). The Predator actually has an unlimited cloaking ability which only breaks during certain attacks and when he comes in contact with water, giving him a tremendous tactical advantage over the marines and androids he hunts. He's also much stronger against Xenomorphs (easily blocking their attacks), has multiple vision modes to pick out enemies, can lure humans to a place of his choosing and (by the final two levels) possesses a one-hit-kills spear. The Predator is by far the most powerful character in the game, making his sections enjoyable in a mindless manner, but far from frightening. Without the terror of the marine campaign or the more unique mechanics of the Xenomorph missions, the Predator campaign ended up being the least interesting of the three for me. The Predator's long-range jumping ability can also be problematic - it's fun to pull off when it works, but the game isn't consistent about where you can use it, leading to some annoying moments where you think you should be able to leap and can't. Though it's shorter than the marine campaign (ending in about two hours), the Predator campaign does have the best final boss fight, with an enjoyable battle against one of those ridiculous Predaliens.

The most unique campaign in the game, as with every other title in this series, is the Xenomorph one. Unfortunately, you won't get to play as a face-hugger and burst out of someone's chest from a first-person perspective (as happened in 2), but you will get to run on walls and ceilings and restrain victims as a face-hugger impregnates them. The Xenomorph has the largest learning curve of the bunch, partially due to the distinctive attacks and partially due to the somewhat sloppy controls, which can have you unintentionally walking on walls and accidentally running right past you victims. For all the rough edges, though, it can be a lot of fun pulling off bloody kills as a Xenomorph, with the creature's relatively limited health forcing you to get creative from a stealth perspective (unlike with the Predator). The biggest issue with the Xenomorph section of the game is that it's over too quickly - I completed it in just over two hours, bringing the total length of the game's three campaigns to around eight hours. While the more tactical gameplay here makes this the game's most replayable segment, I would have gladly sacrificed the entire Predator campaign for some extra time as a Xenomorph.

On a decent PC with DirectX 11 effects enabled, Aliens vs. Predator looks very nice. While there's an occasional muddy texture and watching dead Xenomorphs sink into the ground can be immersion-harming, the effective lighting in Aliens vs. Predator more than makes up for the game's other visual issues, especially in the atmospheric marine campaign. The gore also looks detailed (if a bit ridiculous) and there were a couple neat moments where I stood looking at a wall for several seconds, only to realize there was an alien hiding in plain sight right in front of me, camouflaged by carefully chosen wall textures. Music and sound effects are good (with the latter being ripped straight from the movies), though some of the voice acting can be middling. Fortunately, Lance Henriksen is on hand to play the villainous Weyland in all three campaigns, and his strong performance adds a good deal of authenticity to the proceedings.

Aliens vs. Predator is entertaining trash. It's cliché, somewhat unpolished and laughably gory, but in spite of that the game is still quite fun. It's likely that no one will be talking about this entry in the series in ten years (unlike the older games), but at least Rebellion has gotten Aliens vs. Predator out of its death spiral. With any luck, Gearbox's upcoming Aliens: Colonial Marines might be able to propel at least one of this game's alien stars back to the gaming throne they once inhabited.

+ The marine campaign is creepy and engaging
+ Nice visuals, especially from a lighting perspective
+ Alien stealth kills can be very fun
+ Lance Henriksen
- Predator campaign is comparatively bland
- Control oddities with both the aliens
- Some sub-par voice acting
- Xenomorph campaign is far too short

Reviewed on 6/29/2011