Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

The idea of being able to play as an Alien, Predator or a Colonial Marine should seem like dream come true to any fan of these three, and AvP will provide for those fans, and they will no doubt love it as it's probably the best film in the series in a good time, but it has noticeable issues that could be hard to overlook.

Having three campaigns, a survival mode and a strong multiplayer complete with a variety of modes, AvP offers a lot to get your teeth into. The three campaigns are one for each character, and it's evident which one got the most polish; Colonial Marine. The marine campaigns has rather good level design for the most part (Agreeing with Kevin Vanord of Gamespot how the first 2 levels are excellent), however the level design begins to slip nearing the end. But it remains very faithful with the films, complete with the same atmosphere (Fantastic for most of the campaign) Gun sounds (Possibly one of my favourite parts) and art style. This is true with the Predator and Alien campaigns but they feel less polished than the Marine, and the levels feel more restricted and controls for them both feel awkward. Often in the levels you find that certain ways are closer off and that the developers want you to go on a linear path, when Predator and Alien feel like they are begging for alternative routes.

Graphically, AvP is very nice indoors, lighting sets the tone nearly perfectly and looks scary and exactly like the films, colours and presentation on the indoor levels are spot on, especially the Disco Club Level. However when it get to the Jungle levels, the engine looks like it's starting to creak and it gets a bit ugly. and all the fear that you had and all the tension when fighting Xeno's (or being a Xeno) is lost and it begins to feel like a generic FPS killing Aliens. Something that did leave somewhat a sour taste was how short these were and how the levels feel a little bit copy and paste from one another, each campaign can feel a little samey and lack it's own areas, each one really needs to have it's own story-line and own areas for the campaigns to feel distinct.

Online is a blast however, depending on what you play as (Alien, predator or Marine) the online experience will be different, Playing as Marine will most likely make you terrified of every shadow as Aliens and Predator become closer and take swipes against you, as an Alien, you'll be stalking the Humans most likely and fending against Predator, whilst as Predator you'll be hunting both, but more vulnerable to Marine and Alien so you must use the Tech to your advantage. It's jolly good fun and it will no doubt excite and make you want to play more. Survival mode is your usually 'Horde' mode, but in a very small arena you have to fight tooth and nail against increasing numbers of Aliens, it's fast and it's furious gameplay that suits it well, however it's only 2 maps and should have way more.
For the Fans, and Fps fans in general, this is for you, it's not perfect, but it has a lot of heart and charm that you will still enjoy it immensely, and that's what Rebellion do best.
Pros:
-True to the source material
-Excellent Audio
-Generally a lot of fun
-Many levels have great atmosphere
-Multiplayer is an interesting concoction of ideas.

Cons:
-Lacking Polish
-Story is ho-hum
-Some parts of the game look worse than others
-Awkward Controls
-Needs more maps
-Questionable level design in areas