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Aliens Versus Predator 2

Aliens Versus Predator 2

List Price: $19.99
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Things that go bump in the night...
Review: Ingredients:

Large spoonful of slimey teeth
Fresh smoke, steam and dripping water
Pinch of Doom 2
Garnish liberally with terror

As a big fan of the Alien films I've launched myself into a lot of the tie-in games that have been released over the years, including the genesis, super-nes, gameboy and playstation versions.
Most of them, including this latest incarnation follow the same basic plot: government agents with machinations of global domination stumble on alien beasty, and take it home for show and tell. Said alien escapes, and there follows much running and screaming in steam filled corridors. However, this game sets itself apart from its long lineage with a truly immersive survival-horror experience. Depending on how you look at it this game is best played on your own with the lights off and the sound up. For better or for worse this game scared my panties off.

You can play as three different species, each with its own weapons and characteristics and all with an intertwining plot. Choose the alien, and you'll be running up vertical surfaces and biting people in the face. With the predator you'll get to play with lots of shiny gadgets like heat-vision (yeah, like in the movies) and various stabby/choppy weapons for taking off heads (literally). And, as the poor weedy human marine, its back to 3d shooter basics with pistol, shotgun, fast-but-weak machine guns and lots of sweat.

Its the marine single player game that really shines, as you creep around lots of 'abandoned' military installations, movement tracker bleeping. If you've watched the movies you'll know its only ever a matter of time before something with big teeth and an attitude problem jumps out of the ceiling at you, and man, does this game deliver. Expect to jump frequently, firing blindly into the darkness at the very scarily accurate alien hordes. Sometimes there will be as many as six or seven of the critters bearing down on you, and the crisp graphics really excel in bringing the movies to life.

As far as the Alien and Predator games go the tension is somewhat diminished since, after all, you're the monster now. Its initially very amusing to watch the AI controlled civilians quake and scream at your approach, and there's lots to be said for the Alien's acrobatic talents...you can leap huge distances, and explore airducts and sewer systems with ease.

However, you'll probably find that sooner or later the Alien and Predator missions get fairly samey. Still, there's lots of great graphical effects on show, with great smoke and lighting throughout all the missions. Again, the sound is excellent, with distant screams and scuttling behind walls bringing everything to terrifying life.

The online multiplayer game is also very well balanced, and features a nice variety of playing levels and game modes, with more downloadable from the official site. In the long term this is where the game stands out, since beyond the marine missions the single player is really a one-off affair.

Overall this is a good solid game, with some stand out moments in the single player, and lasting appeal in the multiplayer. It is both violent and gory, so the sqeamish should probably shop elsewhere, and for obvious reasons if you didn't like the films this is probably a poor choice. But, for both film and horror shooter fans alike Alien vs Predator 2 is a game to sink all four sets of teeth into.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Oh that's just great, man!!
Review: In AvP2, you play your choice of Alien warrior, marine or Predator in a single plot that unifies all three. If you've read any of the "Dark Horse" Alien comics, the plot won't surprise you - a covert corporate (talk about redundancy) conspiracy on a remote and hostile looking planet is breeding "xenomorphs" (the aliens) for research purposes. The planet is also home to artifacts related to "Navigator" civilization (the long-dead alien creatures in whose derelict ship the alien eggs were discovered in the first and second movies) and apparently the hunting ground for Predators, the vicious race of aliens who live for the hunt. Something of course goes wrong, and contact between Earth and the planet is cut. A squad of undermanned and under armed colonial marines is dispatched to investigate. As the lowly Harrison, you are assigned to a squad, but keep getting cut off or otherwise sent alone (you wanna stick around and guard the dropship while I grab the glory? Be my guest!) as you land on LV-1201. Instead of something simple like a downed transmitter, you find the planet and its research center crawling with aliens and prowled by something else (the Predator kills people and blasts things near you early on the game, but doesn't really put in an appearance; those who've seen his movies will recognize the sounds he makes throughout the game). Surviving a few early missions in Alien-infested parts of the Weyland-Yutani research base, you link up with the researchers themselves - only to be betrayed by them. In the best part of the game, you are trapped, alone and almost entirely defenseless inside of the WY base. You wouldn't have a prayer, but you do get some surprising help. The lesson of the game is simple - you can only survive as long as you can turn your enemies against each other, or otherwise exploit his gaps of attention (guards will overlook your presence - once they are stuck in a room full of hopping facehuggers; even Predators will cut you some slack...as long as there are Alien warriors aplenty).

The game models the look and sound of "Aliens" very well, and fans of the colonial marines will rejoice at getting chance to play with their gear - you've got semi-automatic pistols (surprisingly useful), pulse rifles, smart guns and sniper-rifles; you've got flamethrowers, multi-purpose grenade launchers and exo-mechanical powerloader suits. (You've got everything that Bill Paxton had but the tactical nukes and "really big sticks"). If they tossed in James Horner's soundtrack, you'd swear you were in "Aliens". (Some parts of the WY base are actually great renderings of "Nostromo" from the first "Alien" movie.) This game is hard - Aliens are quick, they can run on walls and ceilings and typically attack in force. You've got a motion tracker, but it typically won't pick up movement until it's almost too late. Most of the time, you'll be "laying down a suppressing fire while egressing" - i.e. running backwards as possible only in FPS games while shooting madly at the mass of hostiles behind you. The Aliens don't have it any easier - they have no stand-off weapons and have to wait for some unlucky sod to enter their darkened lair unawares (though they can get health power-ups whenever they want simply by chewing up their victims). Ironically, your most relentless enemy isn't the Alien as much as LV-1201's ceaseless darkness. Your equipped with either a helmet-mounted flashlight or night-vision goggles that sap your batteries dry (you'll spend a lot of time just waiting for them to recharge).

That said, the game runs on a very tight storyline - it's the only way to keep the game from degenerating into a single, uninterrupted frag. When you can't be sure what specific goals are, the game tends to lag. Also, the stiff plot means that there's little point to really exploring AvP's rather well-rendered settings. (forget about those ventilation shafts - just jump out that window - you don't know what's out there, but that window is there for some reason). Also, because the game is difficult, you'll often have to replay the same stretch of a mission over and over. Also, too many problems involve simple things like walking on top of some boxes or jumping from an elevator that's being overrun by aliens. (while I probably wouldn't handle real aliens as well as the marines in this game, I'm pretty sure I could walk a ledge a lot better than my character does).

I played this game on my WinXP P4 2GHz (GeForce3) and it ran smooth with no sound or graphics issues. If you've conquered other FPS games and need a new challenge that doesn't involve multi-player death matches, this is your game.

First, a couple of caveats - I never played the 1st AvP, and only really played the Marine portion of this one. (I started and plan to get into the Aliens part but have no interest in Predator at all - I know I'm alone, but the Predator franchise wouldn't be able to hold a candle to any of the Aliens flicks if not for the vastly uninspired "Alien: Resurection" - and yes, I'm including "Alien3". The respective themes of Alien and Predator don't match and putting the two together only blunts the nuance that the first 2 Alien movies for commercial purposes. Also, monster team-ups have a proven trend of destroying great movie franchises - remember all of those "Frankenstein meets the Wolfman" movies? We know what happened next - they all met Abbot and Costello, and that was the end of it. What's next - "Aliens v. Predator v. Jim Carrey"? But I digress).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: *****A MUST FOR ALIENS/ PREDATOR FANS!!*****
Review: Where to start on this masterpiece..... hmm... well, considering I'm not even half way through the game I'm already very impressed, to say the least.

If you enjoyed the first two Aliens films as much as I did then you're going to LOVE this game. I won't credit the films which followed Aliens because they were utter garbage, but trust me you will not be let down in the same way once you install this wonderful piece of software.

FOX Interactive have really taken advantage of both franchises here. You'll notice how spot-on the details of this game are, from the sound effects of that crazy pulse rifle to the A.I. creature behaviour of those lightening-fast leaping devilish xenomorphs.
Theres enough suspense and horror to constantly keep you on edge throughout the levels I have played so far and I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of the game.

Although some of the graphics (i.e. the Marines) can not compete well against todays top of the range character models, its nothing you have to grit your teeth at.
If I had to fault the game on anything I would be a fussy b*gger and say the motion tracker pace is slightly slower then expected. It would also be nice to have your fellow marines stay with you on some levels, if not all.

You can probably tell I haven't played much of the Alien & Predator single player modes. I have however sampled them both though and the Alien levels look more playable. I'm sure the other reviews cover this in more detail.

And then theres Multiplayer which I can't wait to check out.

I've only read one review which totally slated this game, and I can only conclude that they are some kind of bitter, jealous Star-trek freak with a major grudge of some kind.

Stop Hesitating. Order this game NOW

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Classic FPS still shines
Review: First person shooter fans get a second dose of fun. Play as the chest-bursting aliens, the sci-fi-friendly Predator, or the poor marines stuck in the middle.

This classic came out in 2001, so by now it's rather cheap compared to current releases. The gameplay is still great fun, though. There are three different single-player campaigns, each with storylines that weave in and out of each other. You can face-hug as an alien, stealth-attack as a Predator, or fight off the enemy as a marine.

The graphics aren't top notch by today's standards, with faces looking painted on a balloon. Still, many of the scenes are rather impressive and keep you involved in the game. The sound really helps emphasize the trepidation and surprise that are involved in many of the scenarios.

Where the game really shines is in multiplayer. Train yourself up through the campaigns, and then join a faction on line to see if you can compete against net players. You can have up to 16 people playing at a time, and it gets for pretty intricate strategies if you're good! Each character type has a wide variety of attacks to choose from, and its own strengths and weaknesses.

Highly recommended for mature first-person-shooter fans. Might be a little much for younger players, between the body parts flying and death screams that sound pretty constantly as you prowl the halls.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another Glorious Day in the Corps!
Review: When the original AvP came out I quickly snapped up a copy, playing it only during daytime because it was too much on my heart. The graphics were really good and the game gave new meaning to the phrase "Adrenaline Overload".

Here's AvP2, and in almost every way it's an improvement over the original, which I didn't think was possible. Every species has been retooled and new weapons have been added making each character type you play very different from the next. And my God, it's even more heart stopping than the original!

The plot centers around a particular alien-infested planet. A research station run by Corporates has had something go awry so the Marines are sent in to figure out the goings on and fix it if possible. The Predator goes in to rack up points for his Hunt while searching ultimately for the Boss of the base, a kill that got away years before. And the Aliens, well...they're just out to kill.

The Marines are still my favorite. Heavily reliant on Pulse Rifles and Chainguns, the Marine campaign is nothing short of spectacular. From the word go you're immersed in what has to be simply put the best fusion of all the movies put together. Predictably after landing, your character is separated from his comrades and must rely on his minimal ammo load to make it from point A to B to C, fighting with Aliens the whole while. Hints that the Predator is around are seen everywhere by the numerous "skinned" bodies hanging upside down, and the telltale clicking noises he makes. The brilliant addition of a shoulder lamp helps enormously, making you less reliant on your finite source of flares. And to say this particular campaign will make you [appreciate it] is the understatement of the century. Even when you know that the dark and scary locale you're in is loaded with Aliens wanting to disembowel you is not enough to prevent even the most hardened gamer from screaming out loud at his or her computer in surprise.

The Predator portion is for the most part true to the movies. They've somewhat weakened this character from the first game, where the Predator was something of the uber class to play, mostly for multiplayer balance I would imagine. While the atmosphere is still eerie, knowing that you have auto-tracking weapons helps alleviate the shock of seeing an Alien running at you. A close eye must be kept on your energy bar as too many shots off of your Plasma Caster will deplete it rapidly.

But the real overhaul of the game, and by far the single biggest improvement is to the Alien. My God, this class has become so much fun! The original AvP had a very weak Single player story for the Alien, in my opinion. I must not have been alone in this way because the boys at Lithtech retooled the whole deal and made it very immersive. You start out as a simple facehugger...running from place to place looking for a victim to "impregnate". Playing cat and mouse with patrolling Corporate guards is something like having Thief crossed with Quake, and you'll want to avoid all contact for as long as possible. Once a suitable host is found, you spawn as a baby alien, even getting to *shudders* watch the chest-bursting act from a whole new perspective. This really adds to the entire experience and my hat's off to Sierra for making this happen.

Multiplayer is an absolute riot. You've got your standard array of maps and arenas, with the continued options such as "Deathmatch" and "Species Deathmatch", with the addition of notable scenarios like "Evac", where a group of Marines works together to escape a facility, while Aliens try to pick them off one by one. Get to the dropship on time and your team wins. Combat gets really hairy and confusing, and you'll never get used to crawling through airshafts that an Alien opponent is using to hunt you, reminding me of poor old Captain Dallas.

Buy this game. Play this game. And be prepared to be a stockholder in the Fruit of the Loom company, because you'll be changing your drawers hourly and often, especially in the Single Player Campaigns. Anyone up for a game of "Evac"? ;)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Overrated.
Review: This game has a couple really innovative, interesting features, and big name franchise monsters. So it had a great start.
But the implementation was... horrendous.
Unlike most first person shooters, this game tends strongly towards one hit kills, both towards you and towards your opponents. This basically means that you will find yourself dying frequently until you can memorize exactly where the machine gunners, et cetera, are, and take them out quickly and more or less instantly before they retaliate. The gradual health decrease thing? Doesn't exist here. You make a mistake, you die. And very often, "mistakes" come in the form of not having luckily guessed which random passage is the one that leads behind the enemy, or having read a walkthrough first. In addition to bad design of combat, this is bad design of levels.
In fact, speaking of bad level design, I couldn't complete the very first Predator mission without consulting a walkthrough. How sad is that?
Climbing on walls and ceilings as an alien is incredibly fun... until you figure out how hard it is to pounce on something from a perspective that switches once you stop clinging to the wall or ceiling. Oh, and it's not so good for sneaking around, either, as humans in this game can look way up and don't seem to be fooled by shadows much.
In addition to all this, this FPS has the worst multiplayer I have ever seen. The Predator race is vastly more powerful than the other two, and the aliens in particular are practically cannon fodder against them, since the predators can see them clearly in one of their vision modes and blow them away long before they get close enough to pounce. Humans (real ones, unlike the AI ones) can't see quite as well, and have actual limited (as opposed to the effectively infinite Predator) ranged ammo, but no real advantages to make up for this. The aliens? They can, uh, climb walls and stuff. And it's really cool for you to do, really it is, but it's not gonna help you survive at all.
Even heat vision, wall-climbing, and a couple cool monsters aren't enough to keep this game from sucking very badly in the gameplay area compared to Half-Life or even Doom. If you want to experience the fun innovative features, try the demo. But don't buy the game, it's a waste of money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Aliens versus predator is THE great fps for cpu
Review: In the game, you play as either the colonial marine, the predator, or the alien. The alien can slash with its claws, bite with its extra set of teeth, stab with its tail, crawl on walls, and pounce to gain the element of suprise and tear your victims apart. The marine is the hunted and is the least evolved but has superior weapons technology. You will carry weapons such as the M-41A Pulse Rifle, Incinerators, miniuns, smart guns, shotguns, rocket laucnhers, sniper rifles, and even a knife! And last but not least, the awe-inspiring Predator whose survival skill and taste for killing makes it the supreme being. With its 4 types of visions, cloaking ability and array of deadly weapons, the predator is a deadly foe. Its shoulder cannon can rip through xenomorphs and marines easily while its claws will tear apart anything foolish enough to cross its path. Its combo stick is one of the most devastating and gory weapons of the game. The graphics are supreme and the gameplay cant be beat. The sounds of the aliens and the creepy music will scvare the socks off you. If you can play a bloody, action-packed, scary as crud alien game, go out and buy it now! The only drawback is the long list of system requirements.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exemplary Shooter
Review: If you've read any of my other reviews, you'd know that I'm an old fogey that pines for the good ol' days of first-person shooters. I "grew up" on a fattening diet of Wolfenstein 3D, Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, and Nitemare 3D. Upon adolescence, I was playing games like Quake II and the ultimate PC game, Unreal. Ever since my gaming childhood I've been looking for a way to relive those experiences with a more recent, technically advanced game.

Aliens Versus Predator II fulfills many of my hopes. It looks great and the developers obviously went out of their way to make good use of graphics cards. Many parts of the game are dark, and you need to use special equipment or abilities to see in the dark and to see particular enemies. For example, when you play as the predator you use a "normal" vision mode to see the details of the level you're on, a reddish vision mode to see aliens, and a bluish mode to see human marines. Not only do these modes look cool but they also enhance game play.

In addition to the predator, you also play as a marine or an alien. You have lots of fun as either one, and, like the predator, you experience unique abilities and limitations as each character. It all works very well, and all three characters you play let you see the same world and story from a unique perspective. Very well done!

Perhaps the best part of this game is the atmosphere. It does a good job of making you feel that you're on a spooky alien world, and danger is never far away. The AI is good, and it lends the impression that your enemies truly hate you. The levels are well designed allowing you to interact in a rather realistic way. Just be ready to be startled! I jumped quite a few times playing this game.

So why only four stars? It's because of the bugs. Most of the game is pretty stable, but I ran into a bug playing as the Marine in which I was unable to "hack" making it impossible to get some ammunition I needed. In another level I was unable to open a hatch as a result of a bug. Nevertheless, I got through these levels using cheat codes, so all was not lost.

Aliens Versus Predator II is a really cool, well designed game that takes you away, so to speak. It includes innovations that work very well and make the game fun to play. If you're a shooter fan--especially a fan of the science-fiction themed shooters--then give this game a try.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Aliens vs Predator 2: Game over man, Game over
Review: This game kicks ass and is better than the original with the graphics, weapons and so on. AVP 2 is great for a scare. Buy cause the game is worth it and will kepp you playing for hours.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: AVP2
Review: THIS GAME IS FANTASTIC!!!! i STOPPED PLAYING ALL MY OTHER "1ST PERSON SHOOTER" GAMES!!I have yet to find a better 1st P S game!!! especially good in MULTI-PLAYER mode!!!!


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