Aliens vs. Predator

I miss the good old days where developers put effort into their games and were just FUN.

Not only does this game have 3 individual campaigns with completely different gameplay mechanics from each other, it also has a fairly fun and chaotic if not pretty janky multiplayer. Even then it's charming as hell. Multiplayer shooters with Xenos in them have always been fun, even ACM.

The Marine campaign is probably the best of the three and drips atmosphere as you explore a ruined colony.

It isn't a masterpiece in storytelling by any stretch but AVP3 is the most 7/10 game of all time in my opinion, but my bias means id rate it higher. Very fun to play, not to mention Mortal Kombat levels of gory kills.

It's good, it's pretty good. I am glad that somewhat in 2010... we put back some things on the right path. After AVP (2004) and AVP Requiem (2007), which I didn't like at all... I thought that all that alien & predator thing is going down the drain. But, thanks to this new video game, and film "Predators", we got some interesting stuff here. Now, let's get back to the game. Graphics - incredible, gameplay - amazing, what can I say, atmosphere and music were great too. And still it kept good impression when you are playing with Alien, or predator, or the marine. Again you feel cool when you are playing with each of them, and their stories are connected, just like in AVP 2 (2001) video game. Though, I don't think that the action scenes, or some moments in the game were not that much tense and not very high voltage. It's kinda slow. This game rules because of good graphics and gameplay, but the plot is weak. Never, during gaming, I have never felt anything exciting in the plot, it's pretty simple, and I feel sorry for that. The intros for all three campaigns were good, but as the plot moves on... something was missing. Maybe it was about these changes that occurred within Alien and Predator canon/universe. You can see that in the game, and there are pretty cool moments with those changes. Like, for example, giving predators much more deeper hunter culture. But, I like things simple. That's just me. When I heard so much about this game, and I expected to be something big, yet simple, and it wasn't ... It was really good, but without the plot... 60% of it is good. But, still highly enjoyable.

I'm sure by now every one knows of the Alien vs Predator series. Either by the mediocre movies, the comic books, or the games that came out in the late 90's and early 2000's. And if you're like me you've been eagerly awaiting their return. Well I'm happy to say that the series is back.

Aliens vs Predator gives you 3 different campaigns and an excellent multiplayer experience. The 3 campaigns are: alien, predator, and marine, and each one is different and satisfying. The marine plays like your standard first person (but with a larger focus on melee combat) anyone from the Halo of Call of Duty series should feel at home here. The marine campaign focuses on action and scares.

The predator campaign's a little different. It focuses on stealth with humans and hand to hand combat with aliens. The flow is simple, you'll enter any area with marines, isolate one, preform a stealth kill, and repeat the process. The twist is the environmental factors, such as sentry guns that will lock onto you even if you're cloaked, water which will disable your cloak or even rival species.

The alien campaign is the most drastic change from the standard first person shooter. For starters all of the aliens attacks are melee based, meaning you'll need to get close to enemies to attack. So it's a good thing the controls are up to it. You have 3 attacks: light, heavy and block. Light is quick and can be used to form a combo, but can be blocked. Blocks can be broken by a heavy attack, but they take time to use, so it's possible to interrupt it with a light attack. As an added bonus if you succeed in your heavy attack, the enemy will be stunned long enough to preform a brutal finisher. The alien and predators share the same melee moves, but unlike the predator the alien has no long range attacks, making its gameplay even more stealth oriented. The aliens can crawl on any surface, so stealth parts involve hoping off from the ceiling to execute a marine, similar to the predators. The twist is that their are sentry guns that will gun you down, or that their are civilians that you'll want to harvest, however they usually have armed guards and will kill themselves if you're not quick enough.

The final component is the multiplayer which is very well done. There's something for everybody. There's a free for all, team death match, species team death match, territories, a version of Halos infection and juggernaut, and a Gears of War 2 style horde. The only thing that keeps this from a 10 star rating are the length of the campaigns and the kill trains in multiplayer. Happy hunting

Compared to Colonial Marines: this looks like goddamn Bioshock. It's got problems in terms of visuals (at times they look okay, other times they're hideous), the focus on melee combat takes much of the suspense out of the game as you can simply push yourself up against a wall and hold the "block" button, and the story leaves a bit to be desired. But this truly captures the aesthetic of the universe: no other game makes you truly feel like you're playing as the Predator or the Xenomorph like this one does. It's so much fun to play as the alien terrorizing colonist and helpless marines: only wish the campaign was a bit longer. The survival mode is also a fun time waster. Overall: give this one a try if you're a fan of the franchise. It's available on the Xbox store and is backwards capatible, it's worth it if you love these movies like I do.

I'm not really a big fan of First Person Perspective games. I do think that Aliens vs Predator would have been better as an over-the-shoulder third-person actioner, even the 1994 side-scrolling beat-em-up version was better than this. But for what it is, it's still a worthwhile game.

I wasn't immediately hooked, to be honest. I found the combat system to be clunky and difficult, though once the first level was cleared things got better (this applies to all three campaigns). Some of the gameplay and tense moments actually reminded me a lot of Condemned 2: Bloodshot. You play as either the Predator, Colonial Marines, or an Alien in three individual stories that all tie together, each with their own set of pros and cons.

The story follows on from those utterly awful AvP movies, but connects it with the Alien and Predator franchise in a more cohesive way than those cinematic travesties managed. But the video game franchise of this particular crossover has been stuck as a First Person actioner since 1999 and with this next-gen incarnation I think that Sega and Rebellion should have tried a new approach.

Despite the flaws, it's an enjoyable game that's very easy to play, if not finish, with plenty of trophies available.

Graphics B Sound B Gameplay B- Lasting Appeal B-