Aliens vs. Predator

To start things off, the story of this game is extremely weak and nothing extremely gripping but it's passable, you can complete the story in 3 segments (Alien, Predator, Marines) and you can choose which order to go in and they all have a tie in together but nothing huge. The Aliens campaign is very mediocre but if there is one thing this game gets right, it's making you feel like you're an alien because the controls and gameplay are very entertaining, climbing up surfaces and jumping around, sneaking behind enemies and taking them down with the little mouth, although the sneak executions are limited and repeat and the climbing on surfaces can get very disorienting when in small vents or a cliff with too many turns. You follow one certain alien who starts out trapped and being examined and then you escape...it's very short and lasts about 3 hours, if that. Then the Marine Campaign, I thought this was going to be the most dull but there were moments where I actually felt dread and paranoid...but it fell flat on it's face with the stupid constant beeping warning you there is something near by and ruins any kind of surprise. It's a pretty standard FPS as far as gameplay and aiming feels really stiff. It has a pretty outstanding last boss fight though and it's the longest campaign of the 3, lasting about 6-7 hours and most of that is spent just trying to figure out where to go because the waypoint is horrible at times. The story, again, is nothing special, you're a speechless Marine who is left alone when Aliens and predators attack, you follow another Marine whose name I can't remember but I can tell they wanted you to get attached to her but...no. You have a range of weapons from a pistol to the smart gun! Next you have the predator campaign, predator is easily my favorite because I absolutely love stealth and loved the way Predator is like a warrior and not afraid of anything. This campaign is absolutely amazing in the way of gameplay, the story lacks something but it's not noticeable because you're busy stabbing people with spears and throwing disks. AGAIN, it's faulty in the way of the waypoints and the campaign lasting only 3 hours max. Short but sweet I suppose. On to the multiplayer! You can of course play online with friends on either versus or Survival, survival is..fun with friends but lack any innovation, you survive for as long as you can on not a a whole lot of choices of levels. 4 i believe, fun but can be repetitive. Then you have versus where it's for the most part 6v6 or teams of 3 (Marines, Aliens, predator) and wow did they actually get this pretty good. Everything is pretty well balanced for the most part but if you're a marine it's way harder to win anything and predator is the cheapest and most fun in my opinion. Nobody plays it now a days but when you get into a match it's extremely fun, better with friends. Thanks for reading! (my first review)

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-

Predator - The game developers were clearly inspired by the settings and ideas AVP (2004) helped established, which is why much of it's design in this game resembles those from the actual film, which in IMO was a bad route take. Now it's not all bad, as a matter of a fact, some of the concepts are actually quite interesting, like for example the ability to jump across long distance, from platform to platform, and the fact that the disc actually requires skill to eliminate your opponent unlike it's predecessor which featured a lock-on tracker system allowing killing Humans and Aliens to be far to easy. The sound bites were arguably the biggest disappointment about playing as the Predator, because literally all the sounds the Pred makes have been re-recorded, leaving the player with no famous roar, or screech but instead a mutated horse which doesn't in the slightest sound anything like a Predator should. The single-claw approach along with the updated sound effects almost makes for a different creature, and therefore doesn't leave you feeling like your controlling a Predator, which overall is rather disappointing. The campaign was rather flat story-wise, but I did enjoy the expansion of the Predator culture, and slashing Aliens never gets old especially since there's many trophy kills and normal strikes to choose from. The lack of the combi-stick and/or net gun was also disappointing..

game-play - 8/10 story - 6/10

Alien - One thing I must say that they improved on with the Alien game-play in terms of realism, was that they finally fixed the heat bite feature. In all 6 of the Alien films, it's clearly established that the 'little mouth' pokes a hole right through the center of the human forehead, which is exactly what the Alien does here. In lets say, AVP2; the Alien completely bites the head off, which whist looks cool doesn't fit in with the logic of the Alien's capabilities -- so I was glad to see this fixed up. The controls look and fell accurate to how the Alien moves and behaves, but having said that the pounce is no longer in tact which I found disappointing considering stunning enemies and then attacking them when there most vulnerable in terms of movement, was one of the funnest things to do in AVP2. The sounds have once again been modified, and apart from a death scream, all the original sounds have been replaced, but in this case, I actually don't mind 'em as much as the awful re-made roars the Predators make. I'm about half-way through the single player campaign and while I heard a lot of positive reviews about it, I was quite underwhelmed; mainly due to the fact that you don't start as a face hugger and work yourself up through the life cycle which I really enjoyed in the AVP2 Alien campaign.

game-play - 7.5/10 story - 4/10 (so-far)

Marine - Quite possibility the most underrated single-player campaign out there. I really enjoyed the dark and creepy atmosphere of the Marine, and IMO, it really captured the fear of the Aliens again, since there really wasn't much light and you had to use your motion tracker and flares to get an idea of where they were located. The weapon selection was a bit of a let down considering there was no rocket launcher or mini-gun to choose from, and the sniper whist understandably toned down from its 'overpowered' approach in AVP2, doesn't do near enough damage as it should. Overall I found the Marine to be quite entertaining; and it was easily the best single-player experience in the game.

game-play - 8/10 story - 9/10

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.

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.