Empowering the EBA Community with a voice to collaboratively review the industry’s hottest titles, the EpicBattleAxe.com uREVIEW (about) delivers real insight from real gamers about The GOOD, The BAD, and The UGLY pertaining to the biggest games in the world. This is the EpicBattleAxe.com uREVIEW for Aliens vs. Predator. Let’s get started:
FACTS:
Publisher: SEGA | Developer: Rebellion
Genre(s): Action
Players: 3
ESRB Rating: M (Mature)
Release Date: February 16, 2010
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Official Website
GAME SUMMARY:
Developed at Rebellion by the team responsible for the original 1999 PC classic, the all-new Aliens vs. Predator allows players to take the role of three infamous species: Colonial Marines, Predators and Aliens. The game features a unique three-way online multiplayer experience, allowing gamers to battle for survival and the right to be crowned the deadliest species in the galaxy. Each race also has its own distinct action-packed single-player campaign mode, with a storyline that cleverly interweaves with the other two species’ paths. Set on planet BG-386; a human colonist mining group discovers an ancient pyramid containing a dark and horrible secret. Across the galaxy, a race of warriors is alerted to the discovery of their pyramid and a hunting party is dispatched to ensure that it remains sealed at all costs. Deep inside the ruined pyramid meanwhile, nature’s deadliest species awakes from centuries of hibernation intent on finding new prey. The Colonial Marine’s story is an incredible fight against all odds from horrors lurking in the dark. Surrounded on all sides yet armed to the teeth, the Colonial Marine represents humanity’s last stand with the firepower to fight back. As the Alien, players discover what it’s like to be the scariest, most murderous creature in the universe, with the ability to traverse any surface at lightning speed in order to get close enough to unleash its deadly claws, tail and teeth. A master of the hunt, the Predator grants the player an arsenal of exotic weaponry with which to stalk from the shadows. Earn the greatest honor by ambushing prey up-close, before butchering them for a gory trophy kill. [Sega]
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was aight, i still think the second one was the best
its a good well rounded game but multiplayer is kinda disappointing since the only thing you can unlock are new skins.. which you never get to see because its first person
First of all this is a review based off of the PC version.
The good:
Great immersion, while playing both on SP and MP you really feel like you are in the environment that we have come to know from the Aliens movies and the AvP movies.
The story is good enough to hold it together. The campaigns are also long enough, it takes 7 hours to complete all 3 campaigns though it sounds short, it is so intense it feels a lot longer and would actually have lost its intensity if it were to go on any longer and would have started to feel drawn out.
The graphics are really good and this is one of the first games to actually use DX11 and not just be “dx11 compatible”. Not Crysis good, but still good enough that when you see Aliens coming at you they really look like bad ass Aliens, the game looks especially good if you are actually playing as Predator as the graphics on your Arms and blades are really amazing and well detailed.
The MP is very fun in terms of game modes and gameplay, despite its issues I still love going on the MP and kicking some ass on species Team Deathmatch as marines or Predators (not Aliens, as I suck at Aliens and get disorientated
).
The melee system takes some getting used to but if you played the SP on normal all the way through by the end of all 3 campaigns you will have mastered the melee system and though some people complain about it, it actually works well and once mastered through the campaign just feels natural and easy to use.
The bad:
Eventhough the game does not look like Crysis it runs less good than Crysis does, even on high end systems.
The campaign gameplay can feel repetitive at times.
Rebellion is still busy integrating a dedicated server support for the PC. However because it is taking them so long the MP is already dying out on PC.
The ugly:
The PC version uses P2P matchmaking, but a very dated system that really does not work well. In Modern Warfare 2 for example you have host migration, so if the host disconnects or leaves the game continues (does not always work, but most of the time it does).
AvP however completely lacks this features. As such if the host disconnects or decides to leave because he is not doing good or his team sucks on Team Death Match mode, then the game ends for everyone in it.
There does not seem to be nearly enough people playing this game online on PC, probably due to how crappy the connectivity is and the matchmaking and due to the lack of the host migration system. As such it takes ages to find a game even if you turn of the filters, so if you just search for a game of any type with any amount of players, expect to sit there waiting a good 5 or more minutes only to end up in a game with just 4 to 8 players max, eventhough it supports up to 18 players. Most I have ever had in a game so far has been 16 players and I have only had this 2 times so far.
The game suffers from a lot of really bad bugs and glitches. For example in the melee system there is a glitch that Aliens can hit people at any range and through walls and objects, while Predators cannot do this (which shows it is not a lag issue but an actual glitch in the melee system). For those who are unaware of this glitch it has to do with heavy attack (not sure if it is with or without focus mode) while the enemy is close enough to you and then it will still hit if done correctly eventhough the enemy is extremely far away from you or even if he moved behind a wall/around a corner or behind an object.
There are also some random crash errors in which case your rank and stats will suddenly be reset back to 0 and in other cases your game files will randomly become corrupted and to play the game online again you have to verify your game cache on Steam to fix it.
Atracious controlls with some cleaver but poorly implemented game mechanics. It is a PC port with all the short commings of a console system.
Play the demo to see if you can adjust to it or will delete it after the intro.
THE BAD:
as a long standing fan of the muliplayer found in AvP2 back in 2001 onwards, i was really disappointed by the melee combat system found in this game.
Auto lock on fighting , one key insta kills with conga chains and unavoidable attacks even if ur opponent was far away they would glide across the floor in the attack animation and connect no matter what you do, the cameras a bit to shake and bake when fighting also put that together with the auto lock on and its a tad silly.
don’t get me wrong a love the insta kill animations but they get old fast in multiplayer, and i enjoy the feel the game captures in single player just like the old.
but its not a game id play for multiplayer, having enjoyed how it was done allot better almost a decade ago…
I cant help feel its to make the combat easier to play on consoles.
which to me has taken what was a skilful, enjoyable and replayable game in its predecessor and craped one out for the masses.
Excelent game for pc and pc gamers.
You need a mouse to control an alien at high speed.
Nice combat mechanics, nice graphics, nice sound, nice atmosphere, nice single player, nice multiplayer (with dedicated servers)…a good game for 22€
Bad…Steam isn’t PC…
No dedicated servers yet…
Pros: great sound effects will instantly remind you both good old Aliens and Predator movies (not speaking about AvP movies here, because they are utter crap). Visuals are good.
Cons: everything else. Gameplay is low quality and very unpolished. Dialogs and story are cheap and boring (I’ve heard better dialogs in porn, srsly). Horrible art and level design. Game engine is highly unoptimized. Multiplayer has so many issues, it’s not fun at all.
Verdict: a freaking frustration for an Alien movies fan and admirer of original Predator movie. Not that I had high hopes for this one, but I can’t understand how retarded game designers should be to screw a shooter that has Aliens, Predators and Marines fighting each other?!
P.S. played AvP on PC.
Good, Bad, and Ugly:
The Predator plain and simple. It is the best campaign by far. He is the best person to be on multiplayer and you really feel like you are one while playing.
With that being said, their isn’t really anything else good about the game to me. The Marine campaign feels like a generic 1st person shooter. The Marine story is just uneventful as is the rest of them. It is sad that even in the future of Aliens and Predators that mankind still hasn’t achieved laser weapons to kill them. Oh well.
Finally, I have to admit the utter disappointment about the Alien Campaign. I have never felt dizzy in my life playing a video game, but I actually had to stop for a few minutes to clear my head. It is disappointing that to gather my bearings I had to drop back down to the ground. My final thought about the Alien campaign is about the flucuating AI.
The Marines are very savvy and intellgent during a straight up fight, but once you hide in the vents (while shining flashlights right at you) the Marines can’t see you. At one point I was stabbing them with my tail while in the vents. They shined their lights on me and just stood there while their buddies were dying.
In summation give it a rent for the Predator campaign, but after that return it whenever you want.
I like the game…hate the p2p system for ranked (which is the only way to unlock skins). It’s an ok game, but when you get that pred who flings the razor disk all the time or that alien who sits on a ceiling and tailstabs your head EVERY time…the game flops hard. They need more levels and to stop and think aobut them before releasing them, for one, DON’T CHARGE US FOR MORE MAPS WHEN THERE’S HARDLY ANY IN THE FIRST PLACE, and for two, is the pred gonna camp a hallway with a razor disk, is the cieling high enough that an alien can’t just sit up there and tailstab all game. Then there’s the flamethrower…no range, hardly any damage, and it makes aliens into flaming bombs that if exploded on you, almost mean instant death. There are MAJOR flaws to this game, and as usual…the developers will ignore our pleas and make the same mistakes and keep charging us for extra content on a half finished game. Wonder when a developer with be like “Hey…we made a shitload already, why not take what we were gonna use as extra content and just include it in the game, I mean we hardly loaded the disk with anything”, it’s probably happened, but then another guy mentions money and the idea gets shoved away for moral impurity.
Developers suck ass.
Good: Three very fun, reasonably long campaigns (5-8h on hard). Each species plays totally different, kills are satisfying and gory. Great graphics and sound. Great Muiltiplayer. controlling the alien is easier than expected. Really great sense of a body, when you turn as an alien you can even see your tail. you don’t feel like a floating head. Weapons feel responsive and tactile. Really smart Alien AI that crawl over every surface just like in the movies.
Bad: The ending feels unfinished in the marine campaign. Despite the generally good graphics the the game will show you some rough edges throughout. Its odd that the marine can’t crouch. The multiplayer takes FOREVER to find a game so unless you LOVE it like I do you wont sit there for 30 min waiting for it to load. Pants on head retarded Human AI and shorter campaigns for the two non human campaigns make it feel a little stilted as a full AVP game.
Conclusion: If you a diehard alien or predator fan, get up and go buy it NOW. if your just like AVP or the Idea its a good buy if your someone who likes variety and can overlook a lack of polish. Its a fun game that, in spite of its flaws. Kicks ass.