Relying on an established property can have mixed results for game developers. Take a look at the Godfather games, for example. The first game was great, and captured the spirit of the movies very well.
The second one, while tons of fun, managed to change a few very important plot aspects of the movies on which it was based and, so doing, managed to get fans just a little upset. And, let’s face it, these games are for the fans, more than anyone else. When a game is created to be released at the same time as a film, that’s one thing – but when it is released many years after the last release of that particular property, it’s a fan-based creation.
That means that it needs to deliver a higher degree of performance than the average movie based game. Not only that, but it also needs to stay true to the ideas behind the property. When borrowing heavily from another property, one has to keep all kinds of ducks in various rows, to make sure that the game is true to that upon which it is based.
Aliens VS Predator is based on 8 movies, numerous novels, a comic series and a few games that came before. The mythology of this universe goes back to the ‘70s, when the Alien first stalked Sigourney Weaver aboard the Nostromo. And so fans have a lot to go on. There is a massive amount of information about these games, and a vast universe that fans love and know well. Aliens VS Predator has its work cut out for it.
The end product, the newly released Aliens VS Predator from Rebellion studios, manages to be a mixed bag. It stays true to the background and mythology, for the most part, but manages to stumble a little on the technical side.
The story behind the game is quite interesting, although it lacks any major depth. A group of USCMC marines arrives on a planet from which a distress signal has been sent. It turns out that the planet has a Weyland Yutani research station on it, and is crawling with everyone’s favourite, acid-blooded xenomorph. But, just to add fuel to the fire, there is a collection of ancient ruins on the planet too, originally built by the Predators. That means there are a few of these hunter-aliens running around too. The mix is potentially explosive.
The player gets to take the part of all three of these species; humans, Aliens and Predators. In the single player mode, there are three shortish campaigns, one for each species, that are split into episodes. These episodes can be interspersed as the player sees fit, jumping between Alien, Predator and human Marine through the whole thing, one episode at a time. Although the idea makes for excellent continuity, and shows the player exactly how the various species affect the sequence of events that the game describes, some of the episodes are rather short. The player will spend the bulk of his time as the Marine, simply because the Marine has the longest episodes to get through.
That’s a blessing in disguise. The Marine features the most recognisable control scheme of all the species. Controlling the Marine is much like any other first person shooter, in the end. The Alien and Predator, though, have control schemes that are a little different to the norm (although they are slightly similar to each other.) Jumping between episodes may get a little confusing in terms of controls, but thankfully not overly so.
Each species has specific strengths and weaknesses… although, once again, the Alien and Predator bits are very similar. The Marine represents an upfront brawler, with heavy fire-power. The Alien is a stealthy assassin that uses the advantages of being able to hide in shadows and strike with great speed. The Predator is also a stealthy type, with an array of slower (but more powerful) ranged and melee attacks. Each of the Alien species have other advantages, too, like the Alien’s pheromone sensing (which identifies between hostile enemies and face-hugger fodder) or the Predator’s two additional vision modes (one for humans, one for Aliens). Still, playing either of the sci-fi races just doesn’t deliver the satisfaction that playing the Marine does.
The reason is simple. The Alien is pretty weak, but speed and the ability to cling to any surface means that it can quickly escape to heal in a dark corner. The Predator is rather slow, but the guy’s a tank, and the cloaking technology available to him makes for easy escapes (particularly when considering that he can make huge jumps.) The Marine… well, he’s slower, weaker and quite blind in the dark (the flashlight and flares the player has access to only do little to lift the shadows that pervade the game.) He’s well armed, sure, but taking on a Predator with a pulse rifle is difficult, and shooting Aliens results in harmful acid spray. All this, combined with a maximum of three health stims, makes the Marine the weakest of the three, and consequently the most thrilling to play.
But he’s tougher than the humans you see in the movies on which this game is based, and his enemies are weaker. Still, the ever present ticking and beeping of the motion tracker (mercifully tacked onto the side of the screen and not requiring a free hand) can make for a few tense moments. But the Aliens just aren’t as mean as they should be, and being able to take out a Predator… well, that just shouldn’t happen. Ask Arnold Schwarzenegger, he’ll tell you. Graphically, the game is very pretty, and keeps to the look and feel of the films quite nicely. There were a few glitches during our review, but nothing too bothersome.
The character of Karl Bishop Weyland, voiced by the guy that acted as him or his predecessors in the films (Lance Henriksen) didn’t look too much like the real deal, but that’s ok – he still looked pretty decent. The sound is excellent, with all the expected sound effects, from Predator vocalisations to the odd, squeaky bawl of a pulse rifle in full fire, perfectly recreated. Aliens VS Predator is a fun game, particularly for fans of the films. But it will require a level of forgiveness from the player. The save game system, for example, seems to be completely ineffective, pushing the player back to checkpoints rather than saving actual performance.
The single player campaign is short, as we said before, and the Survival Mode that is intended to support it just doesn’t add enough to the game to be compelling. The multiplayer aspect of the title is enjoyable, but offers nothing revolutionary (keep in mind that we saw an Aliens VS Predator game many years ago… playing against your friends as one of the three different species is hardly a new idea.) The overall longevity of the game comes into question, because while it can be enjoyable on its first play-through, it may well get old rather quickly.
Still, fans will likely enjoy it… and with a massive gap left for a sequel, one could only hope that the next instalment fixes some of the issues that mar this particular experience. And there will be a sequel… AVP is selling like hot cakes already!
• At A Glance
Fun but flawed, AVP is a game that forgiving fans will likely enjoy.