Hi, my name is Cody and this is my review for Aliens VS Predator. I played it using the Onlive service, over the ear headphone for the best sound and a xbox 360 controler.
Marine Gameplay: At first the way I was moving felt strange and slightly foriengh to me, RB to hit, LT to fire secondary shot, Y to heal. Even the way you control the motion of your player just felt a little off. After about an hour of playing it all become second nature and felt correct. But as most people know the first hour of a game should tell you most of how it is. Once I warmed up to the strange feel of the game I found myself really knocking the aliens back and fighting them without mercy. Every minute that passed I found myself enjoying the game more and more. I played the Marine chapters for a couple of hours and wasn't even close to being bored with it but I still have to play as the Aliens and the Predator. I called it quits and stepped into the Alien mode.
Alien Gameplay: For some reason the alien controls seem easer to use than the Marines was. I do feel like it take a few to many hits to kill your standard human but it is a lot of fun to climb along the top of a ceiling, drop down behind a human and bite his skull open. Something oddly satisfying about that. Sometime while running along the top of a ceiling I do find myself getting confused or disorientated. It just bends my mind going from right way up to upside down then back to right side up again within four seconds. Yikes. Another annoying thing that I noticed was when you are hunting down the Marines, they repeat the same lines over and over again. "Don't let your guard down, marines" I had that sentence said while I was hunting a small group of them at least thirty times in about ten minutes. After nearly 2 hours of playing as Number 6, the alien, I am calling it quits and trying out the Predator. (for some reason I feel like there is more of a story with the Alien than the humans. At least I can say the pet alien has a name.)
Predator Gameplay: I cant choose whether I think the Predator game play is the best or if it's the Marines, but either way, the Predator game play is bad ass. I love the way it handles. Jumping long distances and killing off tons of aliens and humans is just great. The hits are about the same as the aliens, I wish they could hit harder but it is still just light enough to make the game fun and challenging. The light hits keep you from being a fool and playing the game as a run and gun, so you are forced to play it as a hunter in the Predator life style. Kill only when you need to and collect the trophy's as you go. I loved the way the controls were set, it didn't confuse me or make it awkward for me at all. I felt like when they were making the game they put most of the focus on the Predators mechanics, and for good reason.
Sound design and music: I love the idea that the radar makes the same sound as it did in the second movie, but I think they could have changed this a little bit to make it cool and not the most annoying thing in the game. A simple adjustment to make the radar emit noise (Blips and beeps) only when you are near a alien would have made it nice and just like the movie, but no. The annoying beeping never stops, never. Other than that, the sound in this game is fantastic! I found myself on the edge of my seat while playing as the Marine, the sounds the aliens make, the sounds of the guns, even the next to silent ambiance in the game really dug deep in my mood and really set things right in the game.
Gameplay: The layout is very linear and can force you right into the traps in the game but, I still tried to find other paths to elevators and exits only to be forced out the correct way. Regardless, the path they lay out for me to walk on has me tense and unready for what they throw at me. At one point I got confused and started walking around a building till I got a glimpse of a blood splatter from a predator, it had me on edge, knowing there was also Predators lurking in the world.
Environment: This game really brought the same great feel that the movies brought. I really found myself at awe while looking at the world and textures. The way the building at the hive goes from dark and metallic to cold, wet and slimy in just a few steps really made a impact on me. In most games that kind of thing gets lost to the player and just makes them feel like they entered a new area, but for this one; I found myself interested at the fact that behind the slime and organic growth on the walls is the same metal plating as the rest of the buildings. The swamps were fun to be in and the over whelming fear that there might be a Predator on my back drives me to keep pushing out of the area. The Alien's game play area in the start felt like a testing area. It all felt the way it should have.
The things I liked most about the game was the way it made you feel. The sounds and view you get in the game really just set in with me.
The things I didn't like about the game was the annoying constant radar sound in my ears and the strange vertigo I got while playing as the Alien. I also would have liked to have known who the Marine was a little bit more.
Bottom line is: Aliens VS Predator is a very fun game and well worth the dirt cheap price you can get it for nowa days. I got the game for $5 on a onlive $5 Friday, I know you can get the game for the same basic price from like gamestop for xbox 360/ps3 and I suggest that if you are a fan of the Aliens films, you go find a copy next time your out and about or buy it Onlive and challenge me to a online VS match.
