That’s not to say the multiplayer section of this game is lacking anything vital for success. It’s fast-paced, full of action, and offers a decent amount of variety. With three character types on offer, if you haven’t guessed it by now, you’ll choose between being an Alien, Predator, or something closer to home in the form of a marine. Although the former two seem to hold an unearthly advantage on first viewing, there’s more to it than having your chest sliced in two if you opt for humanities toughest soldiers.
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While the Alien possesses amazing speed and agility, and is able to leap from wall to wall in order to sneak up on opponents, the other two pack their fair share of punch too. Predator, although slower and more vulnerable to stealth attacks, has an arsenal to be wary of. His laser cannon, huge spiked armour and invisibility cloak link together to form an opponent that, if used by those who understand it, can stay alive for an extremely long time. Without needing to play particularly well, we racked up many kills with this beast; ripping alien faces apart and pummelling humans until they screamed for mercy. Similarly, mankind’s last hope became remarkably adept to dealing with the threat of his foes once a bit of work and a change of technique had been made. It’s obvious to lock and load, ready to blast away at any sight of the opponent, but with the human, things are different. For those that have the nerve, letting your enemy get up close is the way to go. The marine holds the strength to knock alien booty to the ground, stunning them for a second. Once spread out in front of you, the perfect opportunity arises to splatter their sadistic minds against the floor with pinpoint precision. Often, the time comes where you will be caught in a gunfight, either against Predators or another marine, but for the most part, you should be prepared to get physical if you want humanity to triumph.
And while it may seem more fun to sprint round the ugly arenas as the long-headed Alien, at this early stage, it’s certainly the way to go if you want a headache. Graphically, the game isn’t amazing, and is more than predictable with its colour palette of grey, black, and grey. Once you’re on the move the frame-rate drops considerably, as you struggle to make out what is a threat and what is awful programming. It must be stressed that this is an early version of the multiplayer arena, but it was still visually poor at speed to say the least. Much easier to scout out opponents at the slower rate of the Predator or marine, the Alien’s swiftness plays against it somewhat when it continues to get caught on rough scenery, and makes the player feel blind when using their chosen character’s greatest asset.
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Right now, Aliens vs Predator’s obvious attraction comes from its sheer brutality. You’ll sneak up on opponents, unleash a flurry of blows to injure them, and then split their torsos apart before they know what’s hit them. The feeling of steadily moving through the arena as a marine, only to turn your head and see an Alien already has you in it’s grasp is undoubtedly scary, but it’s difficult to judge just how much the single player campaign is going to get our nerves tingling with fear.
With significant development time left, there’s a lot to be sorted in Aliens vs Predator. The balance between characters is nearly there, and will reward those who spend time honing their skills, but the game has an underlining of ugliness, repetition and mediocrity that wasn’t quelled during our multiplayer sitting. As ever, there’s an air surrounding the game that players want this to finally provide the license with something to shout about, but as ever, it still looks a long way off.
Top Game Moment: Playing as Predator. Invisbility, heat vision, laser cannon; the indgredients of success.
