Alien vs. Predator (Win98)

By: The J Man

I was ridiculously excited for Aliens vs Predator on the Jaguar - so excited that it represented the rare instance where I was actually prepared to buy an entire console solely on the perceived merits of one game (sorry PS3 and Metal Gear 4, that part of me is gone). Unfortunately, I had no money, so the issue was moot. Fast forward to about five years later, and the news that Rebellion was making AvP for the PC. I thought I finally had the chance to get an even better version of what I missed out on in '94.

In short, that is not the case. Though the developer is the same, this is not the same game as AvP for the Jaguar. Any concept of survival horror, scavenging for supplies, or stalking cautiously through an infested base, has been dropped in favor of twitch-reflex, Quake-like action. Great news for multiplayer, and for a new generation of gamers entering the scene in 1999 (the same generation that would go on to shoot Counter-Strike to the top of the charts). Not so great news for single player, or fans looking for something that replicates the tension of the films.

You can play as either the Alien, Predator, or Colonial Marine in separate storylines across separate 7-mission campaigns. You fight out of a Company lab as an Alien, fight after a captured comrade as a Predator, and fight to survive as a Marine. Though each character controls roughly the same as any other FPS hero, their equipment or special abilities (as dictated by the films) turn each into an experience that is familiar enough to play easily, but distinct enough to match their characters as established on screen.

The Alien game is definitely the strangest. You only have three attacks - a claw swipe on the left mouse button, a charging tail attack on the right button, and the instant-kill bite attack that is context sensitive (get close and target their head). Each species is heavily reliant on vision modes, and the Alien's set, like its weapons, are the least complex. Your default view is a warped fisheye perspective similar to the POV effect in Alien 3. This actually does expand your field of vision to include your sides, so enemies can't sneak up on your periphery. This mode also highlights all enemies with a cloudy pheromone glow. They don't leave a trail that you can track, but the bright cloud is visible in any lighting and from any distance. The other view mode (you toggle between them with a single key) is a black and white nightvision mode that restricts your view and highlights nothing, but allows you to easily navigate the dark corners and tunnels the Alien is known to populate. The Alien's not very tough, but does gain health back by eating heads or carving up corpses (an interesting theory that might explain why Jason does what he does to unsuspecting teens).

You can lop off heads and arms without even trying.

The Alien's other major ability is to cling to walls. A true 3D engine finally brings with it Aliens that can crawl along the ceiling, scale walls, and generally clamber along any surface inside the level. It obviously takes some work to get used to, and has the potential to induce the same kind of vertigo or motion sickness that Descent was famous for. The Alien also operates at a ridiculous speed that can make navigating even more difficult. In theory, you could run around upright like a standard FPS character and only engage your wall-stick when you need to climb to a new level. However, this doesn't play to the character's strengths, and won't allow you to creep up and drop on enemies or jump along walls to dodge gunfire. Also, while the Predator and Marine must frequently find keycards or flip switches to access new areas, the Alien's levels are always built around crawling through a vent to bypass a door, or locating technology to break to proceed.

The Predator has an arsenal of hunting weapons that matches the tech from the films. Wristblades allow you to lop off limbs up close, the speargun allows you to plink them off from afar, and the shoulder cannon can be charged up to literally paint the walls with explosions of blood. At any time, you can trigger a cloaking ability that is useless against Aliens, but hides the Pred perfectly from humans (unless you get very close). Various weapons drop your cloak when fired, which can leave you vulnerable if any backup with heavy weapons is nearby. His vision modes are authentic enough, with a thermal mode for highlighting humans, a red-tinted one for highlighting Aliens, and a few levels of zoom for sniping or scouting. The vision modes also allow you to lock your shoulder cannon or disc boomerang onto highlighted enemies, complete with the tri-laser indicator from the films. Opponents can even see the laser lock moving across the surface of walls in multiplayer, or see your cloak "ripple" as you move, just like the first Predator.

In addition to his weapons, the Predator can take a ridiculous beating. And should his natural physical heartiness get overwhelmed, he can sequester himself in a corner and use a recharging medkit (itself deployed like a weapon) to restore his health to full. Naturally, his badassery makes him the easiest character in the game. His only real weakness is his reliance on energy to power his medkit, cloak, and best weapons. Uncommon powerups exist to charge this back to full, or the energy will gradually recharge on its own if not used. The trick, of course, is staying out of sight long enough for this to happen. Basically, you're the baddest motherfucker in the game as long as you manage your energy. Run out at the wrong time, and you're boned.

The Colonial Marine is the final character, and arguably not really a character at all. The marine is faceless and mute - you're here strictly for his arsenal, and all the classic weapons from the second film appear. The pulse rifle works exactly as advertised, and sounds simply perfect. The smartgun has a beautiful fire pattern from its muzzle, and the quirky ability to detect enemies and aim itself toward them. It's great for finding Predators and engaging Aliens at long distance. At short distance, it's counter-productive, but you can turn the tracking off with the secondary fire key. The flamethrower has no lasting effect on the environment, but is perfect for torching speedy little facehuggers or ruining a Predator's cloak. You have a few different tools for making impressive explosions, the largest of which (the rocket launcher) actually creates a polygon wall of fire that takes the shape of the hallways or rooms it roars through - very impressive physics-related behavior there.

Fire rarely kills outright, but certainly has its uses.

The marine also gets his motion tracker, displayed here as a part of the HUD and always active in the corner. Like the weapons, it sounds and looks just like its filmic model. Most of the marine's levels are in dark or poorly-lit facilities, so a nightvision mode and an infinite pack of flares are available to help you navigate. You'll spend the marine's game taking orders from command (usually presented as talking-head FMV clips on monitors throughout the level), which usually involve fulfilling some Company-related goals to earn your extraction.

There's not too much to complain about graphically, and this tech is slick for the time. It's a custom engine built by Rebellion, and handles indoor, outdoor, and complex multi-level installations (complete with a network of air ducts for the Alien) with ease. The levels are fairly simple and blocky, but functional, though their focus was undoubtedly the lighting. Flares and explosions alter the brightness dynamically, moody red lights and pulsing amber strobes set the tone, and flares from particularly bright lights threaten to wash out your vision just as an Alien strikes. Texture work is less impressive. Textures themselves look low-resolution and heavily compressed. This was before any kind of depth mapping, so complex pipe or grating textures look particularly flat and fake. The lighting helps tremendously though, and just about every area looks great in the shadowy, muted light it's presented in. Pop a flare however, and the flaws become apparent.

All of the characters' abilities work without issue, and AI puts up a believable challenge. Marines shout and shoot frantically when trying to find a Predator. Civilians cower or flee when the monster finally reveals itself. Aliens are a slight problem as they tend to prefer the "stand upright and run right at you" approach, triggering the wall crawl only when they detect an obstruction. You'll occasionally get one coming at you from the ceiling, but it detracts a bit from the Marine's game to have almost all of your supposedly stealthy adversaries stand upright and zombie rush you. They also chatter and screech as they approach, instead of silently creeping up on you. AI Predators also aren't particularly cunning, but do cloak and aren't afraid to use their best weapons. There aren't a lot of polys to go around, but all characters do look appropriate, and can be dismembered depending on where and with what they are hit. Aliens are a particular highlight, as the Marine's weapons tend to blow them apart (as in the film) complete with the sharp crack of their shattering carapace and a potentially-deadly shower of acid blood.

My major problem is that the entire game is built around speed. Going back to the second paragraph, there's simply no time for unease as the locales blaze by. The Alien game will really induce nausea as you spin through tunnels, rocket through the air, and generally only have vague ideas of aiming at figures and rending them limb from limb. Does the Alien game give a convincing representation of the Alien from the films? Yes, I suppose. You certainly feel like an animal - take out the sci-fi tech and this could be Cody Cougar's Jungle Death Simulator. But I do feel that the speed and frenetic nature work against itself. At its worst, you're going to have a character you're incapable of controlling. At its best, you're going to be mashing a lot of buttons and constantly trying to battle spinning images to stay oriented.

With the exception of the Predator (who really sets his own pace when fighting slow Marines), speed will be an issue in every game. As the Marine, Aliens can clear half the room in under a second. It's great for having monsters fly at you from the darkness - until, of course, it gets real fucking old. It also makes your motion tracker completely useless. The display doesn't update fast enough, and the tones do little more than chirp in confusion as you perpetually spin your view around like a typical FPS player. All this is offset by your character's Quake-like movement speed. You can easily outrun charging Aliens (while running BACKWARD, no less) - keeping them away from you, while always in range of your weapons. However, acid and razor claws are surprisingly damaging to you, so rocketing through the levels is the only way you're going to be able to win the game. And of course, the need to stay mobile to survive makes cramped levels like the atmosphere processor astoundingly difficult as Aliens spawn in tight rooms and land on your head.

That's all single-player really offers - individual levels loosely connected by a pretty bullshit story (literally: "Oh, God! The Company made Mecha-Alien!") Multiplayer feels like what the game was actually built for. The speed that disappoints or frustrates in SP now shines in an arena format, and mastering the skills of each character actually gave you a unique advantage. Iron up your stomach as the Alien, and you could attack a player swiftly from literally anywhere, or escape their retaliation by flying up a wall and out of sight. Learn the best uses of your weapons as a Predator, and you truly became a hunter of men; crouching in the shadows and waiting for the best moment to strike. Marines could tear shit up in Team Deathmatch, and use their firepower and cooperation to deny their alien foes an opening. It was certainly different, true to the characters, and much more fun than any other game's vanilla deathmatch. Probably not as enjoyable today, but if you have some gamer friends who also love Aliens or Predator (a fair bet), this might be worth at least a few rounds.

Not a shot from multiplayer, but we like it anyway.

The Gold Edition offers vague graphical improvements and a sizeable pack of new levels. Bonus missions appear for each character's campaign (with the Marine and Predator getting jetpack devices to navigate levels not expressly built for them), as well as probably the best set of levels for deathmatch. Many of these are finally based off of areas from the films, and do a reasonable job of being recognizable. The Marine gets a worthless set of pistols - added to shut the community up - and the video messages are changed. The Gold Edition has them delivered awkwardly by members of Rebellion's staff playing dress-up. They seem very uncomfortable, and shout in whispers as if trying not to wake the neighbours. Pointless "improvement," but good for a laugh. Aside from Deathmatch, the GE is also worth picking up for the addition of in-mission quicksaves. The original only allows you to unlock the next level upon completion of the last, so you have to beat each level in one go. The GE's quicksave option makes some of the tougher areas more playable.

There's nothing particularly wrong here - the tech works, the spirit of the three characters is captured well, and the lighting is terrific - it's just that the design fails to capture the building dread that made the films so interesting. Every character and level plays like a deathmatch map, immersed in the period sensibilities that speed equated awesome action. If you don't mind running at top pace through low-res approximations of areas inspired by the films, this will certainly work your adrenal glands. If you're looking for something more focused on detail and with an actual story, you're going to want to skip ahead to AvP2.

NOTE: AvP1 is generally a fucker about running on Windows XP. If you have an NVIDIA card, now it's a motherfucker. I recommend you do your research before jumping in, or download one of the old demos to check how well it runs for you. Alternatively, get AvP Gold and this fan patch. Solved all problems for me.

-reviewed 3/1/09 - game copyright 1999 Fox Interactive, Inc.

Great lighting, custom engine works well. The three characters are captured perfectly, and make for very unique deathmatch.

Virtually no plot. Areas lack detail and only vaguely invoke the tech of Aliens. Straightforward AI, no maps, and gameplay like a typical FPS shooting gallery make for weak single-player.

	7
	8
	7
	7
	78%

Alien vs. Predator on MobyGames