This game is an incredible improvement on the first. I loved AVP for all it was worth, and this is all that and so much more. The ONLY downside of this game is that it's reletivly short, each campaign is only six levels or so. The game-play is phenominal however, whether the marine alien or predator, it's loads of fun. Each has it's own benefits, and weaknesses.
As the marine, you have access to an assorment of weapons, a few rather potent ones too. You even get different kinds of ammo for them, like amor piercing rounds for the otherwise weak pistol, or shotgun slugs instead of scattershot. Also, in addition to all the weapons from AVP, you also now can get a sniper rifle, though the single player modes don't really have you use it at any point, it's still a good addition for multiplay value alone. The marine is pretty good mostly for his motion tracker, and the weapons, basically everything you have is a projectile weapon, except the knife. This is good and bad, You never really have to get close to anything, but if your wasteful with ammo your screwed. The marine is essentialy the weakest physical character in the game. You can barely jump, and your really slow in comparison to either the predator or the alien.
As the alien, you have only what's attached to you. Your weapons are your claws and your tail. The alien is possibly the most fun to play though, being stealthy and creeping up behind marines is quite a lot of fun, not to mention biting all their heads off. Your claws basically just rip people up, and your tail just kinda stuns em, but if you charge up your tail (I know, sounds weird) you can kill just about anything aside from the predator with one quick shot. The fastest creature in the game, and possibly the single most fun to play as. The only real addition to the alien since AVP is the pounce attack, you jump foward a good distance and rake your claws on whatever what land on.
As the predator, you have all kinds of weirdo gadgets and gear to help you out. The predator is pretty cool, has the cloaking ability, and the highest jump in the game. Not to mention the vision modes, one for each species. Makes everything your trying to kill stick out like a third testicle. With an oddly advanced sort of technology, the predator is the epitome of the everything a hunter should be. You can snipe from a distance, or sneak up right next to them and thwak their heads off. The biggest addition to the predator is the charger, you no longer have to wait to build energy, if you find a quite spot you can fill it all up real quick. The plasma gun has been modified, it now shoots more like a pistol, less like a mortar. The addition of the netgun is kinda superficial, not exactly a horribly useful weapon, I mean, it doesn't kill anything.
Overall, I think AVP 2 is an incredible sequal to the original. I for one look very forward to an AVP 3, and if I live that long, an AVP 4.
