Aliens vs. Predator

Obviously a lot of love and work went into this game, so it's not easy to diss it. Still, compare the gameplay of this FPS to any modern FPS and it'll leave you hollow.

A valiant effort, and honestly, kinda fun for a while. It'll be more fun for the roleplaying aspect than gaming.

It is crippled by an inflexible and cumbersome multiplayer system (you have to go to some third party gamer site) and probably limited in various ways by myopic gamer company exec's numbskull ideas (e.g. "Let's make it so you can't save your game! It'll add to the 'pain' of dying!")

If yer bound and determined to buy it, get the Gold Edition, or better yet, wait for the sequel, which should be coming out Real Soon Now.

This is an absolutley great game, i have been playing it for about 2 years, though it lacks in detailed models, you can make or download custom skins or just use the original, it has fast multiplayer gameplay, the 3 species are extremely diverse but well balanced through weapon sets, speed and health. I recommend this game to anyone who like first person shooters.

This is one of those rare occasions where you can play the AVP game, and still enjoy it. In my opinion, it was kinda enjoyable, but the bad things is... it sucked for me.

Now, let me explain. The idea to create a new AVP game (even in 1999) was a good thing. The design in the game is good. When it comes to the final look of marines, aliens and predator. Of course, it was taken from the films, so basically, the design from the movies was well adapted into the game. Seriously, the developers did a good job of putting exterior and interior design, which is inspired by the films. The graphics, for 1999, were swell. To mention that Half-Life was released a year earlier, or so, you can clearly see that the graphics are pretty much the same. The sound effects were great and the music score - I think that was the best. A really high-voltage in action sequences with Predator and Marine, and very creepy and atmospheric with Alien. But, that is why I only give it 5 stars.

Here's why it sucked. The controls. The controls are unbearable! When you, for example, run so fast (with all three campaigns), the entire situation of your character becomes uncontrollable. The enemies, sometimes jumps out so fast, so you collide with them first, before you open fire. On occasion, you can't even see who, or from where, is attacking you. Even when you are walking, you basically slip. Yep, the surface is pretty slippery. And when you are running... that's even more terrible. This is one reason to get your frustration high. The next is limited game saving. Why can't I save my game normally? I never found it normal to have limited saving slots. That makes the game intense, sure. But not in the gameplay or atmosphere, but rather in frustrating way that you have to count your saves. And all that while you are moving like a Road Runner on a slippery surface. The atmosphere was not that good. I mentioned that the design is good and well adapted, but when it comes to the switches and buttons, or maybe vent opening that you need to brake to proceed... there were moments when you just can't distinguish one from another. Especially in Alien missions. That was even more frustrating. The game has a lack of story, but I can understand it, in a way. And you can clearly see that the developers wanted to devout themselves to other stuff, but not in the story. It was an older game and maybe, they didn't have enough time, or resources to put a more complex story. The plot, or missions are given in marine (and Predator) missions from a computer screens where you can hear and see your superiors spewing commands and giving you guidance through level. Pretty solid idea, but in all three campaigns , those dudes on screen were such a bad actors, and with their weird accents, it just makes it more funnier.

At least I won't deny that game play is pretty cool with all three campaigns. You really feel like a Predator, or Alien... but not that much. Because sometimes melee attacks, or some of the weapons are bad, the targeting is bad with Predator, for example.

So, to conclude, the game has a lot frustrating moments, and it basically repels you. I remember the first time I tried to play it... I was instantly repelled. But, years later I decided to give it another shot and I beat it. But, I wasn't satisfied enough. So, if you are the fan of the games and movies, this is your thing. But I would rather recommend AVP 2 (2001) and AVP (2010).

With no less than six movies about the two out at the time, and at least one very strong hint towards them meeting, there was plenty of material for this. They certainly also implemented about as much of it as they could... in places, this is a veritable cornucopia of such. Fortunately, they not merely slap this together with a little of this and that... while not as well-crafted as the second, this game is great. It can be frustrating, in part due to the difficulty(and originally, you couldn't even save), which should also be noted isn't entirely even, either... each race does not have the same amount of trouble with their campaign, for example. There are glitches and the like, but not too many, and few that are major. One of its main detractor is really the lack of an overall story-line. It features all three species, and they're fairly well-rounded and equal. Some decisions made to make them so were not the best ones, however... the Predator can come off as something of a tank(not... quite what he's perceived as on the screen), and the Marine(poor guy must have *such* an inferiority complex, never mentioned in a title...) not only has to pick up any gun but the main one(including from one mission to the other) to use it, but several of the ones firing bullets seem to "lock up" sometimes(in both cases, presumably to keep them from becoming too powerful, maybe in particular due to the Alien, with his complete lack of ranged attack; this was improved upon in the sequel). Nevertheless, each is fun to play as, and will usually do a pretty darn reasonable job of emulating the experience of the films. The video-game isn't all that long... the initial task of figuring out where you have to go(this production, if anything, will test your spatial skills, as well as memory) and what to do to complete a given objective or level makes it last more, and a number of unlock-ables will have you going back and replaying. Each of the three will meet the other two, at more than one point in the course of playing. This is perhaps more challenging than atmospheric... not that much build-up is herein. On the other hand, it *is* intense... if this doesn't leave your nerves in shreds, they must be laced with adamantium. There is something of a randomizer within this... whether that's positive or not is really up to the individual players; but from one attempt to the other, the number, weaponry and placement of enemies(and for the last option, also items needed to progress further) may vary, if not every time, and not always that much. The sound isn't bad at all. I haven't said the last about the similarities to the silver screen stories... more or less(but not completely) every piece of the respective arsenals are here, with multiple additions, as well. If you enjoyed Aliens and/or either of the Predator flicks, especially the action(or, really, the horror, too, this actually works marvelously well as both, the genres are achieved well, here), this is good(not to say fantastic) news. A lot of the equipment and abilities are also there(and done nicely much of the time). Vision Modes, the Motion Tracker, Wall-Running and more. I'm afraid I can't claim that they had perfected the last-mentioned at this point... far too often, they seem to stick to stuff(painfully vulnerable, rather literally), and not even only when controlled by a player, which somewhat ruins the illusion and otherwise fine mood of this. At points, the goals and objectives could be more interesting, and stronger defined, but they had to work with two creatures whose goals and values are not made clear. Each side gets one intro/outro-cutscene(each), relatively well-done. You sadly sometimes have to engage in silly routines to make up for the shortcomings. Still, this is worth playing, even after its follow-up. The playing styles differ between the three, possibly best compared to RTS titles with three sides. AI is wildly mixed... and I can't help but feel that it's awful considerably and noticeably more than all that much towards the other end of the spectrum. One thing that simply has got to get described is Skirmish, or the multi-player's Co-op mode; it puts the other two other against an endless stream of Xenomorphs, all controlled by the AI(and the others all humans). This can be a recreation reaching absolutely indescribable heights, and can frequently last for extensive lengths of time, and sometimes ages remarkably well. The humor of this(whether or not it's misplaced is another subjective matter) lies almost exclusively in the bonus elements(the earlier mentioned extras that can be gained in this piece of electronic entertainment). There are bonus levels, earned through finishing the main portion(for each of the three, its missions earned when that... yeah, you get the drift... I hope...?), more of the set total available through the higher the setting you accomplish it on... and these aren't original ones, but more re-used, sometimes backwards, from the other two's collection of such(and let's just say that... some get more mobility than they had earlier, in them). And then there are Cheat Options. These seem to largely, or even altogether, perchance, be things that the creators just found by fiddling around with code and the like, and then put them in this way. They are... well, some are weird, more than one make things easier(mind you, you cannot use them first time), and they are more often than not... well, different, if not always anything else at all. Make sure to see the Target, when the statistics are displayed, if you want these... that's what you're aiming for, what will let you acquire them. Multi-player is sufficient(including the modes), and stable and well-supported. If you want an authentic experience within the fictitious universes, this can be terrific. I recommend this to any fan of either or both franchises, and/or any of the three characters. 7/10

I have been an Alien and Predator fanatic since I was about 8 years old. I still remember how I got into the films (the details I won't bore you with). But when this game came out, our family had just got our first really good computer at the time (a whopping 6GB hard drive at the time. Which makes me laugh, seeing as how I have more than that on my PHONE now). I had just started getting into computer games, with Unreal Tournament, Counter-Strike, Half-Life, nerdy stuff like that. Anyways, it was 1999 when this game was released, I was about 13 when it was released; and wow. I was in a state of awe, the graphics were phenomenal for it's time (still tolerable today) and never had I seen any video game capture the atmosphere of a film so well. It feels like you are actually in the movie. While playing as a marine; the flashing emergency lights in an otherwise dark environment, not sure if you see what you think you see in the distance, and before you can blink there's an alien charging at you! As a Predator, cycling vision modes with that heart-beat sound. Being cloaked, looking down on unsuspecting marines before you vaporize their torsos. Last but not least; the Alien. Lightning fast, vicious tail and claws, scale any surface, drop from any distance, see in any spectrum of light. This game nailed everything! The only complaint is that the predator's arsenal was fairly lacking, so it gets boring to play as one fairly fast. So, after all this time and it's aging graphics, it's still the first game I load onto my computer when I reformat or buy a new computer, it's always good and I never get sick of it. AvP 2 was fun and all, but it seemed a cheap arcade version of the first.

P.S. The online was also incomparable for it's time, the game modes, the levels, the overall fun of it all. It'd probably be near impossible to find any servers to play on nowadays, but if you can convince a friend to play this, the co-op mode is lots of fun!