Jason Trent, Associate Writer

Aliens vs Predator | First Impressions

I was instantly excited the first time I saw screenshots of Aliens vs Predator. The game appeared to be trying something a bit different: offering a class-based campaign where you'd take on the role of the Xenomorphs, Predators, and Space Marines from classic Aliens vs Predator lore. Soon before the game's retail release, players were given the opportunity to try the game's mutiplayer demo, something that only helped bolster my confidence in the title's success. Now that I have my hands on the full version of the game, and have spent a fair amount of time with the campaign, it turns out I was a bit right, and a bit wrong with my expectations.

There are three campaigns in the game: Marines, Aliens, and Predators. As it was the first option on the menu, I went ahead and decided to start with the the Marine campaign. The story itself, at least within the first several hours of the game, is about as generic as it gets. Big tough space marines are on a mission to kill aliens, and wouldn't you know it, you're the rookie who, despite being a bit clumsy and inexperienced, is your squad's last hope for survival. It's all very original. Then there's your female superior... As you progress thorough the campaign, you'll find audio logs (again, very original) of various characters spilling their souls and helping add a little bit to the minimalistic story. It's all very vanilla. Nothing in the story is overly strong, or terribly weak, it's just 'meh.' Your main goal is to survive, but missions such as finding power sources and enabling communications are just some of the mundane tasks sprinkled in. You'll know what to expect as far as objectives go if you've played Doom 3.

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