Jason Trent, Associate Writer

Aliens vs Predator Review, Cont.

February 23, 2010

Multiplayer seems to be this game's saving grace. Many of the problems surrounding the single player portion of the game stem from the awful AI, but when there's a real person behind your enemy, you'll finally see the game be played as it was meant to be. Suddenly, aliens rely on the darkness, Predator on their cloaking, and humans on their sonar. The gameplay is a lot more methodical than many other first person shooters out there, and that's a change I can appreciate. You will spend more time stalking and executing your prey than you will with face-to-face combat. It's a satisfying experience, and I can't help but feel that this is where the developers put most of their focus.

Despite the game's problems, there are a few positive points, especially in combat. Hand-to-hand fighting, though shallow, proves to be quite fun. It provided one of the few times I enjoyed during the entire gameplay experience. You won't find combos or anything overly deep, but you do have a quick attack, a strong attack, and the ability to block, which is certainly more than most first person shooters offer. These result in a mechanic that makes combat feel much fresher and hands-on than the rather dull shooting segments, and help quite a bit to make encounters with other races more memorable than they'd otherwise be.

The plot is so unimportant and generic, I'm only going to say this: The space marines are trying to flee an outpost with an alien specimen intact. The Predator are trying to kill the aliens who are trying to escape from the humans. Characters come and go, and you'll never find yourself attached to any of them. There's not much more than that, and yes, I'm being serious. It feels like the developers had a loose idea of what they wanted each campaign to be, then they wrote a story around it as an afterthought.

In the end, I found myself looking for something with a lot of character and atmosphere. Instead, I was given a few good moments and a whole lot of boring and tedious gameplay that I felt I'd been through time and time before, and as I neared the end, I wanted the game to be over. That's a bad sign. I should be delighted with my experience and left wanting more, but unfortunately, that's not something that happened. The main problem is this: the game does not stand on its own without the Aliens vs Predator license. If you were to remove that, the game would be a total flop, so you need to ask yourself whether or not the Aliens vs Predator license is enough to warrant a purchase. If you're looking for a fun multiplayer experience, then you might want to pick this game up, but if a single player experience is more your cup-o-tea, then you're probably better off looking elsewhere.

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