Game review: Alien vs Predator - Xbox 360

Yet here we are in the presence of what I believe is the 4th incarnation of the Alien vs Predator series, once again watching Bishop admiring the Xenomorph’s simplistic and primal beauty, and once again witnessing the bloodbath of events that happens when you put a Predator, Marines and a Xenomorph all in the same room.

Fortunately this game is set in the future, and all but completely abandons the environment and settings that was established in the awful films released a few years earlier.

Taking the imagery and feeling from the earlier Alien films was definitely a wise move for the developers, as the world established by Ridley Scott (and later developed by James Cameron, followed reluctantly by David Fincher), makes a perfect setting for a game of this type.

There are three campaigns to play.

First is the Marine campaign, which sees the gamer take control of a character simply known as the Rookie.

Arriving on-planet after your command ship is destroyed by a massive Predator cruiser, you have to pick up the pieces of the events and find out what has happened on the planet.

Taking instructions from a female marine called Tequila, you have to fight off the Xenomorph hoards and run round the facility switching on power generators and searching for the remaining survivors scattered around the complex.

Unfortunately for some of the survivors they have been “hived”, and are expecting an ickle baby Alien to burst through their chests at any minute.

Playing as the marine you find various weapons scattered through the world, all which bear the signature sounds established in the classic 1986 movie Aliens.

There’s the explosive pulse rifle, sounding exactly as if it’s been pulled from the feature film, and the repetitive beep on the motion detector, which ramps up the tension and makes you feel just as petrified as Bill Paxton’s character did.

For the most part the campaign plays quite well. However, there are a few omissions that are glaringly obvious.

Unlike most first person shooters out there, Rookie appears to be unable to duck and take cover. This really bothered me, partly because I am massive chicken and all I wanted to do was hide – especially during those moments when the eggs containing facehuggers hatched. The other reason was because I noticed my NPC counterparts had the ability to do it, which just made me jealous.

Perhaps it is because he is a real rookie, and due to health and safety regulations he hasn’t passed the Weyland-Yutani training course on how to duck properly – futuristic political correctness gone mad. I don’t know, but none the less it’s an odd omission that makes the game feel quite dated.

It’s also strange that you can’t view down the iron sights on your pulse rifle or shotguns – a mechanic that has pretty much become standard on first person shooters in this day and age

The Alien campaign is completely different and gives a bit of back story to the events of the Marine campaign.

Taking control of a captured Xenomorph, number Six, you start off trapped within a science lab in the Weyland-Yutani complex.

Needless to say something goes wrong, the facility’s power is knocked out, you then escape and the humans panic as you and your siblings run around, killing the poor employees in the most grisly way possible.

The lack of any long distance weapons is noticeable during the Alien campaign, but the developers have countered this by changing a few of the in-game mechanics.

Darkness is the Xenomorph’s best friend, so you have the ability to smash lights around the complex so you can confuse the humans, crawl right next to them and spring your attack from out of nowhere.

It also helps (and at times confuses you), that the Xenomorph can run on any surface. Whilst it is a nice little addition, the controls can be a little frustrating and will quite often leave you wondering where the hell you have ended up.

Playing as the Predator is a rewarding experience. Taking control of a Young Blood hunter, who is proving himself to the extra-terrestrial clan, you come equipped with all the weapons and technology featured in the movies – there’s the red cross-hair laser, the thermal vision and, not to mention, the twin wrist blades that come in so handy during those melee attack moments, especially when fighting off the “serpents” (the Predator’s word for the Xenomorphs).

Overall the look and feel of the game is spot on – with the developers throwing in nods to all the movies, and it features quite a number of chilling sequences. Sadly the graphics do look a little dated, and a few tweaks to the motion and movement of playing the Alien could of vastly improved the experience.

The gameplay can get very repetitive at times as well, especially in the Marine campaign – which after several levels becomes a standard bug hunt.

The multiplayer can be good fun, but it still suffers from the same mechanical problems that plague the singleplayer campaigns. It can also take ages to find a game.

If you are a fan of either the Alien or Predator films series then you’ll enjoy Rebellion’s latest effort for it’s novelty value. It’s incredibly faithful to the series, even going so far to make use of the likeness and voice of the actor Lance Henriksen (who famously played the recurring character Bishop). But if you are looking for the next big first person shooter, this game narrowly misses the mark.

Due to the commercial success of Alien vs Predator, a sequel will no doubt be on the way. Fingers crossed they’ll address the problems with this current title, as it really does have the potential to be an entertaining FPS franchise.

Verdict: 6.5 out of 10

The Good

Very faithful to the films
The three campaigns play differently

The Bad

Poor controls
Dated graphics