A Start in the right direction for the AvP Franchise

So, we’ve seen quite a few Aliens titles that are OK and some horrible Predator titles, but for the first time on PC, both of these blockbuster creatures are in one game. Aliens Versus Predator Gold takes the first person perspective and puts you in the role of Xenomorph (Alien), Predator, or Human in 15 levels.

For a first attempt, AvP makes a good first impression. Released in early 2000, the graphics look very dated compared to modern titles. For 2000, the Xenomorphs and Predator models look good, but in comparison to games like Unreal Tournament (99) the character models just seem lack luster. The levels seem to be very angular in design. There are hard corners that make the hallways either square or octagonal in design. Since there are organic locations like the Xenomorph hive, this just looks out of place. The lighting effect from flare usage works, but it fails to provide the realistic approach that modern FPS’s have given to mobile light sources. An interesting side note is that the Predator blood glows. Although this provides no significant lighting, it is a nice effect. Overall, the painted textures are not enough to convince the eye that you’re really in the location the level was designed to imitate.

The audio does a great job, but only in some areas. Again, since they have the Aliens and Predator licenses, they were able to pull the sound effects used in the movies. This brings a certain level of authenticity; however, it’s the voice-overs and original sound effects that fail to perform. Yes, they do what they are intended, but truth be told, the gunfire and miscellaneous audio effects just do not seem to match the quality of the licensed content. To make matters worse, during the game, Rebellion provided video screens with actors telling the status of the situation (as the humans see it). There were many actors in these videos; however, in AvP Gold, it’s been reduced to one person who fails to do more than provide a narrative. Because of his relatively unchanged tone, I found myself very unconvinced that he saw the urgency of the situation. Beyond that, panicking civilians scream and recite 2-3 lines in fear. Most unconvincing, but it does the job.

Unlike AvP 2, there are only 3 play styles in AvP: Gold. There is the Xenomorph, Predator, and Human. The Xenomorph is still the melee fighter. Although quick, Xenomorph relies on its tail to do any real damage. Slashing with claws doesn’t help and face biting is too difficult to aim to be useful. The benefit of playing as the Xenomorph is that you can eat the dead for a boost in health. Predator and Human play almost too similar. The majority of Predator weapons are projectile based while all the human weapons are projectile based. The only real difference is that the Predator must vision cycle to see various prey. The obvious downside to having 4 vision modes is that if you choose the wrong vision mode, you will be blind to something. With humans, there are two vision modes. The Image Intensifier is like night vision and has all the drawbacks when there are strong light sources present. In addition to this, you loose your motion tracker ability while in Image Intensifier vision. While in normal vision, you must rely on flares to see. You can only deploy 4 flares at a time. The benefit of using normal vision is a flawed motion tracker. It not only tracks moving objects, but also stationary players. This means that you’ll never get a false reading nor be at a disadvantage if you rely heavily on flares and your motion tracker. So, in this case, the humans have a major advantage.

The weapon line up seems very unbalanced. First, there is the Predator spear gun which is a guaranteed 1-hit kill on any target. Players can not locate ammo for this weapon, but considering you start with more than a quiver full, any player can kill more then purposely die only to respawn and kill again. The other Predator weapons include the Disc, Shoulder Cannon, Wrist Blades, and Energy Pistol. Although the Disc has homing ability and can be recalled, it offers limited usefulness in comparison to the Spear Gun. The other weapons seem to have limited use as well. The Pistol is only good against Xenomorphs, and provides enough splash damage to hurt you during close quarter combat. As the human, you get a variety of guns. The Smart Gun may be the best for its homing abilities, but the Skeeter seems to be the most destructive. The Skeeter launches a volley of grenades that ping around for a few seconds before exploding. This makes this weapon insanely cheap. A new addition is the pistol, but this is only a last ditch weapon to be used when you are out of ammo because it is too weak to do any real damage. The Pulse Rifle featured in Aliens (the movie) is the standard weapon of choice for marines. Featuring a grenade launcher and standard repeating rounds, it’s the most balanced weapon in the game. Beyond the aforementioned, you get all the other common FPS guns in some format.

Multiplayer is fun once you connect. The problem with multiplayer is that it is void of a lobby system. As such, you cannot change levels or readjust the rules when you find the matches getting unbalanced. Plus, to connect, you must have the IP of the host. Not as easy as the sequel. In multiplayer, you can choose from only 3 characters (Alien, Predator, and Marine). Most people will choose the Predator or Marine because against a human opponent, the Xenomorph fails to make a show of power. The game styles include death match and species death match (aka: team death match.). Other modes include Alien Tag and Predator Tag. Both of these start with one player as the Alien or Predator (respectively) while the rest of the players are marines. Whoever kills the player that’s “IT”, will become the Alien or Predator. Only the person that’s “IT” can score. New to the game is Cooperative mode. What this boils down to is the original Skirmish mode, but with two player capability. Skirmish throws a never ending swarm of Xenomorphs as players and requires them to survive. The longer you survive the better; however, there are no rewards for surviving.

Please don’t play this game if you’re looking for a story. Basically, the stories are not intertwined at all. If you play as human, you’re suppressing a Xenomorph infestation. Predator is rescuing clan mates from human research labs, and Xenomorph is killing humans that have invaded their hive in a temple. Because the missions are so disjointed, the majority of them seem like they could be stand alone levels. There is no smooth transition between stages that fosters any type of linear relations. The only exception is the Predator levels which do make sense as the Predator journeys into the human facilities. Otherwise, I can’t make out how they go from one place to another. There are levels that get reused from species to species, but because of the way the stories are written, it just does not do a good job of providing a connection between the stories.

At the end of the day, I would recommend AvP 2 over AvP: Gold. AvP may have been good in its day, but now it’s just too dated to match up against modern games. In addition to this, Rebellion insists the game is compatible with Windows XP. This is a lie. There is a 90% stability. Any time the game loads a cut scene; there is a 99% chance of some type of system error. So, if you’re sitting around with a 350 MHz PC and Win98 with nothing better to do, then you might consider picking up this game. If not, I recommend skipping it in favor of AvP 2.