Aliens Vs Predator Hands On Preview [360] Page 2

22 Jan 2010 at 16:37:19 by Andy Alderson

The remainder of the Marine campaign we play involves a couple of siege scenarios with multiple hostiles, a furiously beeping motion detector and a frantic chase through the sewers towards the safety of daylight that ends in surprising fashion. From our time as a Marine, it seems the atmosphere of AvP remains intact and that was always the major plus point of the series. We can only imagine how terrifying it will become later in the game, especially as Rebellion has a habit of isolating you from your squad mates.

Once I’ve calmed down from the teaser of the Marine campaign, I find myself looking forward to trying out the Xenomorph. Just as Rebellion has crafted a story for the Marines, the alien campaign also has a narrative. The particular Xenomorph you play has been reared in captivity by humans (again, thanks Charles) and is apparently a wee bit special. In a particularly fun training section I’m instructed by my human boss man to demonstrate to his pals that I’m a vicious, unrelenting killing machine as human test subjects are sent into my room, seemingly unaware that they’re rapidly approaching the end of their days.

As I take control of the alien for the first time, it’s hard not to smile as I dash around the room like an excited puppy. Albeit a puppy with massive claws and a second head that pops out of my mouth. The alien moves damn quickly and simply navigating when playing as a Xenomorph is simultaneously fun and challenging. Holding the right trigger allows you to transition to walls and ceilings which can be a little disorientating, although a reticule in the centre of the screen indicates which way up you are. You’ve also got an impressive leap ability which allows you to jump from floor to ceiling/wall in one quick tap of the A button. The alien is, of course, primarily a CQC hunter and you have light and heavy melee attacks mapped to the right and left bumpers respectively while you can lock on to a target and attack from distance by holding the left trigger and tapping RB. The real draw of playing as the alien is in using the environment to get close to an enemy without their knowledge and then unleashing your claws. Or, as I discovered, grabbing an enemy with the X button and then poking both of their eyes out with your tail. Which is just as wonderfully gory as it sounds. After the brief training session you’ll receive a call from the queen, instructing you to escape from the facility and free her which gives you the opportunity to put your newly-learned skills to good use, wreaking glorious, uber-violent havoc in the facility.

Finally, I sat down with the Predator missions, learning the craft of the universe’s most fearsome trophy hunters in a small arena setting. The Predator has a variety of ranged and close up attacks, with strong and weak melee moves mapped to the bumpers in the same way as the Alien controls. But of course, the Predator also has that cannon which can be fired with the right trigger – a tap will fire a quick burst at the selected enemy (you can lock on with LT) while holding down RT will charge up the attack for a more devastating impact. The arena section acts as a training mission for your first challenge as the Predator, hunting some Marines in the jungle outside of the temple. Like the Alien, the Predator has a considerable leap, although you can only leap to approved spaces which are displayed in red. Again, the fun of the Predator missions lies in the stealth – using your cloaking ability to become almost invisible, sneaking up to a Marine and then unleashing a stealth or trophy kill, both of which are spectacularly violent and tend to result in innards leaving the body of the victim.

Even from these brief playable sections it seems that AvP captures the feel of its 1999 predecessor very well , but it’s the way that each campaign feels so different that impressed the most. From the tense, oppressive atmosphere of the Marine missions to the gleeful ultraviolence of the Alien to the stealthy, erm... predatory approach of the Predator. Whether this feeling of variety will endure throughout the campaigns remains to be seen and the Alien controls will certainly take some getting used to.  Stay tuned to IncGamers for our next preview, in which we’ll look at the multiplayer aspect to AvP.

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