Aliens vs Predator Review and Video

It’s Game Over, Man

Unfortunately for Aliens vs Predator, the multiplayer suffers from many of the same problems as the singleplayer, with the issues often exacerbated by the fact that you’re playing against real people who have absolutely no problem with turning your own cheap tricks against you.

There are some positives, such as the plentiful maps (even if most of them are the bastard sons of singleplayer levels, again) and modes. You can pretty quickly customise the experience and, because Aliens vs Predator is tied into Steamworks, you get some fashionable bits and pieces, like achievements and friends lists. Be warned though, that it’s all done through menu-wading and the obvious, short-sighted comparisons to Modern Warfare 2’s multiplayer setup do have some limited truth within them.

The selection of modes is pleasantly robust, allowing for both species-limited matches and the less advisable all-out deathmatch with no holds barred. Aliens vs Predator multiplayer is pretty obviously best experienced as a team game, say with a bunch of Aliens tackling a cadre of Marines, and most of the modes pander to that, but there are some more open game types for those of you that just enjoy chaos.


As a side note, it’s been confusing to see how Rebellion has sabotaged themselves with the recent AVP demo, which limited match customisation massively, had wonky matchmaking and only made the deathmatch mode available. Even aside from the technical problems the demo has had the standard deathmatch mode is by far the worst way to play simply because same species fights get old very, very quickly. Sure, Alien vs Alien sparring sounds funs, but it’s a far cry from the blitzingly fast fistfight you’d expect. That’s the type of action you can still only find in Jedi Knight lightsaber battles…

Through and through though, the multiplayer is wounded by the same shallow melee system that ruins much of the singleplayer game; a melee system which encourages drawn-out instakills from grabs and balancing which makes most other tactics either redundant or not worth the effort.

Granted, grabbing opponents in a multiplayer game is supposedly balanced out by the fact that you’re unable to move while the protracted kill animation finishes, but in reality that doesn’t change anything. The smart thing to do in the face of that is to avoid doing grab-kills; a tactic which removes much of the Alien potency and leaves it as threatening as a photo of itself. It takes something special to give you much more than a paper cut.

It’s a shame really, but much of what is wrong with Aliens vs Predator can be laid squarely at the feet of the new melee system. Marines simply shouldn’t be able to block a Predator wristblade attack, let alone able to knock Aliens over with a simple riflebutt and open them up for a shotgun headshot in the process. It undermines the balance of the game and alters the tone of the Marine experience in a way which damages the tension that marked the original. The new game just isn’t as scary as the old one is, while the other characters suffer from repetition.


In place of fear, Rebellion has opted to pull out the stops when it comes to gore, upping the violence to some genuinely disturbing extremes. Again; it’s an issue that lies solely with the melee system and the new grab moves, which are so fantastically bloody they made even bit-tech.net’s Harry pale and swallow spit. We’re not going to muddle down the whole “is it relevant?” argument because, as Rebellion’s Jason Kingsley previously told us, it is fitting with the franchises and Rebellion do have a creative freedom to do it.

However… it’s hard to deny from the way that the decapitated skulls and still dripping spinal columns are needlessly paraded in front of the camera that the game is bordering on the excessive. We’re not squeamish sorts and we’re pretty mature in how we approach computer games, but there’s at least two members of the bit-tech staff who’ve been put off the game by the bloodiness and the belief that it’s all just a bit silly and pathetic.

At the same time, the limited animations and the regularity with which players end up seeing them mean that they quickly become desensitizing and (more relevant to a review) boring. There’s a grotesque novelty that arises from seeing an Alien impale a Soldier from hole to hole for the first time. You’ll get that queer, combined tickle of “oh that’s so gross/that’s so cool” the second and third time you see it too, but not the tenth, twelfth or fiftieth time. By that point it’s just dull – and that’s a big problem when at least two thirds of the game involve finding ways to do it.

The remaining third of Aliens vs Predator – the Human campaign, the co-op mode and the team-based multiplayer – are all solidly designed. Truth be told even the worse part of the game isn’t wholly bad anyway, it’s just disappointingly familiar and bland.

Score Guide