There have been (or will be) twelve films that feature the Alien, the Predator or both. Of those twelve, I have seen one, because how can you not have seen Predator? I say this just to make it clear that when it comes to playing Aliens versus Predator, I'm not playing as a die-hard fan of one or both franchises.
First-person shooters can take us to all kinds of places and have us do many different things, and their immersion can make for some great gaming moments. Aliens versus Predator does what it should always have done - give players the ability to immerse themselves into the boots of the Predator, the... feet of the Alien, and the shoes of the unfortunate Colonial Marine caught in the middle in three campaigns of action and suspense.
Knowing what I know, how long will I survive against these off-world foes?
Fun Times
Shortly after its release in 1999 (I say 'shortly', it was two years), the developers released the source code to AvP to allow the fans it had found the ability to keep the game alive as they saw fit, and, after a decade of quiet, it was the fact that this game had been kept alive in some form that meant I and many others were able to play the Aliens verus Predator Classic 2000 re-release, complete with modern fixes and tweaks.
The single player kicks off with a choice of species, each having its own story to follow. Starting from nothing, I saw it fit to stick to what I know and be a Colonial Marine.
A short CGI cutscene has me hopefully waking from a bad dream of something that definitely couldn't happen, rather than some kind of vision of the future or something. In either case, it is perfectly natural that we grab our gun and hold it tight.
And just like that, we're in the game, in ultrawide-o-vision, tracking down the source of another humans voice to a monitor and a live action video. It feels both welcoming and out of place. It's nice to see an actual human to remind us that we're playing as an actual human and if we feel spooked it's because the situation is spooky, or if we're pumped up on adrenaline, it's because our character is in a hectic moment of action.
It's out of place in that the actor isn't fantastic, and it's a little jarring to see something so detailed stuck on a screen whose in-game model isn't. It's almost too good.
AvP is also 'too' something else.
Frustrations
It's too damn dark in this place, wherever this place is. Thankfully, we are equipped with an endless supply of flares to light our way through the corridors - I hope they're endless, at least.
Lights do play a part in guiding you around the level, so even in the dark you do get a sense of where to walk - the 'Exit' signs still function, luckily - but for an opening level to be so pitch black is a bold choice to make. Eventually, I'm told that I'm equipped with night vision.
Further Fun Times
Muuuuuch better. Now instead of getting disorientated in the dark, I can get overwhelmed by my optics, which pulse and bloom and lord knows what else. I'll take it over the flares any day.
Soon enough, I round a corner and see something move, or more accurately, hurl itself at my face, sharp pointy bits especially sharp and pointy and looking for something to sink into.
Naturally, I pulled the trigger until everything stopped moving. It was an Alien, of that much I'm sure. I've no idea how good it looks in-game though. By the time I got my night vision off and the flare out, its bubbling corpse was melting out of existence.
Moving further into the level, I get the sense that something rather bad has happened, but I don't really know what. The videos are hard to follow when the Aliens interrupt them, and the messages/subtitles that give you a heads up as to what the next step of your objective is are tucked right up to the top of the screen.
Even with a largely corridor-based level with a clear route, I was getting a little lost, especially when stuck looking at this type of screen for a while.
Eventually, after trying the flares back out for a bit, I had to make my way through an Alien hive, I think it was, in order to get out of the level. I tried to use the sensor that you have equipped too, to ping life-signs and get an idea of their direction. I don't think I knew how best to use it, so I didn't. Back to the night vision I went...
Even the sky is dark, and after this first level, I desperately wanted a change. It was a fast moving FPS, but I couldn't see a thing. Hopefully, the other beings have brighter campaign openers.
The Alien campaign looked promising. Human intruders need dealing with, so we need to scurry on out there and deal with them.
A scurry you do. With his fish-eye field of vision and, again, slick movement, the Alien feels like I imagine the Alien to feel like. Like he has the upper hand on a situation because of his range of movement and vision. I imagine there are some weaknesses to go with all that, though.
Further Frustrations
The weakness lay with me forgetting where the 'climb walls' button was (it was Control), and after that my options opened up. I couldn't see where to go for a few minutes, partly because it's hidden in a place where you need to climb the walls to see it, but mostly because, again, everything is dark and hard to make out.
The alternate vision mode is good, but limited in its range, so I can't quite rely on that. I did find the tunnel out of this first area though, which lead to a pillar of light. Again, trying to follow the objectives is tricky when you don't quite know what they're referring to, so I assumed this was some kind of teleporter out of this place and into where I needed to be - completely rational, when I am Alien, I think you'll find.
No. Instant death. Don't do that.
I couldn't find my way out on the second attempt and committed Alien suicide in this thing again. It's not looking too good for AvP, but at least the P is coming up next.
Further Fun Times
Now I've only seen the first Predator film, so I'm no expert, but I know the Predator has some funky tech and violent skills, so this should be a good one.
Not only has he been blessed with good level lighting, but three alternate vision modes are available, each highlighting a different part of the world, I would imagine. Seeing as we could see, though, I switched back to boring ol' visible light mode and carried on with my mission of... again, I've not got a bloody clue. It was probably only one small paragraphs worth of objective but damned if I can tell you what it was.
I don't know what happened, I think I triggered something, and a guard turned around a shot me quite a bit. Or definitely tried too, as I pathetically patted my wristblade towards his head. He eventually went down, as confirmed by my thermal image mode. Hopefully, nothing too bad will come of tha- nope, everyone's on high alert.
I ran away and turned invisible in a corner, thinking that'd be more useful to me. It was... until the enemy started spraying down the corridors, knowing something was there but not knowing where. Given this game has quite a few corridors, that's a good strategy. Until they need to reload.
That's an awful lot of my blood. There's still a marine going mad somewhere. I better finish him off.
Further Frustrations
Or he can finish me off. Yeah, why not? He's just doing his job, I suppose.
Final Word
And so I put AvP down. I had successfully navigated one human level, then failed to get anywhere in both alien levels. That seems fitting, in a way, but disappointing in others.
What little I had experienced as the Alien or the Predator I liked - here and there. I liked how the three campaigns are grounded in the same universe, but play differently based on who or what you are playing as. Different races have different weapons, and different weapons mean different strategies. The marine's guns obviously mean going loud, often on the defensive, reacting to aliens jumping out at you. The Predators wristblade means efficient melee kills are the goal, but his crossbow can deal silent damage from a distance. That leaves the Alien as your one real in your face killing machine, skulking through the darkness, clinging to the walls until it finds you.
AvP does all of this, as though the developers really, really wanted to do the franchises justice. But I only know this from videos of people - of fans - who know more than me and have enough persistence in getting good at this game.
I don't think it's the difficulty that is it's problem - not that I'd know from what little I played - but the look of it. There's dark and there's black, and it's the one big thing - other than my failures as alien races - that is stopping me from progressing through the colonial marines' campaign.
I've had a video on while I write this, and I've not spoiled any of the plots because I don't think it's possible to follow any plot. Levels seem like a case of getting from start to finish, destroying everything that needs destroying. While that's not necessarily a bad thing, it might get repetitive.
But I'm not likely to be the kind of person to find that out for sure. Maybe you are. If you're a fan of either franchise, I think it's well worth checking out. The developers clearly care for the look and feel of the stars of the show, and it goes a long way towards making it a must play. I'm glad to know it's there if ever my mood changes.
Fun Facts
Despite PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions getting canned, the go-ahead was given for a Game Boy Advance port of AvP... which got canned as well. Some games just don't need to travel.
Aliens versus Predator, developed by Rebellion Developments, first released in 1999.
Version played: Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000, PC, 2010.
Version watched: Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000, PC, 2010 (World of Longplays)