"Aliens vs. Predator 2010"...a fan's review!!!!

Having just gotten finished playing through the Alien campaign, i'm surprised at how well handled it was, as far as the campaign itself goes.  Yeah it was kinda difficult in some parts, but got a little easier if you know what you're doing, let alone where to explore.  So this latest blog entry will contain my review of the game itself, including a rating breakdown in gameplay, enviroment, achievements, etc.

(NOTE:  My score for the gameplay has went up from my last blog entry from 8/10, to a solid 9)

Atmosphere/Enviroment - 10/10

One of the things I felt that Rebellion got right with this game, is how they captured the enviroment and atmosphere of the first three "Alien" films as well as both "Predator" movies when designing the look of the planet BG-386, which is where the game's story takes place.  It's also pretty cool how they directly referenced Ripley's character in one of the audio logs you pick up when playing as the Colonial Marine, especially since it's voiced by Lance Henriksen who plays an important role as Karl Bishop Weyland, the game's main antagonist (who famously played Bishop in "Aliens" and reprised the role in "Alien 3").  It also kinda feels like the first "Dead Space" game in certain areas, mainly whenever you come across one of the lit generators on various levels.

Violence - 10/10

Only 3 words can describe the Stealth and Trophy kills within the game when playing as either the Alien or Predator:  BRUTAL AS HELL!!!!

That's right, whenever you sneak up on an unsuspecting victim (excluding unarmed civilians) to perform a Stealth or Trophy kill, the gameplay goes into a sort-of mini-cutscene showing how it's actually done.  And it's good that the developers didn't hold back on it, because this is staying true to the characters that made them iconic in the first place.  In fact, here's a video showcasing some of the finishing moves performed by both the Alien and Predator:

"AvP 2010" - Stealth and Trophy Kills:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTtRitHbPJg

(NOTE:  Kinda feels more like a "Mortal Kombat" moment whenever a finisher is being performed, as the Fatalities are some of the nastiest deaths ever in a fighting game)

Voice-acting - 9/10

I think it was actually pretty decent how they got fellow "Aliens" actor William Hope to voice the character of Dr. Groves, the antagonist in the Alien campaign, on top of Lance Henriksen voicing Weyland.  And maybe if-and-when another game gets the greenlight, perhaps they could somehow get Michael Biehn to voice the main protagnist if he's interested.  Although they could've gotten Jenette Goldstein to voice the character of Tequila (one of the Marine protagonists) and make it a sort-of true "Aliens" reunion, so it loses a point here.  However, I still do give Laila Pyne for major credit portraying the character the best she could, but I strongly feel that Jenette would've nailed it perfectly.  Plus, it should be mentioned that William Hope also had done some vocals for the Alien/Predator in "AvP 2".

(NOTE:  Some of her dialogue when completing certain tasks or getting to a certain area can be quite funny if you can time the situations just right)

Weapons/Equipment/Sounds - 9/10

I liked how they gave both the playable Predator and Marine characters a number of weapons and equipment to work with, making the player to choose which ones is best for which situations, especially considering ammo can be very scarce if you're not paying attention.  Although that can be made up for the fact that the pistol, while still keeping the reloading factor, has unlimited ammo, which I found to be a neat little touch.  The addition of the double-barreled pump action shotgun was also a decent, but again, ammo for it can be scarce.  The Motion Tracker has the 2-ping sound just like in "Aliens", instead of the 1-ping sound from both prior "AvP" games.  Although, I have read some complaints about the sound effect of the Smartgun, and (to some extent) I agree with it.  While it's definitely a kickass weapon to use, the sound of it firing doesn't have the same ones from the original game.  One could argue that it's meant to be an upgrade of sorts, but at the same time, the events in "AvP 2" takes places exactly 21-years after this game.  I've also read similar complaints about how the Predator doesn't have his iconic speargun and netgun (2 weapons first featured in the film "Predator 2") which I also agree with, so I deduct 1-point from the rating.  However, you could argue the guys at Rebellion made up for it, but giving your Predator character wristblades on both arms making him much better at blocking/attacking during melee combat, and you stay cloaked when using the SmartDisc.  Like the Marine's ammo, the power nodes will also be somewhat scarce, making the player to use the plasmacaster and proximity mines wisely.

The sound effects for the Predator's mask are taken directly from "Predator 2" that uses a whoosh-type sound, although the whip-crack sound from the original "Predator" can be heard at the beginning of the final boss fight in the Alien Campaign, if you pay close attention.


(NOTE:  The Marine can also use his guns as melee weapons against Heavy Attacks, or shield himself from Light Attacks)


Story - 8/10

Fairly simple and complex story that interlocks at certain places, but it's best played from the Alien's perspective first, as it shows you how everything went down on BG-386.  However, despite the story being well-developed, it still acknowledges the 2 "Alien vs. Predator" movies in some way, particularly the first film, hence the 2-point deduction.  Because if you played through the entire Marine campaign, one the various Audio Diaries you pick up has Weyland's character talking about the 2004 incident on Bouvetoya Island, where his ancestor Charles Bishop Weyland (also played by Lance Henriksen) sees the Alien and Predator characters fighting it out, as well as mentioning the cancer that was slowly killing him.

(NOTE:  The reason of the 2-point deduction, is because that the game references the first "AvP" film in one of the Audio Diaries you pick up.  And if anyone remembers, the movie itself was heavily criticised by longtime fans of the AVP comics and video games as well as those who grew up watching the original films countless times, because of how the film took place on Present-Day Earth and not on a colony planet far in the future, and that's on top of the dreaded PG-13 rating which pissed almost everyone off)

Achievements - N/A

I honestly can't rate this one, but it is definitely a fun little thing getting various achievements, some of them being straightforward, while others being unlocked after performing certain tasks.  Plus, i'd also give big thanks to the guys at RoosterTeeth for making a series of helpful (and funny) videos that helped me get the Harsh Language, Let's Rock, and the You-Have-My-Sympathies achievements.  The other single-player achievements I had to either get myself or look up other video walkthroughs for help, but nonetheless, it was pretty well done.

(TIP:  When going for the Grim Reaper or the other 3 collectables achievements, my best advice is to play the game either on Easy or Normal, so you could not only familiarize yourself with the controls, but also restart the game from the last checkpoint.  If you attempt it on Hard, exercise extreme caution while doing this, even though you got checkpoints help you out.  But I wouldn't advise this while playing the game on Nightmare, as there's zero checkpoints and you'll be forced to start a mission from the very beginning each time you get killed.)


Well i'm hoping my latest entry here was both helpful as well as informative, as I find the game to be pretty decent and a worthy entry in the franchise.  So if anyone has comments/questions, feel free to contact me at my Yahoo address:  iceman_2589@yahoo.com


(EDIT, as of July 18, 2012:   As mentioned above, i'm glad that the guys at Rebellion didn't hold back on the violence within the game, which was basically staying true to the source material.  Because just before the game itself came out mid-February 2010, various government officials in Australia wanted Rebellion to release a watered down, or in this case "sanitised", version of "Aliens vs. Predator".  Rebellion CEO Jason Kingsley had mentioned in interviews that the company was disappointed that Australian officials refused to carry/sell the game, but also goes on to mention that the game is very frightening, bloody, and made for adults.  In fact, Michael Molcher, one of the PB executives at Rebellion, had sent me some news articles talking about the controversy in an e-mail, and I figured i'd share with you:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/sega-wins-appeal-against-avp-ban-in-australia

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/rebellion-disappointed-with-australias-banning-of-avp

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/12/18/0728235/australian-avp-ban-reversed

http://games.slashdot.org/story/09/12/18/0728235/australian-avp-ban-reversed

http://kotaku.com/5418963/rebellion-refuses-to-sanitise-avp-for-australian-release)

AvP: Comics/Novels/Games/Films

Before I continue writing my next article here, I would like to give thanks to both Ian Whyte and David Twohy for allowing me to talk with them about their experiences working on the "Alien" and "AvP" projects (for those who don't know, it was David Twohy who wrote an unused "Alien 3" script, which is floating around on the web), as well as giving me permission to do a story on it.  At the same time, I would also like to thank Michael Molcher and the various team members at Rebellion for also allowing me permission to do a story on their 2 "AvP" games, which i'm a proud owner of.  So whenever the guys at SEGA should ever decide to greenlight another game, that Rebellion would get the chance to work on it for the 3rd time.


I was introduced to the AvP lore as a teen, as some of the malls had bookstores that carried the comics which I would often check out whenever I could, and I thought it would be a pretty cool movie adaptation in the vein of Jim Cameron's "Aliens".  In fact, for those who played the original PC game that was released in 1999 (later re-released to run on newer computer systems like Windows Vista & 7), the first mission in the Colonial Marine campaign takes places exactly 10-years after the events in "Aliens" and "Alien 3", where the Hadley's Hope colony was re-built to continue on experimenting with the Xenomorphs.  Here's a video from the first missions in all 3 campaigns:

"AvP Classic 2000 - Alien - Episode 1 - Temple": 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dItKT7q8ybo&noredirect=1

"AvP Classic 2000 - Predator - Episode 1 - Waterfall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLlwDboss3Q&feature=related

"AvP Classic 2000 - Marine - Episode 1 - Derelict:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsLPOiYzFPA&feature=related

(NOTE:  The reason why i've posted the first episodes only, is because I wanted to show an example on how the film adaptations could've been, had 20th Century Fox taken the franchise more seriously.  Not to mention, if anyone's interested in watching a walkthrough too.)  


I was kind of skeptical about "AvP 2010", despite the new game respecting the older "Alien" and "Predator" films, it also acknowledges the 2 current film adaptations as well, which was the only disappointing thing I found about it.  But after having played the actual game for myself, it's actually a pretty decent game and i'd rate it 8/10 (the 2nd lost point is for the Smartgun not having its iconic sound as the ones from "Aliens" and "AvP 1999"), so I feel that the game was unfairly bashed on by other players for reasons unknown.  Plus, playing the Marine campaign almost has that "Doom 3" style vibe for first-time players, as you'll be picking up audio logs for the Harsh Language achievement.  And speaking of "AvP 2010", here's some gameplay footage from all 3 campaigns:

"AvP 2010 - Marine - Pyramid":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73DQXGNS-u0

"AvP 2010 - Predator - Jungle":
Part 1:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqGYDeJeYKY&feature=relmfu
Part 2:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtRKSLuazZo&feature=relmfu

"AvP 2010 - Alien - Research Labs":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-HXZq_8DDs&feature=relmfu

Now if the guys at Rebellion and Monolith/Sierra can respect the Alien and Predator universes with the video games, and Dark Horse Comics with the various comics and graphic novels, why can't 20th Century Fox do the same thing for the film adaptation.  It would've been both cool and freaky seeing a Pred-Alien designed by the master himself, H.R. Giger, on the big-screen.  So if and when Fox should ever decide (and that's a big IF) to reboot the AVP film franchise from complete scratch, with David Twohy in mind, they outta first research into what made the original films we all grew up watching work so well.