Aliens vs. Predator 2 Review

Playing Red Faction, No One Lives Forever and the classics (HL, Deus Ex), one can easily follow the very positive evolution of the FPS genre. I can proudly say that the days of Quake II single player games are behind us, and that games like RF and AvP2 are clearly setting the new mid-level standards in the shooter field - with games like Deus Ex, Half-Life, and Max Payne being on the high end, of course.

Visually, Aliens vs. Predator 2 looks good, but not good enough to have you stop for a second and gaze at the in-game environments. I've never been a great fan of the LithTech technology, mainly because it's a mix of excellent and very poor features, which make it lack visual consistency. Unfortunately, this is also the case with Aliens vs. Predator 2. Some of the outdoor environments are spectacular and the models are detailed and excellently animated, but the engine is having real troubles rendering the indoor to outdoor transition. The FPS drops considerably, and there is really no excuse for that, since I was playing the game on a GeForce 3 and a 1.2 T-bird, with 1GHz of RAM. Also, the car models still look like LEGO vehicles (similar to what we've seen in NOLF) and the textures are a far cry from the detailed work in Max Payne, or even Quake III. Hey, at least the programmers and artists got the lighting right...

Still, I would've preferred to see this game on a modified Unreal engine, or better yet, the Unreal Warfare engine. Max FX would seem like a good bet, too.

The music is perfectly complementary to the thrilling action, but I had some major problems with the repetitive sound effects and some rather amateurish voice acting. For a game that relies so much on generating a great horror atmosphere, having to listen to various people whine the same way throughout the game can be a major turn-off. And as for Predators, maybe they should've worked on tech-enhancing their vocal chords a bit. They all seem to let out a limited number of screams. One wonders how they communicate at all.

Finally, the AI is acceptable and it doesn't exhibit any serious drawbacks. The marines can see and hear you, and the aliens will try to flank you as much as possible (although their main strength in terms of intelligence is their Doom-like spawning - dropping down various sewer shafts and such). This aspect of game design can be best described as non-intrusive, as it doesn't fascinate in any way, but it also doesn't take away from the atmosphere and the quality of the gameplay.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but CPL has included Aliens vs. Predator 2 as one of the official games of the competition. I don't know if this had anything to do with Fox or 20th Century, but after playing various MP modes at the office, I can clearly see why this game can be interesting to online gamers. The varying styles of gameplay offer innovative tactics and a conceptually different experience than playing games like Counter-Strike or Quake III.

All in all, if you're a FPS gamer looking for a game to make you jump off your seat a couple of times, or you just like to scare your (gullible) date with Predator sounds coming out your mighty subwoofer, AvP2 is the game for you. Monolith has managed to refresh the series in more ways than I initially expected. I called the game an unoriginal copy after playing the demo, but it turns out I was wrong. The Lith gang threw in some subtle nuances, managed to raise the mood bar, and add a more cinematic feel. As for the replay value, I think you got the picture - three campaigns and fun multiplayer (hunt mode is great).

Enough with my blabbering; I recommend you buy this one.