If you take two beloved sci-fi franchises, each one being an absolute brilliant example of science fiction, entertainment and overall a milestone in popular culture, and put them together, you would think that you have a sure fire hit, right? Get Aliens and Predators and put them together on paper, PC, console or a movie screen and it's surely destined for greatness, right?
I WISH.
What the f... weak! |
Oh, s**t's goin' down! |
In 1994 when I was 9 years old, I practically defecated myself when I saw the article for "Alien vs. Predator" in my "Game Players" magazine (which I still own). The article included screenshots that made me realize it's a first-person shooter, not some crappy side-scrolling beat 'em up like the first two games to carry the AvP moniker. Not only could you be Predators or Aliens, but you could be my heroes: The Colonial Marines! I jumped for joy! Then, my heart was torn to bits when I read it was an exculsive for the Atari Jaguar. I didn't own one and I didn't know anyone that owned one. In fact, nobody owned one, which is why it was such a complete failure. So, despite a good critical reception, this game was doomed to fail financially, just like every other Jaguar exclusive. I ended up playing it several years later in late 90's, when the emulation scene started to flourish. I remember the emulation being less than perfect, but good enough. Maybe from ages 9 to 13 I had mentally built up what Alien vs. Predator could be like, so unsurprisingly I was disappointed. Yeah, it was different and a solid FPS, but ultimately the poor presentation ruined the atmosphere which, in turn, ruined the game. The sprite animations were poor, the sound was terrible, the level design uninspired... it just felt bleh. Maybe I was spoiled by having just finished Half-Life, I don't know. Really, a good AvP game cannot be made with 1994's technology, but at least they tried.
Apparently, in 1994, infrared was a big orange mess. |
Kudos to you, Rebellion. |
So, ten years (and one okay but disappointing non-Rebellion made AvP2) later, "Aliens vs. Predator" was released. Again, the atmosphere was captured pretty well and all three species' campaigns are a blast. The sites and sounds are wonderful. There is also a decent amount of multiplayer game modes. However, this time, the species of Alien, Predator and Colonial Marine are horribly unbalanced, even worse than before. The Aliens and Predators have the ability to "insta-kill" their prey if they can either stun them or get behind them. It's a very cool feature that really adds to the presentation of the game; instead of running up a clawing their opponent to death, for example, the Alien will pick them up and ram their secondary mouth through their skull. Very cool. However, the circumstances that enable the "Press E" command are extremely lenient; I can't tell you how many times I've turned around face to face with an Alien who then does his from-behind insta-kill. Basically, a Predator or Alien player can run around spam the E button and rack up kills fairly quick. The Alien can see players through walls and can run on any surface, so, thanks to level design amongst other factors, they have the greatest advantage. Playing as the Alien takes little to no skill whatsoever, so a skilled Marine player won't be able to outkill even a n00b Alien player. The Preds and Marines aren't just fodder by any means, and really the developers were probably sticking to being faithful to the source material, so it is what it is. Couple this with the fact that everyone spawns all over the map at random, multiplayer can be quite the clusterf*ck. Other multiplayer modes, like Infestation and Predator Hunt, aren't so bad, so I give kudos to Rebellion on their third attempt. Anyway, the game came out to mixed reviews and good sales. Cool, so there's still money in the franchise, which means more AvP games which always makes me a happy boy. Still, even the latest title is not quite "there", just like before. So, what is it? What is this missing attribute that been holding down the franchise?
AvP evolution |
How can something like this be done?
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