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Like in the first game, there are three distinct campaigns. One lets you play as the Predator, another as an Alien, and a third as the overconfident humans they prey upon. This time out the stories are much more detailed, even crossing over in interesting ways. The plot concerns some arrogant human scientists, a group of heroic marines, a rogue Predator, and the faceless Alien horde found on LV-1201 (the planet from the first two Alien films).
As a human, you play a fearless roughneck sent to check things out and perform missions. This generally involves rescuing fellow marines, recon work, restoring power to various systems, and trying to stay alive against fast-moving killing machines with acid for blood and nasty dispositions. You're armed with the incredible pulse rifle from the films, other weapons such as a knife and a smart gun (which automatically locks onto targets for you), a tension-inducing motion tracker, and a shoulder-mounted flashlight that casts eerie shadows. The Predator is armed with his shoulder cannon, cloaking device, spear, and his famous wrist claws.
The Alien campaign is the most interesting as it first casts you as the spiderlike face hugger. You've got to roam the corridors looking for a solitary victim. Once you implant a human, you play the small and snakelike chest-burster, seeking out rodents and other tiny prey so you can quickly molt and grow into a full-fledged alien. Then all hell breaks loose as the humans become your prey. You can claw, perform a head bite (which restores health), and execute a fearsome pounce attack that literally explodes the target. Aliens can also cling and climb on walls, which takes some getting used to, but the effect is exhilarating, as is the hunt.
The graphics are evocative of the films and feature strobe lights, flashing reds and whites, ample darkness, abandoned barricades, sputtering ruined equipment, and horrific scenes of carnage. The music rises and falls with the drama and draws heavily from the Alien films in particular. And the game is relentlessly creepy, whether or not you are the hunter or hunted. The audio is equally effective, from screaming humans to screeching alien attackers to the familiar Predator purring chuckle. The game is also filled with often amusing conversations between guards, marines, and scientists.
The three campaigns offer 21 missions, but the wide range of multiplayer game modes deserve special mention. The game has legs, no matter which species you prefer, and already a community has sprung up for challenges between gamers. Unfortunately, the Net code is a bit buggy: be sure to download the latest patch.
Monolith has created a much better game than the previous installment, mainly by pumping up the atmosphere, refining the controls, and making sure the three stories combine into a greater tale of horror and survival. Oh, and most importantly to some, the game lets you save whenever you want. Just remember this when playing the game--on the Internet, no one can hear you scream, but your neighbors can. --Bob Andrews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Get this game (if your computer can handle it).,
By "halberdier" (Crawling through the bushes) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Aliens Versus Predator 2 (CD-ROM)
This game is a vast improvement over the flawed original. For one, the graphics are much better, though not as good as some of the newer games out there. Still, they aren't bad and the atmosphere in the game is wonderful. Where the original felt more like a run-of-the mill shooter wherein the player mowed down hordes of Aliens (or humans, if you played as the Alien or Predator), this one still has you facing hordes of enemies but does a much better job of emulating the movies' creepy feel. As an example, the first level in the marine campaign has absolutely no enemies in it but it is, IMO, one of the best levels in the single player game. Though there are no foes, scripted events abound as you, cut off from your team, try to make your way back to them. As you go along you'll bump into a few survivors and, before you can do anything, see them slain by the Predator (with suitably tantalizing glimpses of the cloaked predator). You'll find evidence of the Aliens' and Predators' handiwork all around, 'something' will rattle through a duct nearby, things will break or otherwise go haywire in such a way as to make you jump. The atmosphere is pulled off quite well in the Predator and Alien campaigns as well, though they are not as creepy as the Marine campaign.Beyond that, the encounters for each race seem fitting and all of the races are fairly well balanced. The Alien can't take a great deal of punishment but its fast and lethal if it gets in close quarters (and it can climb virtually any surface), the Marine isn't terribly durable either, but with his motion tracker and a devastating arsenal he can be a match for either of the other two races, the Predator is fairly tough and has some good weapons but not anything as purely destructive as some of the Marine weapons. The Alien campaign also has one particularly cool feature in that you start it as a facehugger, your goal then is to avoid the humans until you can find a suitably isolated host. Once thats done, you become the chestburster, the 'child' stage of the Alien, again you have to sneak around until you grow larger. Once that has happened you become a full grown Alien and the flesh-rending fun begins :-). If I have any complaints its that the 'minimum requirements' for this game are a joke. As with most graphically intensive games, your RAM and the quality of your 3d card are more important. If you have a decent 3D card and 256 or more megs of RAM you should be okay, however, if you have only the 128 megs the box calls for, the game will stutter a lot even in the lower detail ranges. (...) That and you'll want to do a full install for maximum performance. The nearly one and a half gigs that the full install eats up can be painful if you have a small hard drive :-(. Though its a fun game at any detail level, being able to max the graphics out certainly helps :-). To sum it up, this game is definitely worth the money and a good follow up to the original, though you'll want to have a fairly beefy computer to run it well.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh-My-God,
By "-kaiser-" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Aliens Versus Predator 2 (CD-ROM)
As a large fan of the original Aliens Versus Predator, I was naturally excited when i heard about the sequal. And, i must say, that when i first played the Single Player Demo (in which you play as a Colonial marine), i was slightly dissappointed. The Aliens looked wrong, the game played like a slide-show...it really annoyed me that a sequal with such high potential should be such a let down...But since playing the much more recently released MultiPlayer Demo, and then the final game, i must say, all that apprehension has gone, and has been replaced by a feeling of love...love for this game. The Aliens now look much better, the animations are superb, the game is much quicker and plays fine on my computer. And, the best part...i finally know what it is like to play a Predator and an Alien in AvP2. Both of these species have been given their full due attention, with clearly a lot of thought been put into keeping them consistant with the movies. The Predator has his cloak, which turns off when he falls underwater (a nice touch), along with all the other weapons from the movies...with the additions of a few more. Also, instead of extremely unrealistic 'Field Charges' randomly dropped around levels to recharge the Predator's energy, the Predator now has a useable Recharger...which fits in perfectly with his Healing MediComp. These might sound like an unfair advantage, but remember...both disable the cloak and the Recharger gives off a rediculous amout of light and electricity...which can be seen a mile away. the Alien has all the old favorite moves (Claw attack, Tail attack, Headbite), with the addition of a new one...the Pounce, which can literally fling the Alien player all the way across the map! The Marine gets some handy new weapons and abilities...two of the best are his Hand Welding Torch, which can be used to open and seal doorways and vents, and his shoulder lamp, a feature which was needed many a time in the original game. The sights, sounds and feel of the films have been recreated to a tee in this Gem of a game, and it is enjoyable for both die-hard Alien or Predator fans, and traditional FPS fans alike. I give it 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Alien Versus Predator 2 (AVP2),
By
This review is from: Aliens Versus Predator 2 (CD-ROM)
I had played the first one as well. Although AVP was a good game. It had no story what so ever and the gameplay is basically just running from point A to Point B.This game fixed all of that. It has a good story to it. The Graphics are astounding as always. But the sound has greatly improved. It sounds almost like the movies. The game play has also went up as well. The drawback however is that the game is short. Plus you should have a Pentium 3 at 700 Mhg+ and 256MB RAM+ for a smooth performance. Like the previous game you get to play the 3 charactors. THe Predator who has all the high tech gadgets from the plasma Shoulder cannon to the "Disc". He comes to the planet just to hunt. But when his friends are captured. He then tries to rescue them. Only to find out that he has some unfinished bussiness (of 20 years) to attend to. The Human you play is a Marine name Cpl. Harrison. He can have all the firepower a man would need plus all the gadgets to bypass computers and doors and to weld off locks. He is sent with a Platoon to rescue any survivors and to keep the place intact. Only to find out that "The Company" has other plans with the Marines. The Alien you play is the most interesting one of all. You start out as a Facehugger (a spiderlike creature) looking for a host. To a Baby alien looking for food, to an adult drone looking for the hive. He (or she) is the one who started the whole mess at LV-1201. If you love the movies then get this game. 2115|R3Q4LC3F8SV318;2115|R23XGFCF1TGV96;2115|R19LU41ALWRELA;
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