The Concept

Developer: Monolith
Publisher: Sierra
AVP2 official page: http://avp2.sierra.com

Aliens, Marines, Predators

The Aliens vs. Predator universe is the result of Fox allowing the combination of two of their action movie licenses - the Aliens and Predator movies. The physical world the setting takes place in is the Aliens universe, full of Marines and evil corporations, but with the addition of the Predator race. The universe has been developed mostly in comic books and the setting was found to be quite suitable for a series of excellent games. The first of these games - Aliens vs. Predator on the Atari Jaguar, was about the only good reason to own that console. There was also the excellent arcade side-scroller and finally the AvP game for PC.

The original Aliens vs. Predator for PC took gobs of action, a bit of plot and a lot of dark and gloomy atmosphere to produce an interesting, if unpolished title that garnered the attention of many gamers. Despite its flaws, the three completely different races presented in the game gave it a unique feel, particularly in multiplayer. However, the lack of a substantial plot and simplistic 'shoot and move' gameplay were serious flaws that kept AvP from becoming a major award winner.

Hug me, kiss me, love me

You are the navigator

Can't get through that crack

Fix the bad, keep the good

Aliens vs. Predator 2 differs from the original only in the game engine and revised gameplay. The missions are more memorable, have puzzles in addition to action and there is a fairly strong, central plot that binds all three races. Only part of the story is related with any given side, and the general outlines of the whole situation. To get the complete picture, you must play each race.

The flow the plot is independent of the order you play the races in, but playing them in the order that the game displays is recommended - if only to keep things interesting. The main problem is that while the Marine is interesting and challenging (being the weakest and blindest of the three races), and the Predator has its cloaking and other toys, the Alien is too damn interesting. After playing a creature that can leap across a room, climb on walls, see in the dark, eat its opponent's heads with a second mouth, the other races become far too dull. Keep that in mind as you play AvP2 - don't even TRY the Alien until you are done the other races.