Sierra Best Sellers: Aliens vs Predator 2 (PC CD)

To some extent, it has done admirably. As before, we have a set of linear missions for each character to follow, loosely based within the same story - make no mistake, this game has a plot to follow, and it's only by following the characters through the game that the full extent of the "incident" will become clear. There are about seven missions for each, which will keep you going for a little while, and this time you have a save capability (so you won't have to keep starting again from square one). A good start if there ever was one.

Obviously some people will prefer playing some parts more than others. The Colonial Marine, Corporal "Frosty" Harrison, has the best game because it's an experience we can all relate to. We are reunited with the capable (but sometimes untrustworthy) motion sensor, the ever-useful Pulse Rifle, and the devastating Smartgun, as well as some redeveloped favourites such as the Minigun and Grenade Launcher. The Marine is a walking arsenal, but you're on your own, and ammo is not to wasted lightly. And as an aside, neither are flares, which will be in limited supply, and are almost essential in some parts of the game to see where on earth you are going - or what you are shooting at.

The Predator has some of his toys remodelled and refined, now including a net-gun, the devastating speargun, that lethal throwing disc, and of course the ever-useful wristblades and plasmacaster. It's a high-tech array of useful kit, but the Predator is by no means a tank. Unlike the original game, the Predator can recharge his energy supply himself, so there's no worries about running out of juice and taking on every enemy with your bare hands (boy, was that frightening). But the Predator's kit has its drawbacks. Its vision modes are species-specific - that means, if you are using your thermal mode to see humans in a dark corridor, you'd better hope there aren't any aliens in there, because you'll be blind to them. And it's worth saying that some of his weapons work better than others against different types of enemy (naturally).

But it's the alien that's the hardest to play, and to be fair the developers have done their best to make it a good experience. You actually start out as an escaped facehugger (that type that gave John Hurt a fatal embrace in the original film), later progressing to be a Chestburster, and then larger strains of alien creatures. This is an interesting approach, since the younger/earlier forms of alien have limietd size, mobility and fighting capability. As a chestburster some pimply 'tech with a pistol can splat you across the floor, so it's a game of stealth to begin with - it's not until later you get a chance for some payback, and to start snapping those jaws on some unsuspecting victims...

The game is well-developed and well realised, with the three species being quite evenly matched in their own way, while having distinctly different capabilities. It's a triumph of gameplay, and the game engine performs well under just about any system produced over the last four years. It's a genuine joy to play every so often. So why have I marked it down to just Four Stars?

Well, it's a question of experience. The problem with a game being made of three stories means that, while the whole game is a respectable length, it means that each of the three stories feels a bit short. If anything, the story-driven missions actually make this problem worse, because it feels like you've been so immersed in the situation that the loose ends were tied up too suddenly, and that the proverbial rug has been pulled out from under your feet. It's a bit of an anticlimax, and I can't help but wonder if the time spent developing multiplayer aspects might not have been better spent adding content to the single player game. After all, the expansion pack would have plenty of space for improvements and additions...

So overall, a brilliant game, well made and well played, and definitely worth owning if you don't already have a copy on your shelf. Four Stars overall, only just missing out on Five despite its pocket-money price.

But Aliens vs Predator 2 is not just a game for me, the reason i hold it in such high esteem is because it has stayed so faithful to the films. The movement of aliens, predators and marines is all very well structured, the graphics are impeccable, and the sound is increadible. All sound in the game, across all 3 species are EXACTLY the same as off the films, the paulse rifle, motion sensor, hissing of the alien and the strange sounds of the predators machinery have been mastered perfectly to fit the game.

The single player is great, the marine is increadible, its like your thrown straight into the film, from beginning to end you will catch yourelf hugging the walls and topping your clip up in the (frequent) event that the corridors will fill with Xenomorphs and predators, it is simply thrilling and is an experience which is truly great, especially if you are a film lover.

The aliens single player is interesting as much as entertaining, be an alien, from face hugger to chest burster to a fully grown perfect killing machine! You can run at super human speed, leap across the screen to an innocent marines throat, and scale the walls and ceilings of the game to find the perfect alien behaviour, something which has kept youths pondering through and since the alien triology (+ resurection). Finally the predators single player mode is very fun, his main weapon is that he can cloak and attack with surprise, he battels agains his former foe Rykov, a mad ex marine and his army of corporates to retrieve his lost mak, and ultimately to claim his bare skull, into his collection.

The mulitplayer truly is a great experience, barricade tunnels with marines equipped with mini guns and flame throwers or patrol the overhanging air vents with a xenomorph, there is so much scope for creativity when playing with 3 species and up to 20 players across many multi player maps that it is made the best game currently for the PC. Not as scary as the single player but way more entertaining, make friends and fight to see which is the superior of the three species.

All in all a GREAT game, my favourite for the past year, the choise of three species across single and mulitiplayer gaming will keep you entertained for a long, long time, i guarantee, for game lovers a must, for the film lovers it is epic.

Where the game really shines is in the multiplayer experience, there are still a lot of populated servers out there. With many different types of game play.