ALIENS VS PREDATOR ...PC game review
Future. An unspecified location of the Terran colonies.
A Marine of a team of containment, was separated from his unit, the struggle for survival through structures infested Aliens (Aliens Xenomorphs), lying against his will to be confronted against the shady Corporati.
An Alien, born from an egg stolen, struggle to grow and return to its nest, which can then execute the orders of his Queen.
A Predator, a member of a race of hunters, after a stop at the Skull finds himself having to protect his friends and his honor.
These are the three plots that take place, parallel or isolated in this new game weblog FoxInteractive.
THIS I HAVE ALREADY 'SEEN ...
AvP2 is a FPS (First Person Shooter shooter single player), ie we have to drive a person to the fulfillment of the tasks assigned through game levels that will have the nasty habit of being infested with enemies to kill with weapons supplied to us by technology or from Mother Nature.
The peculiarity of AvP2 is the ability to play as a Human Marine, a Predator or an Alien (references to science fiction films of 20CenturyFox are obvious), and that depending on the breed choice will completely change the weapons, equipment, skills, missions, levels and aprte interface. Of course it's a far cry from the "typical" FPS (like Doom, Quake, Duke3D to the latest MaxPaine or RTCW), but it is also true that it is not an absolute novelty: you have probably already guessed, there being a number 2 in the title , which has already existed an Alien vs. Predator. Let's find out together so if this new game is up to the expectations that the first, beautiful, episode left us ...
THE THREE RACES IN GAME
HUMAN: humans know them all, and even the Marines of the future are not so different from those of the present. The Marine AvP2 can use many weapons, from knife and gun to grenade launchers and rocket launchers, via shotgun, machine guns and assault rifles, as well as good armor and first aid kits that you will find scattered here and there. In addition, the Marine has flashlight, night vision goggles, tools for burglary mechanical and computer, as well as a motion detector that signals the approach of other beings (but not if they are hostile or not). The counterparty for the Marines are the Corporates (can not be used in SinglePayer) mercenaries in the pay of scientists responsible for many infections of Aliens, who are trying to erase the evidence by removing, if necessary, those who came into contact with (the Marines, of course .. .)
ALIEN: Xenomorfo the alien is a parasitic creature that, after emerging from the egg laid by the queen, must try to infect organisms (most often human) to evolve the final stage, and then feed to maturity. At that point it becomes a monster only vaguely humanoid that uses superior strength and speed, as well as the unique ability to walk on walls and walls, to dismember and devour the adversaries. This creature does not require any equipment, also because it is perfectly able to recognize the heat produced by other forms of life and to see in the dark.
PREDATOR: this alien race from the fascinating technology knowledge sport has as main task is to collect the skulls of humans killed in special hunts. The Predators are solitary hunters, quiet, often invisible (the technology they possess allows them to conceal it), and usually lethal, thanks to their exotic weapons and extremely precise. A single Predator has, in addition to the weapons, all you need to care for a variety of visual forms and to recharge its energy supplies.
VIL GAME singleplayer
After choosing a race to impersonate and the level of difficulty, the game will show an introductory video made with the same game engine, and then we will be dropped in the action: with the Marine we will be approaching the suspected area, the Predator will be just arrived in the hunting area, with the Alien we just hatched. The three stories are independent (except for cross-references to time, but advancing in parallel in all three I have not yet happened to cross levels in common), and are composed of 7 missions each. Every single mission is, in turn, divided into one or more levels (or areas to explore) and has a precise objective. From the structural standpoint, the missions are never complex: the levels are generally extremely linear (there happen almost never enter, so to speak, in the "wrong corridor"), and only in case the Alien, which can walking on walls and ceilings, you can find not see the output, since it can be an air inlet, a discharge channel, or other hidden openings. On the other hand, the difficulty of fighting is very competitive: Easy difficulty if you will only rarely in serious problems, so it will be at the following three levels of difficulty, which will be able to challenge even the players "navigated". Not that the AI ??is spectacular (the enemies are limited to "give him" without using particular strategies): simply the damages received are large ...
MODE 'MULTIPLAYER
In the three races MultiPlayer specified is added that of the Corporate, which has much in common with the Marine (after all, belong to the same race: human!), Including weapons and equipment. The reason is simple: in team games, your choice of race automatically coincide with the choice of the team, and therefore can not be mixed teams. Therefore, if you wanted to play "on equal terms", the only way would be with a game between a team of Marines and one of Corporates, both made by the same number of suns and Heavy Weapons Specialist (see below for specializations).
However, the problem is, because the three races are very well balanced with each other.
Once you have chosen the breed (and with it any team), you must also choose a specialization, which will indicate with what weapons will be more likely to fight, or will provide or deny access to certain skills (for example, " Pretorian "of Aliens can not walk on walls, but is stronger and armored).
DEATHMATCH: those unfamiliar with the DeathMatch? "All Against All" in a race in an attempt to make the most kills as possible within the time limit, or the first to reach the required score.
TEAM DEATHMATCH: As above, but in teams.
HUNT: half of the players are hunters, the other half prey. If a hunter kills a prey makes a point, if a hunter kills a prey becomes her hunter, and the hunter becomes the prey killed.
SURVIVOR: the beginning it was all against all as a DeathMatch, but after the first killing the dead man becomes a "mutant". At that point, who is killed by the mutant in turn becomes a mutant. The purpose is to resist as long as possible first to be transformed, killing while most mutants possible.
OVERRUN: a team attempts to resist as much as possible to attack the other (better if all the time available).
EVAC, a team trying to reach a point on the map strenuously defended by the other team.
COMMENT GRAPHIC
To realize the game, the developers have taken advantage of the graphics engine already seen in NoOneLivesForever. The graphics engine allows you to use very complex 3D models equipped with wonderful textures and discrete lighting effects, shadows (shadows MANY!), Water, etc., but has the disadvantage of being very heavy and ruinous in terms of hardware requirements . Therefore, if you own a PC to last, or penultimate generation there should be no major problems, but you'll have to reduce something in terms of detail and resolution to enjoy perfect fluidity if your machine had spent one year of age. I refer you to the hardware box for a couple of examples ...
Another problem of the engine is not running the Clipping extremely well too often happens that a body, falling, disappearing through a wall or another body. This, in addition to being ugly to look at, especially tedious playing with the Alien, which recovers energy by eating the heads of slain enemies: if the head is unreachable (read: inside a wall) you have lost a valuable source of energy.
A great advantage of this graphics engine, however, is the fact that even at low resolutions and low detail textures and patterns are very well made, making it still nice (ie scary) to play for the majority of users.
SOUND
A big applause for the soundtrack! In addition to the sound effects, all perfectly realized, we can indeed enjoy beautiful music typically cut film that will change depending on the situations, remaining calm and eager to rule and becoming insistent during the fighting.
The dubbing, present not only in movies but throughout the game (it happens sometimes to steal pieces of speech, or with the Marine to receive messages via radio), are also excellent.
GAMEPLAY 'AND LONGEVITY'
The game, in spite of the linearity of the levels is very well structured, with original missions and environments quite different. What made the game better is the feeling of fear and anxiety that transmits, especially playing with Marine: there will literally need to encounter monsters to have panic attacks. In short, it is like being at the place of the stars of film from which this game and its predecessor are taken.
As already said, each of the three stories is composed of 7 missions, for a total of 21. Whereas the average length of each mission (approximately between 45 minutes and an hour), it can be said that ensures a fun total of about 15-18 hours, which is not very little. Sure, maybe the individual stories are a bit 'small side (5-6 hours), but what it loses in individual longevity in the game retrieves variety: do not forget that it is almost three games in one!
The only criticism that can be done on longevity is the fact that, although there are four difficulty levels, the game loses much of its charm after reading it once, the levels do not inspire the same fear more if you know how and by where enemies will pop, where the traps are located, which way to go and so on. Fortunately MultiPlayer helps to extend not just the fun just watching carefully the spread in this way we can have a clear idea of ??what this game is appropriate for the requirements. We just have to wait ...
CONCLUDING
The game is great fun, complete and exciting. The aura of fear and tension that surrounds it is the icing on the cake for its implementation. It may not be a masterpiece from all points of view, but definitely a title that I recommend to everyone, especially to fans of FPS. Absolutely a must for those who enjoyed the first episode!
comment
Aliens vs. Predator 2 does not bring anything new to sunlight (given that the concept is the same as the subsidy-driven episode), but merely to be a great FPS from a purely technical point of view (graphics and sound), and for the playability, and especially for the atmosphere charged with tension and anxiety that is created in the same game. Adding that it is better supported MultiPlayer, I can only recommend it to all fans.
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