Aliens vs Predator Review and Video

Nuke ‘em From Orbit

It should be pointed out that Aliens vs Predator isn’t overly long, with the entire Alien campaign beatable in just a few hours and the Predator missions stretched out only by the inclusion of old-fashioned boss battles, the hardest of which takes place in an obligatory lava level.

The Marine campaign is where the true meat of the singleplayer game lies thanks to the over-powered grab-kills that so mortally wound the gameplay of the Alien and Predator. Even the Human missions aren’t all that long though and use many of the same levels from the Alien and Predator missions again, so that the same content is recycled cheaply through the entire game, lessening with impact each time.

We’re honestly at the point where we’d rather eat our own faces than play through the Refinery level again.

There’s an interesting disconnect though which means that, although the Marine campaign is essentially just a grungy, space-soldier FPS like many others, it stands out as the most unique part of Aliens vs Predator because of the tedious melee grind that mars the other two characters.


Much has changed for the Marine and the biggest single one is how scripted the game has become in comparison to the random Alien spawns of the original – a fact which makes surviving Aliens vs Predator as a Marine a more achievable act at the expense of replay value and genuine surprise. It’s not something we honestly have very strong feelings about because, let’s be honest, neither system is without fault, but there’s doubtless a garrison of angry fans ready to riot at the alteration.

What we do have a strong opinion about though is how light Aliens vs Predator is in content in some places. Its one thing to have the three campaigns share mechanics and levels, but other parts of the game are undernourished to the point of woeful starvation – the main culprit being the new Survival mode. Pitting four Marines against waves of AI controlled Aliens who gradually build in number and strength, the Survival mode would be brilliantly replayable and fun if it weren’t for the fact that it only has two levels.


Not big levels either. One of them is literally just one tiny room, mostly shrouded in shadow, while the other is slightly more involved and clearly based on the smartgun scene from Aliens.

Neither of the levels are bad, but it’s frustrating that there’s only two of them – though we’re sure that Sega will be quick to solve the problem with paid-for downloadable content. That’s part of the problem though, especially considering that the singleplayer portion already recycles more than Al Gore – why can’t the co-op make a more interesting use of those levels instead?

Combine with that the fact that the singleplayer is so short and that it’s easily possible to burn through the entire game in just a few sittings and it quickly becomes apparent that Aliens vs Predator is a game which multiplayer ambivalent gamers may want to skip over, because there’s just not enough content to keep solo gamers occupied for long.

Oh, and speaking of the multiplayer…