Aliens vs. Predator First Look Preview

Tom, our esteemed leader, really liked the original Aliens vs. Predator games. When asked exactly what he liked about them, Tom remembers being very scared. He couldn’t play them for very long, because, and I quote, “they were too intense”. Now that might sound a tad lame to you and me, but you don’t know Tom like I do. Tom’s scared of everything. When he was seven years old, having watched the 1987 Arnie film, he had to snuggle a Care Bear to protect him from the Predator’s advances (possibly sexual). He insists he was more scared of the Predator skinning him alive than being shot up the arse with his shoulder mounted cannon, but we all know the truth.

This, of course, has nothing to do with the brand new Aliens vs. Predator game, developed by Rebellion and due out early 2010. But it does highlight how fondly remembered the 1999 original and its Monolith-developed sequel are among FPS fans. The alien on Predator on marine action was wonderfully unique, providing genuinely different gameplay styles for each. We all had a favourite then, and Rebellion reckons we’ll all have a favourite now. Rebellion’s under pressure like a marine with the Predator’s iconic red triangle target on his chest. 10 years on, AVP is coming home, and everyone and their dog wants the game to be just as good as they remember the original being.

After being treated to an extended look at the opening levels of the Predator and marine campaigns, we’re already starting to form our opinion on how it’s shaping up. In many ways it’s reminiscent of the first two games – three separate campaigns will be included, each one playable right from the get go. But while they’re independent of each other, their narratives will intertwine throughout the game in what Rebellion calls “crossover points”. They’ll use similar environments – in parts the very same environments – and you’ll get to see how each campaign experience affects the others.

The plot takes its cues from Aliens and the first AVP film. Set some 30 years after the divisive third Alien film, the game begins with the Weylan-Yutani Company finally breaking into a secret chamber hidden deep within an ancient Predator temple on the remote planet BG-386. This triggers a distress signal demanding the temple to be sealed. Rookie Predators are close by and answer the call. Meanwhile, the planet colony, called Freya’s Prospect, is overrun by what was unleashed by the Company’s actions – aliens. Another distress signal is sent, this time calling for human help. The rookie Predators arrive but go mysteriously quiet, causing an elite Predator to land on the planet to sort things out – you play this Predator in the Predator campaign. While this is going on, a crack team of marines arrives to deal with the alien infestation. In the marine campaign you play a rookie desperately trying to survive. The difference between this set up and the second Aliens film, however, is this time the marines know they’re up against xenomorphs and have packed some super advanced weaponry to help deal with them. The alien campaign, on the other hand, sees you play a xenomorph driven to the end of its tether by the Company’s experiments (the Company foolishly reckons it can tame the aliens). As that alien, your only goal is to wreak havoc on the colony, killing anything and everything that gets in your way, including, when they arrive, Predators and marines.

You got all that? Complicated stuff, really, but cool nonetheless. Critics might say it’s too similar to the first AVP movie, which also featured an ancient Predator pyramid and a three-way war, but Rebellion quells this concern when it says fans should be excited by how it’s expanding the universe. The game will “provoke debate”, the developer says, and will go into detail on the Predator race’s origins. Apparently Fox haven’t asked for much in the way of changes, so it should all be taken as canon.

That’s the story, but what about the gameplay? Our first look begins with the opening mission of the marine campaign. Predictably, as soon as the marines arrive on the colony things go very wrong. Your squad is wiped out, leaving you, a rookie, to fend for yourself. You spend a fair bit of time inside the colony walking about in the dark (Tom will be delighted). You’re surrounded by destroyed corridors, melted metal grating evidence of earlier alien activity. That familiar motion tracker pulse guides your first tentative steps in the dark as you attempt to meet up with another group of marines that have locked down a small area of the colony. You hear screams, creaking metal and the scurrying and hissing of Aliens. It’s not pleasant. It’s not comfortable.

It also looks very, very pretty. The game’s been developed using Rebellion’s own graphics engine, which has been specifically designed to make the lighting as impressive as possible. The marine campaign is, at its core, a strategic game of light and dark. Atmosphere is key, and the game’s lighting is central to that. You’ll spend much of your time using flares and torches to light the dark that conceals the deadly aliens.

The power goes out, as do the lights, and all hell breaks loose. AVP then becomes a frantic FPS, with short bursts of assault rifle fire ripping alien flesh to shreds. Headshots result in sprays of green acid. The aliens are tough to kill – they’re fast moving and, because it’s so dark, blend in with pipes and grating. They jump at you, clawing your body to pieces – it’s best to bag them at a distance – their blood melts your face if you’re too close. Sentry guns help but they’re not enough. Aliens pound a sealed door. You wait anxiously. The aliens come – the demo ends.

Now it’s time for the Predator to flex his massive muscles. The opening level of the Predator campaign is strikingly different to the marines’. As the elite Predator, you’re high up in the tall tress of a jungle, spying on unsuspecting marines below. You’ve got access to all the deadly gadgetry from the films, including dual claws, that iconic shoulder mounted cannon and a cloak. Simulating the Predator’s different vision options are “modes”. Focus mode allows you to identify areas of the environment that you’re able to interact with. There’s an alien mode that allows you to see aliens, and, of course, the classic heat vision mode – great for humans. You’ve also got the ability to lay mines and play back speech you’ve recorded throughout your travels (more on that later).

The Predator’s most interesting trick, however, is his ability to leap between two points like a dreadlocked Tarzan. It’s done by holding right trigger to enter Focus mode and pressing X (on the 360 pad) to jump. It’s incredibly useful, and ties in with the idea that the Predator is a hunter, manipulating his prey so he’s able to take them out one by one, rather than a damage-dealing tank.

It’s all about tactics. Going up against one marine with nary a care for your own safety is fine, but two or more are likely to cause you a great deal of damage. The Predator is able to regenerate health by spending “energy” on it (like in the previous games he stabs himself with his alien medkit). One block of energy equals one block of health, although this changes depending on the difficulty. Your energy determines how powerful your cannon blasts are and how many mines you can lay. What it doesn’t determine this time around, however, is the cloak. It’s based on how fast you’re moving – if you stand still you’re invisible, but move fast across a marine’s line of sight or touch an enemy and you’ll be spotted. So you can’t simply spam attacks from the safety of invisibility – you need to think first, then execute.

We see this in action. The Predator, from high up in the tress and with cloak enabled, scouts two marines. Focus vision mode tells him one has a shotgun and the other has a pulse rifle. Silently you move into prime position, jumping from tree to tree. Once above, you open up the chest of the shotgun marine with the cannon, and then leap down, grabbing the pulse marine up close and tearing the head clean off. The Predator caresses the spine – this is your trophy – in true Predator style, the more trophies you’ve got the better rewarded you’ll be at the end of each level. The violence, as it is in the films, is brutal and bloody. I find it very interesting indeed to discover that all the finishing moves are being designed by a vegetarian.

It’s not long before aliens turn up. With the alien vision mode on you’re able to see them, and the holes they emerge from, as green shadows (the cloak’s useless against the aliens, of course, who’ll sniff you out regardless). Aliens know when they’re outnumbered, so will run into their tunnels and wait for back-up before taking you on. As the Predator, your job is to isolate them so that they’re manageable. The cannon’s pretty much useless because the aliens move faster than the lock on, so you need to get up close and personal. The finisher sees the Predator rip out the deadly tongue from the head, stuffing it away for admiration later. Cue lots of acid blood, which doesn’t bother the Predator half as much as it bothers the marines.

At the end of the level The Predator enters a marine compound. It’s made up of high walls and protected by a perimeter fence. Hanging skinned corpses tell you that the rookie Predators walked this path before you – you must be close. The compound is big enough that you’re able to carve your own strategies out from its vertical structures – you leap about, laying mines and calling marines over to where they are with recorded voices. One by one they fall – you move into cloak as quickly as you move out of it. There are sentry guns that need to be powered down – you smash the control with your fist. You power down the perimeter fence and watch as the aliens and marines go at it. This isn’t scripted, and will play out differently depending on how many marines are left and whether you’ve left the sentry guns on or not.

You’re ultimate goal, however, is to find out what happened to the rookies, so you move on. With the marines and aliens dealt with, you finally find out what became of your inexperienced kin – a huge alien/predator hybrid screams in your face. The demo ends. Poor rookies.

What we’ve seen of AVP suggests a game fans of Rebellion’s work will find instantly familiar, but with the graphics to satisfy modern demands. This is both reassuring and concerning. We’ll give Rebellion the benefit of the doubt at this point – it’s holding back details on the alien campaign and the multiplayer, which could turn up some surprises. And, admittedly, we’ve only seen a snippet of what’ll end up on the disc – “four games in one”, Rebellion insists. But what we can say for sure, even at this early point, is that the marine campaign will be very, very scary. I wonder if Tom’s still got that Care Bear?

Aliens vs. Predator is set to be released on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC early 2010.