One thing that really helped the tension in the first game was the random enemy placement; you just never knew where the next attack was going to come from. I liked AvP 2, but you always knew when monsters were going to jump out at you.
The MP in AvP 2 was very good though; probably Monolith's finest hour in regards to multiplayer.
I played a *lot* of the AvP2 multiplayer; unfortunately I couldn't get the full game at the time. It was very fun, and I'm definitely looking forward to this. I hope the balance the mp sides correctly in Team Deathmatch. The Marines team only works if you have more marines than aliens. Without the right proportions (Predators < Aliens < Marines) the game fell apart since a lone marine vs 2 predators just couldn't win. Which is the way it should be.
This is on my "Must buy" list. I've adored the PC AvP games for a long time and used to dominate as an Alien on Mplayer when it was still kicking. I look forward to stalking prey on a dark and dank ceiling again.
This just went back onto my radar in a major way. My only concern now is if my computer will run it.
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I'm on the fence too. I'm not sure an AvP game can ever make me feel like I'm wading through the kind of tension and conflict the respective movies effortlessly inspire. Actually it'd be great to get another Predator movie on the books, now that I think about it. Well, I don't consider any of the movies after Aliens (II) and Predator II to be very good or canonical even :P Movie execs actually thought the Alien movies needed Ellen Ripley? No, they didn't! Aliens III shoulda been about Hicks, Newt, and the invasion of earth, just like in the comics! Get a clue, production companies!
The survival gameplay mode in AvP2 was a top notch multiplayer experience. Everyone started as a marine except one player who was an alien. Everytime a marine died, he'd respawn as an alien, until all the marines had been killed. whoever lasted longest gained the most points. This is the closest any game thus far has come to really nailing the Aliens (the second movie) feel. You would hole up and defend against the onslaught...until you were eventually overwhelmed. Classic.
I'd like to think this game will be just as good -- especially since the AvP2 servers have died out -- but without Monolith making it, I have strong doubts it'll live up to the legacy.
I blogged excitedly about this one for a while. ...until I read a couple of impressions articles. TeamXbox and CVG.
Quote:
There were some other problems with what we played, though it’s important for us to withhold judgment until we see the actual final finished product. What we played might have been really rough in the framerate department, but that’s often cleared up after a game has spent more time in development. They do have until 2010 to get that straightened out. But everything else about the graphics seemed really bland and retrograde, not the kind of thing that current generation hardware like the stuff inside PS3’s and Xbox 360’s is capable of. I can’t imagine that the team has placeholder graphics in place at this point in development, but I really kind of hope that they do. (TeamXbox)
I am not all about pretty pictures, but controls and framerate affect gameplay. I hope it does well because that would bode well for Gearbox's Aliens:Colonial Marines. I will be waiting for improved impressions before I lay down the cash on this one though.
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