[AVP] Finished the human campaign

[Sam]

Well, I just finished off the human campaign for Aliens vs. Predator and I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it. I enjoyed myself, but I felt like there was something missing from the experience.

On the plus side, the human campaign has atmosphere to spare. Creeping along in the dark with an underpowered shoulder light and a weapon low on ammunition while the place crawls with Aliens is really what it's all about. It's a pity that the actual confrontations with the Aliens seem to encourage entering into a hand-to-hand combat with the things, because every successful tussle with the Aliens makes them just a little bit less scary. Plus, when an Alien spits acid on me, I expect it to hurt more than it does.

I was disappointed by the relative lack of Predator action in the campaign. It's exciting when the Predator shows up because all the anti-Alien combat techniques go right out the window. I would have liked to have had more of that to season the Alien-centric fighting.

I know some of you have the game. How did you feel about the human campaign? What were your likes and dislikes? What would you have wanted to see more of? Or less of?

[Darkblade Bug]

I actually liked the fact you only contended with one predator...but I would have liked to see a little more of him. I know in AvP2, he was stalking you from the very beginning, though you only fought him once. It really added to the atmosphere and the feeling of being hunted - something I didn't really get in this game.

The atmosphere around the Bugs is simply amazing, though. When you've got the pistol, you're shit-scared because you know it won't do anything special. When you have the shotgun, you've usually only got a few shells for it so you know you're really going to have to make them count. When you've got plenty of ammo and a Pulse Rifle, you're soiling yourself because THEY'RE COMING OUTTA THE GODDAMN WALLS. When you have the Smartgun, though, you feel invincible - till the ammo starts to run low. The pacing between these types of tension is about perfect - it didn't get at all repetitive for me.

My advice - don't bother about playing the game on Easy or Normal. The close-combat prompts really rob a lot of the bug's power, because the game tells you what to press. If you want the bugs to be the CQB death machines they are, play on Hard. It got to the point on Normal where I was beating the predator boss in melee, putting a single pistol round into him, then starting again. I'd kill him half an hour later with no damage. Believe me, you want to play this on hard. That's what multiplayer is set at anyway ^_^

I liked how the storyline tied into the AvP movies (before you start to nerdrage, actually think for a moment. AvP 1 linked the two continuities together nicely. The storyline wasn't that bad. Don't you dare mention the 2nd one to me tho), and it made you actually care about the characters. If Tequila doesn't make it into the sequel, I will be very, very upset. I was a bit sad that you didn't get to spend more time with some of the other marines - they seemed to die a bit /too/ quickly to me. I'm sure that's down to the fact I never saw any of them use grenades or a Smartgun. Ah well.

All in all...I very much liked the game. Though admittedly, it was Aliens with a predator thrown in halfway through.

[Obi]

I agree, this games is most enjoyable when playing on the hard setting. Anything less and the combat against the Aliens is limited at best. If they do make another one I would like to see a Co-op function for the main story, similar to the HALO games, would bring an extra element to the game which would fit in nicely to all three species.

[Darkblade Bug]

Co-op? SECONDED!

[Quinn]

I did enjoy combat against the bugs on normal, but I never went into close combat against them anyway. What I felt was that they were way too slow, especially on the bridge part. Although the lack of ammo meant I was aiming at the cans to hopefully take them out or wound them. The three round burst on the pistol saved my ass a few times though.

The pulse rifle was nice, but I really missed the being able to bring it up to your shoulder and fire it in nice short bursts. Most of the time I fired a five round burst, and only two or three shots hit my target. The grenade launcher was nice for taking out groups of bugs, and I typically saved a bunch of them for nasty encounters. I did die a few times though.

I loved the flamer a lot because of it's capability to keep crowds at close range at bay. Smartgun was fun, but very limited ammunition. I felt it was nicely balanced.

As for the predator, I felt I was being hunted the entire time. When I saw the shift in air or the distortion, I blasted in it's general direction. But the knowledge that a pred was around was still evident (flayed body dropping in from above gave me a good start) throughout the game.

I'm still waiting on Colonial Marine myself.

[Marcus]

Personally the game started out on a bad note to me. Mostly cause the Rookie get's clonked by some overhead gear.

First of all, I don't think ANY military drop shop would store gear above the heads of the troops. Unless it was LOCKED into the wall.

'Secure that sh-t' comes from somewhere, you know.

But that concussions saves your life. Or does it? Cause the whole time I'm wondering if the Rook has a chest burster that's just ticking over longer than the norm.

cause if you're a face hugger and you see a sleeping marine, you're thinking.... well I'd rather note think about what goes through the 'brain' of THOSE things....

UGH.


That was the scary part for me. On hard, getting torn up by three Xenos, I KNOW there's a medkit just ahead from a playback on easy. then round the corner BAM! Face hugger. Too low on health to resist the bitch and I'm DOWN~~~~.