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Reader Reviews
28 reviews. Average Rating: 6.46
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Publisher:  Genre: Action
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Mac OS X: 10.2.5 Mac OS Classic: Not Supported
CPU: G4 @ 700 MHz RAM: 256 MB Graphics: 32 MB VRAM |
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Aliens vs. Predator 2
August 15, 2003 | Nat Panek |
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Turning to Mr. Handsome himself, the Predator ends up deeply enmeshed in the human-alien conflict. In addition to being a subject of the humans’ hybridizing experiments, he’ll be dealing with one particular human with a big, personal grudge against his kind. That’s okay, though, because the Predator has a laundry list of tools and weapons to deal with the situation. Returning from the previous game, we have the basic yet deadly wristblades, the speargun, the shoulder cannon, the disk, and the pistol. New gear includes a standard, primitive spear (don’t let its simplicity fool you--fighting humans, I used this weapon more than any other); a netgun (used to ensnare opponents from a distance for later elimination); and remote bombs (basically detonation packs that will stick wherever they’re thrown and explode when you trigger them). Some of these weapons have alternate fire modes, and all of them have advantages and drawbacks. For example, the speargun is great for sniping, but if you’re not careful to collect all the spears you fire, you’ll find replacement ammo almost impossible to come by.
The Predator has more technology at his disposal, though. The three alternate vision modes, the cloaking field, and the medicomp are all back. In addition, this time out the Predator has something called a charge emitter, which is basically equivalent to the human hacking device, used to open doors and disable equipment. Another great new tool is the energy sifter, a device the Predator can take out whenever his energy supply gets low (using all that techno-gear will drain energy pretty quickly) that will fill the energy meter back up in a matter of seconds. This makes the Predator essentially self-sustaining. However, when using the sifter, the Predator can’t move faster than a walk, and certainly can’t engage in combat. And if he should ever lose the sifter device. . . well, he’d really need to watch his step.
One last talent possessed by the Predator is a newfound leaping ability. Sadly, the grappling hook from the first game does not make the transition to AvP2. On the bright side, the Predator can now jump about three times his height, which comes in very handy. One of the most enjoyable parts of the Predator campaign, I found, was leaping, cloaked, from treetop to treetop in outdoor levels, stalking unsuspecting humans. A very well done realization of the Predator’s main joy in life: hunting.
The Predator campaign will pit you against humans and aliens, but rarely both at the same time. Both species tend to be more dangerous in groups, and human heavy weapons can finish off the Predator fairly quickly if you’re not careful. You’ll especially want to look out for a new model of synthetic human, designed for combat; it can take a lot of abuse and is usually heavily armed. Stealth is often the key to defeating human foes. Don’t bother cloaking yourself when fighting aliens, though. Invisibility makes no difference to creatures without eyes.
Finally, we have the alien, death incarnate. The alien uses no weapons; the alien is a weapon. Teeth, claws, tail and blinding speed are all you get to work with, but they are all you’ll need. And besides, you’ll never run out of ammo. Playing as the alien works pretty much the same way it did in the original game, with some modifications. Unfortunately, the 180-degree field of vision present in the first game’s alien campaign is gone; I always felt it made the experience of playing as an alien more, well, alien. In any case, your alien FOV will look more human this time around. Second, you get a crosshair in the middle of the screen, which makes it considerably easier to head bite victims (head biting still being the best way to regain lost health). Third, the tail, used for thwacking enemies in the first game, has been modified here to stun the target. Hit a human with the tail, and he or she will be immobilized for a few seconds, allowing you to either take out any companions, or line up a good head bite. Another new feature is the “pounce” ability, which launches the alien across a huge distance in a split second, with devastating effects on anything in its path. I usually reserved it for attacking the most powerful foes, although it provides a good escape tactic as well. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of playing as an alien is the ability to crawl on walls or ceilings. When wall- or ceiling-crawling in AvP2, the player is provided with little indicator arrows at the edges of the screen that point in the direction of the floor as an orientation aid. Personally, I didn’t find them that useful, and they can be turned off in the preferences.
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