This Alien Vs Predator game marathon starts with sidescrolling brawler game and ends with sidescrolling brawler game. Thus it's time for Capcom's Alien Vs Predator (1994) to shine!
This title is probably the good standard for Alien Vs Predator game or maybe i'm just biased toward this game because i'm Capcom fans. To be more specific, when they still making sidescrolling brawler. Anyway, they're quite nice by putting "tm" on Alien and Predator. They know the importance of legal detail. Unlike other AvsP game, this one is very familiar to me and i played it at least a dozen time because -you know- i really love sidescrolling brawler especially the one that made by Capcom. I even played this in real cabinet!
It happens in San Drad, California. Some unknown danger is unfold there but the city is quarantined immediately so they can handle this well, right?
Engineer_negativevocalization01.wav. San Drad becomes Xenomorph's tourism spot where they can eat and breed to their heart content which is pretty much hell on earth. Wait! Now that i mention it, this could be the same premise as Doom II!
In the middle of this hell is mega TV featuring Street Fighter movie represented by Ryu looking at the back. Also Major Dutch Schaefer and Lieutenant Linn Kurosawa are there too. They're cut off from other marine and try their best to kill as many as Xenomorph before meeting their demise.
But the predators just in time to blow the horde of Xenomorph with their shoulder cannon. Not only they save the marines but also offer them to team up if they still value their lives. My theory: the predators think that human are worthless game but they take interests on this marines that can keep up to this moment (perhaps thank to their cybernetic part which is -let's be honest- a big step up than regular marines). So they like to test these human by inviting them to this hunt. But don't get their good intention wrong! The predators (probably) think them as hunting dog rather than fellow hunter. But at least better than being treated like annoying gnat.
So i'm on to the character select screen. I'm not sure about "Skill" statistic there. Maybe it represent character moveset's capability to deal many hit. To put it simple: how combo-ish the character moveset is. Everyone is skillful as none has small skill stats. Despite the intro, there's only 2 predators instead of 3. Predator Hunter has more strength than Predator Warrior because he's younger than the warrior yet less skillful because he's still inexperienced. I start with Predator Warriors first in spite of his pale skin tone.
Hi, guys! Can't you see the sign? You need to keep out from this terrifying extraterrestrial hunter.
Fine! You're asking for it! The basic control a la Final Fight is here. Consecutive attack on enemies will results in combo up to 4 hits. Pressing attack button will make character picks up nearby weapon, score item, or food item. Pressing both attack and jump button simultaneously will make your character unleash life-draining special attack that useful to sweep away enemies surround your characters to give them breather and -as you know- Xenomorphs love to attack their prey in group so this desperation move is naturally useful.
You get the usual attack button and jump button plus a button to fire character's sidearm, in Predator's case: his shoulder cannon. Unlike the one in SNES game, the plasma bullet doesn't travel straight forward. It travels to nearby enemies in front of the predator or to be precise it's homing on enemy's footing. But its behavior is useful as the projectile explodes on the ground which can blow away group of enemies at once. The damage that cannon inflicts isn't as big as the one in SNES game but the burning effect on Xenomorph worth the effort.
So i went to this warehouse that seems safe but apparently not as there's first boss. Also there's lots barrel with flammable substance within.
The boss name is Chrysalis which probably will grown into queen in future, judging by the already stand out of her size compared to her vassals. But she doesn't take me too seriously because she likes to roll around like oversized Sonic The Hedgehog. Thus i play around with her by playing catch with the deadly disc.
First victory achieved, the predator open his mask and let loose the triumph shout. No need for over-celebration like that, bro! There's lots of stages to tackle ahead.
The shoulder cannon can be overheated if use too often within certain time. Therefore the predator use marine standard issue grenade launcher. Wait! That doesn't sound right. :/
This sewer level sure is unusual as there's no water around here. Usually i don't like using desperation move but i can't say no to Predator spins his combi stick that can slash away Xenomorphs around him.
Then we come across to the mandatory elevator section. There's another bunch of Xenomorph and this Royal Guard that like to spit around. Man! Did your momma not teach you to not to throw your saliva around? Oh, wait. The Queen most lkely teaches every her child to be vicious and outrageous. They're Xenomorph afterall
I find this underground facility and there's lots of dying humans here. Funny thing is this guy warns me although i'm clearly not one of them. Maybe the mask disguise me well.
So, yeah! The guy warned me about the 2nd boss level. He's definitely better at fighting me than the 1st boss level thanks to his long claw and his aggressiveness of lions in gladiator match. Unlike in other Capcom's beat em up game, Predator jumps really long and he can chain his jumping kick up to 3 hits. Speaking of jumping kick, let's compare it with the SNES game for funsie!
I like the kick style of the arcade version better. No wonder as Capcom has lots of experience at Side Scrolling brawler, versus fighting, or any action games so naturally they're excellent at drawing jumping kick pose. How about the uppercut?
There's two or three hair breadth wide of difference. The SNES game focus on showing his hair apparently. Again, Capcom wins. But mind that the SNES game came out in 1993 which is a year before this game. So i give it credits where its due. Where was i? Oh, right! The Razor Claws. He's aggressive but i can handle him fine.
Really? Tons of them only come from one hive? They surely don't know about planned breeding. Maybe we should just inform this to HQ so they can send nuke or satellite laser to that coordinate, right?
By the way, you get nice biceps muscle there, Linn
Of course, not! Silly me! The predators can't settle with bombardment plan obviously. They want hunt every Xenomorph especially the queen. They have to go through swarm of Xenomorph on their way with APC. This level is like turret section on FPS where you can freely shoot enemies. Albeit you don't need to worry about overheating and you can reposition yourself freely to avoid jumping attack from these vicious aliens. You see bigger alien with grey end on his head? That's the boss. He just like to jump around like other aliens but with bigger health.
We made it to the hive but alas! I'm out of lives at the early section of it. By activating the famous suicide bomb i can net tons of kill including the queen but that also means Schaefer and Linn will also dead. Therefore, i chose to use continue instead.
The hive introduces you to Xenomorphs named "Smasher" that like to charge you with their head. So i fight fire with fire by playing as Schaefer. By pressing jump button, he begin to charge and you can follow it up with punch. This moves reminds me of horse's charge in Warriorsof Fate. Therefore he's my main.
Good thing Schaefer remembers my advice to slide to counter chest burster. To slide, press jump button plus pull joystick down and watch him slide.
Pyro_laughlong01.wav. I just have fun on mercy killing here so don't judge me harshly. These infected men constantly plea "Kill me!" but they fight back! I know you want to convince me to commit mercy killing but no need to be jerk like that, gits!
I forget to tell you that you can tell what Xenomorph like to do by their color. Like i mentioned before, the green Xenomorph "Smasher" like to charging headbutt. The usual dark blue Xenomorph "Warrior" can and will spit acid at you. The purple Xenomorph "Stalker" are bound to jump to you. This new one that in cyan "Defender" has ability to block your attack. There's no throw finisher like in other Capcom beat em up game or heavy attack that can break opponent's guard like in Alien versus Predator (2010). So all my strategy is keep punching him until he let his guard down.
Also, behold! Schaefer can do spinning drop kick. Executed by pressing jump while holding joystick up and then pressing attack button.
AAARGH! Damn this barrel
chest burster! I have to use continue and switch to Linn which is my least
favorite. Plus these guys just put salt on my wound. Thanks for that, bastards!
[Medium Sarcasm]
Ok, let's give her fair assessment. Her jab is short and unlike other character she can't initiate grab. But she can do air throw, which can be perfect to fight those Stalkers if timed correctly. Linn can also bounces over Xeno's head by using her sword which kind of like Scrooge McDuck in Capcom's Ducktales game in NES. For some reason the aliens will also bounce after Linn does that so she can follow it up with the air throw. This sword bouncing link to air throw is the best part of being Linn to me.
I have to use continue again and this time it's the young blood's time! First thing he does is: blasting away all of Xenomorph eggs in front of him. Demoman_Specialcompleted12.wav
Naturally, he has to face off against the queen. She just sit tight on her egg-producing sac but she can reach far with her long tail. I think if she's still healthy, you have to deploy "hit and run" tactic by using jump kick repeatedly thus predators are perfect for this phase. Once she's about to die, she begin to claw or swing her tail wildly so the safe spot is near the majesty herself. Also mind for her children. She doesn't have good sportsmanship, wait! I mean sportsalienship.
With the queen defeated and the hive is burning, our heroes achieve great victory. It's kind of rude to call the queen as egg generator, Linn. She's living creature!
But, wait! The game isn't over yet! The heroes spot a fallen dropship and decide to check it out. Later some marines fight us for some reason but so be it. Time to (lesser) hunt!
As you expect from the marines, they carries guns (or at least throwing knives) so i help myself by using their gun against them. Those blokes carry the smartgun but strangely they fire the gun to the ground before straight at me. Now the smartgun sounds not smart anymore, huh? But now that i think about it, Schaefer and Linn also aim at the ground first before straight forward. So the marines suck at aiming their gun. No wonder they're served as slightly-tough morsel for the Xenomorph and no more than that.
I know that i said that marine's marksmanship but i don't think replacing soldiers with Xenomorphs is a good idea. You probably guess who has that terrible idea, it's none other than Weyland-Yutani corporation (hinted by the capsules brand that once hold these aliens). That chubby bloke is responsible for the operation of clearing the crash site from escaping Xenomorphs.
They know that the marines suck at firing their gun therefore they deploy turrets. The stationary gun can aim their gun straight well but as you can see i can sneak past them safely. Scout_beingshotinvincible02.wav
That's quite comeback from me. Plus i have advantage of much bigger gun than him. Especially when i aim it to his genitalia.
The coward fatty escapes and tell the power loader to fight me instead! You shouldn't do what i do here which is: fight him in the front as he's resilient to flinch plush that claw packs serious punch. You should hit him from the sides or the back. You can also wait for soldiers to back him up then you can steal their gun and use it on the boss. As you can see that Linn can unleash some Ki Blast which activated by holding attack button for awhile and release it.
The heroes think that the Weyland Yutani corporation must be stopped from getting Xenomorphs for biologic weapon. Therefore next level takes place in their lab and hopefully they will blow the premise into smithereens along with captured Xenomorphs. I hope you don't mind about the change in gameplay from sidescrolling brawler to sidescroller shooter as there's tons of gun involved when fighting marines. So many of them that they have same quantity as 25% of alliance's arsenal on World War II!
Final Fight has bonus stage involves breaking a car or glass panes. Here, you get to destroy control box of elevator that gone crazy. Entire magazine of smartgun is enough to destroy it on time. I notice that there's iron pipe lies there and i don't use it at all. I failed you, Mr. Haggar! :(
Oh my goodness! I wouldn't never thought that the Xenomorphs break free. [Fiorina 161 planet-sized sarcasm]
There's definitely big difference between fighting the aliens and evil marines. Xenomorphs generally have bigger health and tend to attack you with sudden move whereas marines have lesser health and most likely attack you with projectiles whether flying knives or bullets. Fighting the human soldiers is quite easier but fighting Xenomorphs is the real "meat" of the game, don't you agree?
The grabbing system is like usual. You approach your enemy to initiate a grab. Left or right joystick plus attack button will unleash uppercut for Predator and elbow drop press for Schaefer. Unlike any other beat em up game, you have no limit on grabbed attack provided you have enough time before Xenomorphs swarm on you or soldiers shoot at you. There's also jumping grapple move like in Warriors of Fate that can deal more damage than the usual directional grapple. Then there's this repeated attack move that end with bigger attack which is activated by repeatedly pressing attack button on grabbed enemy. This repeated knee move reminds me of Charlie from Street Fighter Alpha series.
The boss in this level is Mad Predator which is -let's be honest- Rolento equivalent in this game. He like to running around everywhere including the rail of elevator and he's harder to hit due to his agility. Instead of throwing grenade, he fires his shoulder cannon at the ground. He can also activates cloaking (which our predator can't do here except in cutscene) to make him even harder to hit.
Or you will fight 2 of Mad Predators if you play it in two player mode. What do you know? I have friend afterall or at least co-op partner for 1 game. I played this with Zaphero via Fightcade. I played as Predator Warrior by the way and Zaphero probably confuse with facing 3 Predators at once. But there's is difference between the enemies and the playable character: Mad Predators don't wear mask also don't wield combi stick at all. They gone crazy afterall.
Finally, i defeat him. He stands up and says "Be seeing you" before commit Harakiri. Madness!
Turns out, he's mad because there's chest burster inside of him. But after bit of fisticuffs with me, he has clearer mind then decides to stab the chest burster along with himself too. Imagine if there's rat or roach that running around inside your cloth, you will go mad too!
Leaving the (previously mad) predator without proper burial or whatever, i continue to venture onward and have slide routine with the chest burster. Always fun doing this, you know.
This Weyland Yutani is freaking incompetent! Their sentry guns can't harm Xenomorphs at all. But luckily their laser trip-wire can burns those mongrels but so do i!
There's some funny strategy in this game. Switch character between Linn or either Predator so you can throw katana/combi stick through enemies which is more devastating than the survival knife. Zaphero like this trick but i'm annoyed that my prideful spear getting tossed around like that. Here's the personal melee weapon works: 1) Predators have slightly better attack range and power on their combo when using spear and they will fires their cannon on the ground if they're without it (and also consume sliver of health) 2) Linn gets one extra hit on her combo if she still has her katana. She can do the aerial stab attack only when she has katana 3) Schaefer obviously don't have personal melee weapon. If he get any from other character, he will bash enemies with it same goes to when he picked up iron pipe. The melee weapon will be dropped immediately after character get knocked off. So be careful!
You can tell that this is the final level because there's boss rush on it. First is: Chrysalis but in stereo and i get a chance to use flamethrower on them!
Second is: the power loader. Look at that fool that burn his own comrades. I wish the game let me drive the power loader so the game can be more interesting also i can burn his comrades myself. I forget to tell you that the power loader has capability to shoot a stream of fire. Awesome!
Of course, dummy! We can go back safely. We're the protagonists afterall. So we manage to hitch on the ship that carries the rest of Xenomorph also that chubby bastard. I reckon the spaceship's design is as stupid as Weyland Yutani's competency.
After another section full of Xenomorphs and Corporation's lapdogs, i encounter the head honcho...that gets killed by The Alien Queen. I can imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger accent on "Look out!" speech there. It can't be helped.
So, yeah. The final boss is the alien queen again (which brought here by these schmucks) but this time she can move around and she can do the lethal move that killed the corporate high slave. She's also accompanied by Chrysalises. She really don't favor fair fight, does she?
It seem the key to harm the queen safely is: jumping kick. Schaefer spinning drop kick may looks graceful and strong but in the end Predator's jumping kick combo proves more useful against her. With enough jumping kick on her tough body, she falls down and the game is over! Heavy_positivevocalization02.wav
The Predator don't get the skull of the queen but they leave her lies on ship that will crash on to Weyland Yutani's base which means she will die for sure this time. It all thanks to Linn who change the course on the ship's navigation system. The impact not only kill the queen but also entire aliens on USA West Coast miraculously. Cm_soldier_pregamefirst_rare_02.wav
The predators give Schaefer a piece of blade from wrist claw as memento because giving him the disc is bad idea as hinted on Predator 2 movie. When Linn asks why they help fighting the aliens, they immediately point laser of their cannon to Schaefer's and Linn's chest then they leave. Linn says that the predator will be back. Maybe just maybe, lady.
Capcom's Aliens Vs Predator (1994) is another masterpiece from Capcom. They put the basic of Final Fight and then ramp it up big time with the Aliens versus Predator coat obviously. You can combine character's moves seamlessly and that's brilliant. The gun element is necessary to deal with swarm of Xenomorph or to retaliate at the evil marines from afar. Because the gun aim at the ground most of the time, you can't overly rely it but it's useful to hit enemies that lie on the ground. Predator's cannon are the best for group damage. While Linn's handgun and Schaefer's smartgun arm can potentially deal more damage on single enemy. All of the personal gun can overheat if use too often within short time except for Linn's handgun which has system of more realistic gun where it has bullets capacity and Linn has to (automatically) reload if there's no bullet left on it. But there's power up that let you shoot freely within 10 seconds, which is good yet not too overpowered. There's the rising move which executed by pressing down, then up + attack button like in Warriors of Fate. While the move can potentially deals great damage, it has rather poor horizontal reach and you're left vulnerable on your way down. The Predator Warrior probably has the safest rising move but less stylish than Predator Hunter's "shouryu-ken". The extra weapon are all mostly ranged weapon yet it's helpful in intense fight. But feel free to whack Xenomorph with iron pipe! It sounds wonderful and you know it! I think the flaw on this game besides the small difference between Predator Hunter and Predator Warrior: The Xenomorph or chest burster that hides inside crates or barrels. You expect some juicy steak or roasted chicken by breaking the box because you're low on health but alas! You get chest burster bites your face, instead. The music is great. While the visual effect is fantastic. The story perhaps makes little sense but you get to powerbomb Xenomorph or uppercut Xenomorph's jaw so who cares?
Capcom's Aliens Vs Predator (1994) is fantastic side scrolling brawler game. Play it whether you like Aliens versus Predator theme or not. This game is my most favorite Aliens versus Predator game. Capcom should re-release this game but as you know that it's hampered with license issue. Come on, 20th Century Fox! Can't you see this profitable potency right here? Just give Capcom another permission and you will get juicy dough from it.
Maybe my opinion there is bias because i love Capcom's side scrolling game. So here's second opinion from Zaphero:
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As for the gameplay itself, i was surprised to see the technique in there and really satisfied by its implementation of guns. I loved experimenting to discover moves and then trying to learn when to apply them given to manage spacing. I wondered how i would feel about an AVP game that wasn't like the FPS series, but AVP arcade won me over very quickly with its positive take on the concept with a fleshed out story that while not amazing, definitely felt like the best way it could be delivered and it resulted in a unique taste.
