Another week, another Alien Vs Predator game. It's probably considered to be the first FPS of the franchise: Rebellion's Alien Vs Predator (1994) made for Atari Jaguar console.
Now you know why Predator is superior to Xenomorph. Predator manages to implant his spear to Xenomorph's rib whereas the alien only hold the hunter's face which is protected by helmet. The title is pretty fine but i question the font of "Alien" word. It's bland and white. Certainly, not representing the vicious nature of Xenomorph. There's not much menus here: Select Character, Restore game, High Score, and Credits.
You get 3 choices of character as per usual: The honorable hunter Predator, The abomination Xenomorph, and the mandatory sideshow stager human. I will play as Predator because i love being ones. Just like that.
1. Predator
Of course, my main objective is the big game: Queen of Xenomorph. Killing enemies while visible, will gain score and killing enemies while cloaking, will lose score. More score will get my better weapon. I get it. Which is "fire" button, again? Oh, it's "A" button.
I can't open this first door because i must close the door that attached to my ship, beforehand. The HUD is "kind of" intuitive. You got photo of yourself in case you don't remember who you're playing as. On middle left corner, we have healing tool. It's alien technology so you have to take my word for it. Left bottom corner is noise detector to detect nearby enemies. The mask symbol on bottom is cloaking indicator. Top right corner is health bar. The rest is your arsenal along with its ammo bar.
I hope you like green vision because you see it a lot when playing as Predator. The screen turn night vision google-ish when you cloak and you have to do it a lot if you want to get in this game further. To activate the cloak, simply press "option" or "0" (zero) button. By the way, is that barrel similar to the one in Doom or is it just me?
Aha! Time to hunt, human! Pressing "B" button will make the predator attack with equipped weapon and in this case claw which is the weakest weapon. But here's the main problem. The hit detection is bad and i can't tell which my clawing is considered "hit" him. Sometime there's the slashing sound and my target flinches but most of the time he doesn't react at all as if i'm his kitten pet that claw him to get either attention or food.
Beyond that door is more human...immediately! For now, i'm only best at one-on-one fighting but even so my attack has rubbish accuracy. Luckily i can soak some damage pretty well.
No matter how tank-y i am. I still need healing from killing half of dozen human previously. Lucky me! I find some medkit here! It may looks like human's first aid kit but trust me, it works! It doesn't heal me on the spot where i picked up. It's portable healing item and i have to hold "5" button to fill my health. Soldier_thanksfortheheal02.wav
What are you lads doing there? Staring at each other and not moving at all. Fine! I will leave you all, love birds!
Pressing "8" button will brings me this auto map but...oh man! I can't read this! The tiny yellow spot is certainly me but other than that it's all greek to me.
Oh, i spot another medicine box. Please don't mind about medkit that disappears mysteriously, guys! Damn! I'm spotted immediately after taking it! Obnoxiously, they chase after me...although i'm still invisible! The A.I is inconsistent, i must say.
Wow! There's lots of humans packed in this corridor. On bright side i can amass score by killing them. Each human killed gets me 5,000 points and to unlock the spear i need 150,000 points. Almost halfway there!
Finally, i found elevator. To operate it i have to press "C" button...and holding "down" button which also for backpedal! It's bit awkward to move backward slightly to tell the elevator to go down.
Here's the moment you're waiting for! Alien versus Predator! We exchange claw like someone doing series of high five. The Xenomorph falls first because he doesn't have much health. Heavy_domination02.wav
What's this? A face hugger and a human on the same room but with no interaction at all. Most human will probably panic to see something that resembles oversized scorpion but this guy just coexist with face hugger like it was just his RC car. Fine, i will kill you all!
The face hugger latch into me. I try mash buttons to shake the bastard off but it doesn't work. I'm dead. According to hints by someone named BHodges, i have to press left and right button repeatedly to pull the face hugger off. Ok. Let's try again!
Unlike in Alien versus Predator (2010), the marines and Xenomorphs only want me dead! Fortunately, friendly fire is "ON" even among marines. Look at that stupid alien not realize that someone singe his tail! Pyro_laughhappy01.wav
Finally, i get the combi stick! It's more powerful and accurate than the claw. 1 stab from it, is enough to kill human. Whereas i need 2-3 successful hits from my claw, to kill them. You probably think that i have no need to worry about ammo as my weapons are all melee for now. That's not entirely true. The ammo bar is depleted each time i use either claw or spear but it will recharge after awhile. Maybe it's stamina bar instead of ammo? Anyway, i think i will stop here for now.
2. Alien (a.k.a Xenomorph)
The objective of me as Xenomorph is the opposite of Predator's mission. It seems there's special combo: claw-tail-claw. I will remember that.
By the way, i load saved game from before and i immediately bombarded with bullets. My health reaches zero. Dead.
I was dead but the game isn't over yet as long as i have made cocoon from previous prey. Remember that Claw-Tail-Claw combination? That's how you cocoon enemies. Once they're dealt with that combo, approach their bodies to make cocoon out of them. You can only store 3 cocoons at most. These cocoons will metamorphose into adult Xenomorphs that serves as your life reserves. This is important because there's no healing method for Xenomorph! Xenomorphs are kind of the opposite of Predator as they're fast moving but can't withstand too much damage! You can see the status of cocoon on left bottom corner and health bar is in top right corner as usual. Xenomorph has 3 melee attack: 1) Claw (by pressing "A" button) which is the weakest yet fastest attack 2) Bite (by holding down "B" button) which can kill human with single successful hit 3) Tail (by holding down "C" button) which has the farthest range and can paralyze human single successful hit.
With "C" button, i can open door and access to air duct. There's the entrance of air ventilation in front of me. I can be proper Xenomorph without ability to climb wall or ceilling.
My health reaches zero, again. Fantastic! [U.S.S Sulaco-sized sarcasm]
Luckily, i still have 3 more "lives" but mind that the growth time between cocoon to adult Xenomorph, is very long time! So you can't just rush in whenever you have cocoon on your reserve. You have to idle functionally. Park your Xenomorph on safe place then you can do whatever you want while waiting for the "lives" to be ready. Check your phone! Watch your favorite streamer's video! Play Rock-Paper-Scissor by yourself! Cook some perfect sunny side eggs! Anything!
I wish i can flip this table to express my disliking toward this gameplay. But i know what i can do for now. Stop playing and switch to other role.
3. Marine
There's no mission objective for this human so i assume i just have to escape from terrors of this place. Maybe his charge of " Offensive act against officer" there, means that he's against his superiors to breed Xenomorphs for biologic weapon. He's sensible person.
Funny. I can open my cell just fine. Demoman_battlecry01.wav
On the other hand, this idiot can't open door by himself. The starting gun in this game: shotgun, which is huge step up than handgun in Alien Versus Predator (2010)! I mean if you're about to face the space monstrosity, you need at least the 12 gauge blast gun. Weak pistol ain't cut it.
Oh, right! The splash of their acid blood is dangerous to us, including for the Predator in this game!
I find ammo for pulse rifle but not the gun itself. What's that thing on the right?
It's a computer and there's the layout of this floor. More detailed map will be nice but beggar can't be picky as they said.
Can you tell that wall in front of me is a door? Because i can't. It's just bit different than the wall besides it. This is the level of trick for secret door in Doom! Spy_negativevocalization03.wav
According to BHodges' hint, i have to lure the Xenomorphs into bigger room so i can get around acid pool that they will left behind. It's good idea so i do that!
In this canteen, i find this dead guy that has the security pass level 1. Snatch it!
Silly alien. He keep darting on me even though there's table between us. Oh never mind! He can phase through it. That's not good table manner, git!
I discover that i can explode barrel in this game. This game is officially 60% Doom!
AAAAARGH! Entering air ventilation is freaking terrible idea unless you're Xenomorph as there's no enemy inside airduct so it's your sanctuary. While Predator can't enter air ventilation at all. He's sensible hunter afterall.
I find the elevator but i want to get into barrack and see if there's abandoned weapon for me to pick up.
I kill a dozen or two of Xenomorph. I'm bloody hero! Heavy_award15.wav
I think the automap is little better to see now but this pesky layer still exists. I believe this is due to emulation problem but not functional map is the least of my problem. I prefer to have new gun, please!
What? I come back to the entrance of brig like clueless dolt. Maybe the automap is really necessary.
The healing item works like in Doom where it will heals you immediately after picked up. There's 2 type of healing item: food and medkit box. BHodges said that food replenishes 10% of the health while medkit replenishes 25% of the health. Here's the food item by the way. Maybe it's boxes of tofu. :p
I decide to go to sub level 2 via elevator...dude, please! I know you're very angry waiting for elevator to come at you but no need to be so mad at me like this. Also your acid bloods block entrance of elevator. Thanks for nothing, you insolent schmuck!
I know this section. It's the same spot when i play as Predator. I expected Med Lab to have medkit but only face hugger and Xenomorphs that i got. But this time Med Lab need security pass level 3. Command Center at right corridor is worse. It requires security pass level 9!
Aha! Armoury just like what i need. Never mind! It needs Security keycard level 4. Soldier_negativevocalization05.wav
And this door refuse to open whatsoever. Turns out i can move on to floor where Predator campaign starts with lots of big room. This sublevel 2 is full of locked doors (and Xenomorphs obviously). No corpse to search just yet and even no pick up item lying on floor! In my last saved game, I have wasted my health and ammo on this floor already. I must rollover again but for now i quit.
Rebellion's Aliens Vs Predator (1994) is tedious old FPS game. You're presented with almost homogenous corridors and cardboard digitized sprites every time, which gets wearying to look at. Maybe the most polished gameplay is in human role because the gun's hit detection is distinctive and clear. The bad thing about being marine is: he have to face many locked door on 2nd floor. It's like if you play Doom and within a map there's 9 keys to unlock all the doors! Also air duct travel is just hell for him. The Xenomorph has 2 fatal flaws: can't heal and being fragile. The former is the one that baffles me so much. The only way to recover from your error is the live reserve. I wish there's way to heal like using another special combo: Claw-Claw-Bite or Claw-Tail-Bite, which will devour your target. At least the bite is pretty accurate. Predator's gameplay is fairly okay but need more improvement such as A.I consistency when cloaking and lower score goal to unlock weapon. Plus the melee accuracy really needs refinement. BHodges suggests that escape enemies is good way to deal with them. Xenomorph can runs fast and Predator has cloaking ability but what about the marine? If he tries to run, the enemies are persistent to chase him plus every map consists of narrow corridors mostly. Maybe he can close the door behind him if the enemies are within sufficient distance. To save your game: you have to pause the game and press "option" button. But be careful when saving the game! Enemies will respawn everytime you load the game even on the spot where you saved. But pick up items also respawn. So you can utilize save/load game to stock up items. The only save place to save your progress: airlock room or elevators. There's no music in the game. I rate the sound effect: 6/10.
Aliens Vs Predator (1994) feels old and rough Aliens Vs Predator game. It doesn't get my recommendation but again it's famous title for Atari Jaguar game as there's not many of them and of course the main premise is really something. It has more coherency than Jason Vs Freddy. But that just my personal opinion.
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