Review

AvP2 does exactly what it ought to do: deliver a solid dose of Aliens and Predator atmosphere. It's more Alien (and marines) than Predator, really, since the Aliens movies have provided a veritable garden of visual style ready to harvest, while the Predator franchise has yet to definitively expose its fiction. Nevertheless, as a fan of either (and most likely both), you'll not be disappointed in this game. It's tight.

This is one of the most playable shooters I've come across lately. It was easy to jump into it, and while it didn't necessarily keep me glued to my seat, it didn't give me any good excuse to bail out either. I plowed through this game faster than any shooter I can remember. Granted, in part that's because it isn't overly long. You'll get no complaints from me on that issue, however. I'd rather spend a Saturday afternoon on the coast in a sports car than a week-long road trip across the midwest in a station wagon with no radio.

I don't have a whole lot to say about AvP2, though, so I'm going to apply my Good/Bad/etc.. review format.

Good

• Aliens. Predators. You've got to go out of your way to make a game with this material that isn't inherently appealing. (NOTE: apparently that's exactly what Third Law did with the AvP2 expansion pack - Primal Hunt. Avoid it.)

• Monolith. These guys are really hitting their stride. Their best talent, imho, is the ability to infuse a game with personality. They took NOLF and made it really campy and it worked. I was worried that they'd indiscriminately apply the same comedic sauce with AvP2. I was glad to discover that they were able to successfully apply solid dialogue and humor to AvP2 without interfering with the absolutely necessary tension and macabre.

• 3 games for the price of one. Each species (alien, human, predator) truly is a unique playing experience. The marines, obviously, provide the most traditional play, but where this could have been the weak link in the game, a half-hearted and uninspired shooter implementation, it was instead the strongest campaign in the game and easily on par with any other shooter. The Marine levels were the most fun for me. The weapons were fabulous, the controls were tight and responsive, and the level design solidly entertaining. But the really impressive thing about AvP2 is that all three campaigns stand on their own. You won't find yourself feeling obligated to slog through any of the three just to complete the experience. Each one pulls its own weight.

Bad

• The AI was disappointing. For whatever reason, the AI felt less intelligent than it did in NOLF (same engine). It wasn't braindead, to be sure, it just didn't ever do anything to surprise me. The thrills in AvP2 are all scripted, make no mistake.

• The level design was a tad too linear. There's definitely a set of railroad tracks under the hood.

• Some of the weapons felt superfluous, particularly for the marines. After obtaining the rocket launcher, I used it once. After obtaining the sniper rifle, I didn't use it at all, because (as I recall) the level architecture never opened up enough for the sniper rifle to be a prudent choice. After all, aliens can spawn behind you at any moment. For the predator, I never felt like the disc, the plasma pistol (not the plasmacaster), and the remote bomb were of much use. It would have been really nice to have encountered circumstances that allowed for tactical use of the alternative weapons. I'm sure all the weapons have their role in multiplayer, but it was disappointing not to have them more involved in the singleplayer experience.

• There's no good reason for bodies to disappear after only a handful of seconds. It's not like areas would accumulate an unmanageable number of corpses and bog the framerate, since there's a fixed number of scripted enemy encounters. Clearly, there's an argument for quickly disappearing corpses in multiplayer, but I don't think there's any good excuse for it in singleplayer and it was a serious detriment to the immersion for me.

Ugly

• Behind-the-back creature spawns are way, way, waaaay overused. This has the very unfortunate effect of dampening the immersion. Tension comes from expectation coupled with control. This is very important -- make note -- if you don't have control over your situation, a sense of resignation takes hold. Tension manifests when you feel that paying attention and being careful can affect your situation. When aliens magically appear behind you when you cross an invisible trigger, no matter whether you were listening carefully, or paying attention to vents and doors and lighting, or carefully navigating corners, the result is that you stop doing those things. I found it particularly irritating when I knew damn well there was nowhere for an enemy to come from, because the architecture left no opportunity or the textures made it clear that a grill or a door was non-operable, and yet 10 seconds later *poof* there's a handful of aliens calmouring after me. That's not scary, that's annoying.

• SPOILER: I was supremely disappointed at the complete tease what was the exo-suit. Towards the end of the marine campaign, you finally get to saddle up in one of the military exo-suits... but only for about 30 seconds before being unceremoniously un-horsed. This was a total letdown.

Beautiful

• Graphics and sound were both extremely well done. I was convinced after NOLF that LithTech can run with the big boys, and AvP2 is simply further and more impressive proof. The frosting on this cake is how well the game recreates Alien and Predator aesthetics. Clearly, Monolith was given the keys to the vault and was able to incorporate canonical sounds and designs from both franchises.

• I was very impressed with how well the three campaigns were able to exhibit their own story thread while still seamlessly intersecting with the meta-story. Kudos to the writers. Granted, none of campaigns ends in a fashion that leaves you with a story to tell the grandkids, but they're solid and provide enough fuel for the action to create a cohesive experience.

Summary

Is AvP2 fun? As ever, it depends on you. I've become jaded enough after my last few shooter forays that I'm surprised I enjoyed this as much as I did. I think that speaks louder than anything to the genuinely well-crafted constitution of AvP2. Apparently, it was pretty buggy initially, but that's all been remedied. Furthermore, a little age likely allows, as it did for me, to play AvP2 in all its visual splendor, which is where the game really hits the mark. It is the paramount movie-game partnership, as far as I'm concerned. Of course, it helps that the source material is inherently well-suited to game adaptation, but Monolith could still have failed miserably and instead they did exactly the opposite.

One final comment I have is that I would love to see AvP3 created with an engine that allows for true cooperative combat experiences. There's a brief moment early in the marine campaign where you've got a squad of marines accompanying you. It lasts for about 10 seconds, just long enough for me to imagine the glorious nirvana that would be a game dedicated to the Colonial Marine experience. And by cooperative, I mean cooperative in both the singleplayer and multiplayer sense. I want to be able to play with both AI squadmates and human squadmates, in a campaign setting. It's obvious that the current generation of Lithtech isn't up to this, and I don't fault Monolith for sticking to the engine's sweetspot and providing a solid maverick experience. But cooperative AvP is definitely near the top of my gaming wishlist.