Gold Edition
This is the game that I bought a computer for. I actually bought it before my computer and played it on my roomate's. Riggs to be exact. But that's not all. The reason why I just HAD to get it goes WAAAAYYY back to my high school years (this is gonna be long, so pull up a chair..oh you already have one), when the Atari Jaguar first came out. Since I was convinced my Atari 7800 was better than the 8-bit Nintendo (which I've never owned), I wanted the Jaguar very much.
Lo and behold, Alien vs. Predator came out (there's no 'S' on there folks), so I saved up my money for FIVE MONTHS (I was working for Mr. Bobby then) so that I had enough for it AND AvP. So naturally I bought it. I think I actually carried it all the way home from the mall with my friend Troy (both of us too young to drive, and both our parents were mean and evil and wouldn't give us a ride..the mall was about two miles away)...that memory isn't very clear though. So anyway our first stop was his house. And I plugged it up to his TV and fired it up. Pure bliss ensues.
I tell you what, it is not the game I've played most, but it sure as hell is the SCARIEST I've played until CB's Undying. You'll be walking around looking for a door that says "Access Granted" in this sexy female British voice when you try to open it, and you turn around (because it doesn't) and "SCREEEEEECH" there's an alien behind you, just waiting for you to see it. And BAM the controller hits the floor.
This is why I now prefer a keyboard.
And Depends Undergarments.
The similarities between the Jag AvP and the PC AvP are plentiful.
As you can see, you can play as either the Marine, Predator, or Alien.
As the Marine you have to kill everything and escape. You have a motion tracker, and a whole arsenal of weapons that go pow and boom.
As the Predator you have to hunt. At the end you need to kill the Alien Queen. You can turn invisible, you have a medipack that can heal you, you have different modes of view, each good for seeing something that the others aren't. Weapons include spear, wristblade, shoulder cannon, and smartdisc.
As the Alien You have to stop all these enemies from killing your species. You just want to be left in peace. You have a claw, jaw, and tail attack. You run faster than the others. Much faster. (Jaguar version only...You can actually do a claw, tail (stuns), claw attack, then run over the marine, and he will turn into a cocoon. Later in the game if you die, you respawn from that point.) And that's about where the similarities stop.
"But Crawdaddy!!!" you exclaim. "Now, now. This isn't a review about the Jaguar game of nearly the same name. It's about a PC game, which I believe to be based off of the Jaguar version." I answer. "Oh" you say. That's right my darling.
REVIEW OF AVPGE
Here goes.
The alien is by far my favorite to play as. The ability to run really really fast and climb walls really intrigues me. Maybe I was a roach in my past life. Who knows. Your basic missions are "Destroy generators so you can get in the door" or "Destroy power lines so you can get in the door" and stuff like that. Enemies are outlined in some sort of glowy stuff so you can see them in the dark and from far away.
I hardly ever play as the other two characters (it's too hard). I haven't gotten past the third level as the Marine, and haven't gotten past the fifth as the Predator. Those aliens are ALWAYS coming after you. AVP has some sort of respawing 'feature' where it doesn't matter how many you kill, there will always be more. So basically you have to constantly be on the move, and I can't do that. I'm more of the stand and look around kind of a guy.
The game follows the atmosphere of the movies very well. It even comes with a disc with all the orchestrated music from the movies on it (it tricks you into thinking that disc is nessecary to play the game, but it's not. You can leave the drive empty or put your own music CD in there.). For instance the colony level (Marine) is very atmosphereic. Dark. Wet. Unlimited aliens creeping up on you. Generally just having a bad day. Just like the movies.
I was never a big fan of the Predator movies. But there is a multiplayer level called the Meat Factory. Just like the movies.
Of course the marine is hardest to play. You have limited ammo, health and speed. Just think that since the Gold Edition allows you to save within the level you should be able to beat it. Now think if that option wren't there. Oh man I feel sorry for the people that bought the first PC version. They probably NEVER beat it without the cheats.
Well, that concludes my review. I know I digressed an awful lot. So heres my point.
GRAPHICS=9
SOUND=8
Efficiency=9
(regarding how well it will run on lower end systems compared to how it looks and plays)
Originality=4
Atari was there prior. Years prior.
Longevity=9, if you like a challenge. 3 if you get flustered easily.
Oh yeah! Gameplay=9
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