Aliens versus Predator 2

Aliens versus Predator 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter computer game developed by Monolith Productions. It was published by Sierra Entertainment, and released through Fox Interactive for PC and Apple Macintosh computers in 2001. It is a sequel to Aliens versus Predator (1999); both games are based on the characters of the Alien and Predator media franchises as well as the Alien vs. Predator crossover series.

An expansion pack titled Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt was released in 2002. A "Gold Edition" of Aliens versus Predator 2 followed, combining both the original game and the expansion pack into a single package.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Aliens versus Predator 2 allows the player to choose one of three characters: an Alien, Predator or human Colonial Marine. Each character has different objectives, abilities and weapons at their disposal. The single-player campaigns present the player with conventional series of levels that are designed around the abilities of each character.

As the Colonial Marine, the player uses a number of weapons to combat Aliens and Predators. The Marine wears armor for protection, and uses an image intensifier, flashlight and flares to improve visibility in dark areas.

When playing as the Predator, the player uses a variety of weapons from the Predator films such as wrist blades, a throwing disc, and shoulder-mounted energy weapons. The Predator is more durable than the human or the Alien and can survive falls from greater heights than the human. It can use a cloaking device to become invisible and several different modes of vision to help in the detection of enemies, including infrared vision and a mode sensitive to electrical systems. Unlike in the previous game, the Predator in Aliens versus Predator 2 recharges its energy supply using a personal item.

As an Alien the player can explore most of the game's environments freely, even climbing across walls and ceilings. However, the Alien has no weapons and must use its claws, tail, and jaws to attack enemies. The player can also use a form of echolocation in dark areas and can detect pheromones to discern human or Predator enemies. The Alien can drop from any height without injury and is the fastest of the three player characters.

Story

Unlike the preceding game, in which the storylines of the three player characters are independent and do not affect one another, the three story lines in Aliens versus Predator 2 intersect each other. The events of each storyline trigger events in the others. The events of the game are set fifty years after the events of the film Alien 3. Following the flight telemetry of the derelict spacecraft found on LV-426 where the Nostromo crew first encountered the Alien eggs in Alien, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has discovered a planet with the ruins of an extraterrestrial civilization infested with Aliens. The planet, called LV-1201, and the Weyland-Yutani research station established there are the primary settings of the game. The facility is supervised by Dr. Eisenberg and consists of a Primary Operations Complex and a network of five Forward Observation Pods suspended over a canyon. When the game begins Pod 5 has been destroyed; the cause of its destruction is revealed in the expansion pack Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt.

When playing as the human character the player assumes the role of Corporal Andrew "Frosty" Harrison of the Colonial Marines, stationed aboard the spaceship USS Verloc en route to LV-1201. There has been no contact with the research facility there for six weeks and the marines are sent in to investigate. The landing goes awry and the player must battle Aliens, explore the research facility, and rescue the surviving marines. In the process the player causes a security breach which allows the Alien character access to the Forward Observation Pods, becomes temporarily imprisoned, unwittingly releases the Predator character from its cell, and battles an Alien/Predator hybrid creature. The player must then retrieve a data disk containing records of all the illegal activities taking place on the planet, regroup with his squad, battle the Alien queen, and escape the planet.

When playing as the Predator the player arrives on LV-1201 with two other Predators, and all three are soon captured by the human researchers. A former marine turned mercenary general named Rykov recognizes the player Predator as one which injured him twenty years earlier. The Predator is imprisoned for six weeks until being released through the actions of Corporal Harrison. The player must then recover the Predator's weapons and battle humans and Aliens through the research facility in pursuit of Rykov. After a climactic battle with Rykov in the Alien hive the Predator is recovered by others of his species and they pursue the Verloc into space.

As the Alien character the player first takes control of a facehugger, stalking a guard through the Primary Operations Complex and implanting an Alien embryo in him. The player then controls the resulting chestburster, finding food until it grows into an adult Alien. As the Alien the player battles through the complex, releasing other Aliens which infest the facility and cause it to lose contact with Earth. The game then shifts forward six weeks, when a security failure caused by Corporal Harrison allows the Alien to access the Forward Observation Pods. The player battles through the pods killing guards and scientists, releases an Alien/Predator hybrid, and liberates a captive Alien hive. The player must disable several explosives planted throughout the hive and then pursue Dr. Eisenberg, who is bent on capturing the Alien queen. The player catches up to Eisenberg and the queen, while sabotaging Eisenberg's extraction by dropship and defeating the scientist. Eisenberg is then cocooned in the hive and revealed to be an android.

Multiplayer

Aliens versus Predator 2 has several multiplayer modes which can be played through an internet or Local Area Network connection. In each game the player chooses one of four teams to play as: The Aliens, Predators, Marines, or corporate mercenaries (called "Iron Bears" in the game's storyline). Each team has unique abilities, advantages, and disadvantages. The Aliens are able to scale walls and ceilings and the Predators can become invisible, while the two human teams have a large array of heavy weapons as well as motion trackers.

There are six different multiplayer "modes" played on a number of "maps". "Deathmatch" mode is a free-for-all match in which the player's goal is to accumulate the highest number of kills. "Team Deathmatch" has the same goal except that the player is teamed with other players. In "Hunt" there are two teams, one designated as the "hunter" and the other as the "prey"; the hunters accumulate points by killing the prey, while the prey can themselves become hunters by killing members of the hunter team. "Survivor" mode designates all players as "defenders" at the start; if a player is killed they become a "mutant" and can then earn points by killing defenders. Defenders gain points by staying alive without becoming mutants. "Overrun" is a timed match between two teams that is similar to "Survivor" except that each player has a finite number of lives; at the end of the round points are awarded based on the number of surviving members on each team. "Evacuation" is another two-team match with a finite number of lives, in which one team is designated as the "attackers" and the other as "defenders". The attacking team wins by killing all of the defenders, while the defending team wins by locating the map's evacuation point and having at least one member survive within it for ten seconds.

Reception

Aliens versus Predator 2 received a score of 8.7 in GameSpot's PC review.^[3]

Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt

An expansion pack to Aliens versus Predator 2, titled Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt, was developed by Third Law Entertainment, published by Sierra Entertainment, and released through Fox Interactive in 2002. It was also included in the "Gold Edition" of Aliens versus Predator 2 released the same year, which bundled the original game and the expansion pack into a single package. Primal Hunt adds new weapons and multiplayer maps to the original game, as well as a single-player campaign which serves as a prequel to the storyline of Aliens versus Predator 2.

Gameplay

The player is once again able to play as either a human, Predator, or Alien character, each with its own campaign and abilities. The plot lines of the three characters intersect and set up the events of the original game.

Story

The events of Primal Hunt are set on LV-1201, the same setting as the main game, but take place in earlier time periods. The stories of the Alien and Predator characters begin five hundred years before the events of Aliens versus Predator 2 and continue in the year 2230, approximately five weeks before the events of the main game, which is also the time period of the human character's story. Primal Hunt revisits the Forward Observation Pods of the research facility and explains the destruction of Pod 5.

When playing as the human character the player assumes the role of Major Dunya, a female member of the Weyland-Yutani private military contractor known as the "Iron Bears" who are stationed on LV-1201. She is ordered by her superior officer General Rykov to retrieve an artifact from an area known as "Zeta Site" which houses part of an Alien hive as well as technology from an alien race (the race of the "space jockey" found by the Nostromo crew in Alien). The player battles Aliens through Zeta Site, retrieves the artifact, and returns to find that Aliens have infiltrated Pod 5. A Predator steals the artifact and the player defends the cargo area from Aliens until the pod is evacuated. Rykov then destroys the pod's supports, sending it crashing to the valley floor below.

When playing as the Predator the story begins five hundred years before the events of Aliens versus Predator 2. A Predator spacecraft encounters the planet LV-1201 for the first time and the player Predator is sent there to hunt. The player battles numerous creatures before discovering that Aliens also inhabit the planet. The player tracks the Aliens to their hive and activates an artifact which has the power to repel the Aliens. The game then shifts forward eight months, by which time the Predators have established a camp around the artifact. The player Predator descends into the hive in search of the Alien queen, but the artifact is deactivated and the camp is overrun by Aliens. While repairing a stasis field around a group of Alien eggs the Predator is attacked by a facehugger and the two are caught in the field and trapped in stasis for five hundred years. The Predator awakens when Dunya deactivates the artifact, and the player tracks her to the research facility's Forward Observation Pods and breaks into Pod 5, inadvertently allowing the Aliens into the pod. The player retrieves the artifact and sends a signal to other Predators who are nine weeks' distance away. The Predator is then killed by the Alien embryo bursting through his ribcage.

The Alien character's story also begins five hundred years before the events of Aliens versus Predator 2. The player begins by controlling a facehugger, exploring the Alien hive and Predator camp in search of a host. The facehugger attacks the Predator, but both become trapped in the stasis field. The game then shifts forward five hundred years to the chestburster emerging from the Predator inside Pod 5. The creature is an Alien/Predator hybrid, called the "Predalien" in the game, and the player controls it and searches for food until it grows into an adult. The player then battles human guards in search of the artifact, but is interrupted when Rykov destroys the pod's supports. The player must then battle several android guards in armored exosuits in order to escape the pod with other Aliens before it falls into the valley below.

Reception

The game was negatively received. According to the Gamespot review, "The original Aliens Versus Predator 2 was a much better game, and you'd be better off going back and playing it again instead." It was given a 5.5 out of 10, citing "being boring," "repetitive," and "giving no sense of direction as the face-hugger."^[4] Also the multiplayer added nothing new or spectacular. "Gameplay is rudimentary, frustrating, and incredibly dry to say the least.

Unlike the original AvP 2, Primal Hunt is all about leading players through claustrophobic caves, canyons and corridors, and then spawning no-gooders from behind" is what IGN's reviewer had to say about the game, giving it 6 stars.^[5]

See also

• List of Alien and Predator games

References

Weblinks

• Aliens versus Predator 2 at Xenopedia