ALIEN VS PREDATOR by Atari Games

For the Atari Jaguar 64-Bit system

Reviewed by Richard Mills

AVP was one of the first Jaguar games slated for an early 1994 release. Again and again, the release date was pushed back. The longer the wait, the more the anticipation began to build. Many magazines were heralding AVP as the system seller the Jag was looking for. Finally, an official deadline for release, AVP would be out by October 21st. The anticipation began to build again, I went out and reserved my copy on October 10th. On the 14th a big surprise - AVP had arrived (& early)!!!! Eagerly I started to scrounge for money to go pick up my unexpected surprise. Once I got back home with it, I slapped it in. Ready for the ride of my life.

Before I go into opinions, let me give you a brief overview of what this game is about. Alien Vs Predator takes place on a Colonial Marine Training Base that has fallen to two unknown alien types (the Aliens and Predators). The game is set in a 3D environment similar to Doom. You can choose from three characters - the Colonial Marine, the Predator, and the Alien. The objective for each character is different. For the Colonial Marine - your objective is to basically set the base for self-destruct and get out in the escape pod. Along the way you will need to arm yourself with the various weapons available to you (Shotgun, Pulse Rifle, Flame Thrower, and Smart Gun). The base is divided up into 5 sub levels; sub level 1 - Predator Ship, sub level 2 - Training, sub level 3 - Brig, sub level 4 - Training sub level 5 - Alien Ship & escape pod. For the Alien - rescue the Queen, she is being held captive on the Predator ship. The Alien uses it's Claws, Tail, and Jaws (bite) to fights it's way through. The Alien can create other Alien warriors by caching it's prey. For the Predator - the Predator's ultimate goal is to gain the skull of the Alien Queen. The Predator has variety of weapons at it's disposal, they include : Wrist Blade, Combi Stick (spear), Smart Disk, and Shoulder Cannon. You start out only with the wrist blade. To get the other weapons, you must earn them by collecting honor points. These points are received when you honorably kill and opponent. Face-to-face combat is the most honorable, earning you the most points. Distance attacks only earn you half the points that face-to- face combat can earn you. The Predator also has the ability to make himself invisible. However, attacking opponents while invisible will cause you to lose points. It is deemed dishonorable.

THE COLONIAL MARINE

GOOD: This character moves along at a fairly decent rate, about what you would expect of a normal person. Despite what a few people have been saying, the animation is NOT choppy. It's a lot of fun using this character. You get to go to the various sub levels, including air ducts. There is a lot of suspense, especially when you don't have a motion tracker. I can't begin to count the number of times I thought I had left everything behind me dead, only to turn around and have an Alien scream at me. There is some strategy when using this character, so this is the one I generally prefer.

NOT-SO-GOOD: I don't like the fact that finding other weapons is so hard. When you shoot an Alien, it will sometimes splatter acid on you, which isn't bad, but sometimes the Alien isn't all that close when you kill it. The turn rate is too slow. When you have Aliens attacking you from both sides, it can take an eternity to turn.

THE ALIEN

GOOD: All the weapons it can use are already on hand. This character moves very fast, just like in the movies. Cocooning your victims is very cool. When you cocoon your victims, they eventually spawn other Alien warriors.

NOT-SO-GOOD: Not a lot of strategy to this character. There are no distance attacks for the Alien, so you can take a lot of hits before getting to your prey.

THE PREDATOR

GOOD: I like the variety of weapons. Being able to switch to invisibility lets you get different views of the character. Also, when you switch to invisibility you can change your spectrum filter. This allows you to adapt your vision (during invisibility) to the current environment.

NOT-SO-GOOD: The invisibility only works so good. If you get too close to a character, you're spotted. Once you've been spotted it's hard to lose them. I think the character should start off with a better weapon.

ENVIRONMENT

The surrounding areas in this are nicely texture mapped. There isn't a great deal of chunky pixelation when you get close to a wall/door/character/etc... The feel of this game is great. The screams of the Aliens or the Predator luring you with a wispered "Over here," as you turn around to see him decloaking really adds a lot to the atmosphere. There is no music in this, which is actually nice. I think adding music would just take away from the atmosphere the programmers were trying to create. If you own a Jaguar, then you should definitely pick this up. If you don't own a Jaguar, should this make you want to buy one? Well, I recommend giving it a try (longer than 5 minutes), and if this is a sign of things to come for the Jag, then by all means - get out and buy one!