Got to the second level. I'm playing it on baby mode because it's notoriously difficult iirc. It doesn't have any saves! If you get 95% through a level then die, that's it, back to the start you go. It certainly creates a high level of tension. Thankfully the combat is well-balanced so it's not too frustrating. Unfortunately, I got lost towards the end of the level and then got killed by a lift ¬¬
The atmosphere is spot-on, you really do feel like one of Cameron's space marines, checking your motion tracker, flipping to night vision and back. "Short, sharp bursts." I just hope it's not always going to be unclear where I should be going - the grim identikit colony setting doesn't lend itself to notable landmarks and routes.
The gold edition of AvP did have a limited number of saves, the original release didn't. As they added this only a few months after release, I won't feel too bad for using it. I'll try not to, though! I think it's an interesting tension-building choice not to have saves, though it may prove too frustrating. The limited number of saves is a nice compromise (though 8/9 is too many, even on easy mode - I think one would do).
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Gah, I'm really enjoying AvP except for getting lost constantly. The Marine campaign continues to be fun, nervously legging it through cooling systems and getting freaked out by flickering lights and screeching doors. But I came to a full stop after trudging round a level looking for the way forward for about 20 minutes before finally succumbing to the waves of aliens.
I've had a quick go at playing as the Alien and the Predator. Being an Alien is really cool, racing up walls and across ceilings in this weird Alien-worship temple, cutting power and killing marines, watching these weird spacecraft floating around outside your windows. However, the objectives are pretty vague and I didn't get far into the first level before I reached some human lab setting and couldn't find the way forward. Predator seems less fun - I seem to just be a tank rolling through corridors, and I got lost within about a minute of the start. I'm going to RTFM, see if that gives me any clues. If not, I might check some walkthroughs to help me out, as I don't want to quit just yet.
The annoying thing is, a map or similar would make sense for all of these campaigns - the Marine should have a blueprint of Hadley's Hope, as per the film; it would fit with the aliens' weird super-senses and hive-mind to be able to sense where it needs to go next; the Predator is all high-tech and surely could at least have little pointers on his helmet display.
EDIT: okay, the solutions were:
Marine - there's a door in a wall across a stairwell from you, shoot at the ceiling to make a platform fall down providing access to it. Hmmm.
Alien - just destroy more shit. Fair enough.
Predator - blow some unrelated crate things up then press a switch that looks like a light. Hmmmm,
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Predator is a little more fun now - I'm staying invisible and shoulder-cannoning soldiers from afar, it's like a very basic Crysis. Marine - I've just entered a new level where I can't tell where the fuck I'm supposed to go. It is doing some cool crossover with the Predator storyline, though. Alien, I've gained access to the labs and killed everyone but I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do next. I don't really want to stop every five minutes to scrub through playthrough vids to work out which hidden button I'm supposed to press. This is the main issue I've had with any of the FPSes so far, I think - not knowing what I'm supposed to be doing.
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Okay, I gave up on AvP. I might come back to it at some time, but I've got to the point where I'm stuck on all three campaigns, and I can't be bothered to keep checking playthrough vids. Great atmosphere but too much looking for keys and hidden switches and hidden doors etc. I ended up enjoying the Predator section a fair amount - interesting energy-level/weapons/cloaking/view-mode mechanics, balancing all of them together. It was also pretty cool to go to Fury 161. One thing that I've had in other FPSes and was particularly bad here - not knowing which side a lift is going to let you out from. It's always very embarrassing, and in this game quite irritating too because you only get a couple of seconds before the lift goes down again.
I'd love to see a modern sequel to this where Crytek make the Predator section, id Software make the Marine one and, hmmm, EA Dice make the Alien one for that parkour/quick takedown feel maybe? Although perhaps I should nominate Creative Assembly for the Human campaign, because I've actually always thought it would be cool to play a colonist in a fully established colony and have to survive the initial alien attack, which starts with a single facehugger, using cattle-prods, flame-throwers and running away. As more show up and they cut the power, all the swanky shopping malls and luxury apartments turn to hell. Then the marines come in and you get to learn how to use their weapons, Ripley-style. (Or you're a Company man, initially trying to capture an alien but swiftly getting your arse kicked when it escapes on Earth, and you turn and decide to destroy the nest it sets up. Or something.) I guess in an AvP game, you would survive all that, only to get hunted by a Predator, and have to abandon your weapons to go primal again.
Rating: Orange.
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