Rabid Chaos

Alien vs Predator.

2010-02-27T23:38:00.002+11:00

Well having now completed the Marine Campaign I can honestly say I was impressed. The atmosphere was intense, claustrophobic and in some parts, outright terrifying. Especially as you're moving down a hallway with your motion detector going insane and the ammo counter on the M4A1 going down FAR too fast for your liking, especially when even on Easy it can take a good thirty rounds to drop a single drone due to how hard it is to get a bead on the bloody things.

In fact the only times you can reliably get machine-gun fire on target is when the Target is already close enough to give you a kiss. Well for Xenomorph targets anyway. The one Predator you face and Combat Androids are far easier to kill even if they need a lot more ammo to drop per head.

The atmosphere was dark and intense throughout most of the Marine Campaigns, and the few open area sections you have to do have you longing for the too close corridors of the colony. In those all you really have to worry about is in front and behind you, but with the downright scary musical score of the Marine story a trip in the open has you leaping at shadows and so much as a flicker near the edge of your screen can send your heart racing and a dozen rounds into the dangerous and harmful omnipresence of thin air.

The Flamethrower is just about the most useless piece of shit in the Marines arsenal. Sure you can light a Xeno up to burst, except for the time it take to reach that you don't just have a Xenomorph trying to rip you up but now the fucker is ON FIRE!, On the other hand all us Smartgun lovers will not be dissapointed... except maybe by its sound effects which are a bit off, however it has a big magazine and only needs four or five rounds to drop a Xeno thanks to its automatic aiming abilities. Coming close second is the Scoped rifle which can down most things in one to three hits.

The only downside I found was that yet again the game seemed intent on deliberately separating you from your squads, and to make it worse you're a wet-behind-the-ears rookie... who somehow outdoes an entire squad of Veterans, enough that even Tequila, a female Corporal who abandoned your ass at the start, feels the need to specifically remark upon. Even the games own characters think its absurd you pull it all off.

For once I would like it if you WEREN'T a bloody rookie who outlives everything. Is it so unbelievable to have the players playing, you know, an actual character, not a two-dimensional black man who has the imaginative name of, here it comes, "Rookie".

Thats right. Not only is the Marine you play a Rookie but he doesn't even appear to have a name, or anything except his weapons, armour and body. And if the Acid in the game behaved like it did in the films this Marine is made out of something else....

Marine Story Score.

Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 9
Storyline: 9
Length: 8
Overall: 9

Game Total Score

Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 9
Storyline: 8
Length: 8
Overall: 9

All in all a really good game. I would recommend it.

Alien vs Predator

2010-02-27T17:24:00.027+11:00

Predator Storyline completed.

Well that was certainly interesting, the story is deeper, but not greatly so, than the Alien Campaign, the 'big threat' being a pair of Pred-Aliens. However the AI seemed to be considerably more intelligent than in the Alien storyline. Sure you can fool them and get them wandering off but that is sort of the whole point.

I heard some complain that there wasn't enough "energy" around with which to recharge the Plasmacaster and Proximity Mines, the latter would be no loss even if it were true I believe I used them a grand total of twice, and the first was just taking a looksee at them.

The Plasmacaster is fun but should be used sparingly as it compromises your cloak, so use it when you have to though a 'rapid shot' from it can knock someone down long enough for you to close in and use a finishing move. Then we have the Smart Disk, it keeps your cloak integrity though the humans can get an idea where you are by the laser sights, moreover it can be guided to a degree though doing so with any accuracy is an experiment in futility. Finally there is the Combi-Stick. It retains your cloaks integrity, is accurate and powerful, but it is slow so it is a waste of time throwing it at a moving enemy unless they're moving in a straight predictable line.

For the story, you have to go and remove all evidence of the Yautja civilisation from the place, first of all is destroying the bodies of some youngbloods and an elite followed by going through a rather shoehorned goal of blowing up an underground pyramid.

You had a much stronger feeling of purpose however and this really helped blend the Predators campaign into a single well formed whole. It also benefited from apparently being longer. Or perhaps i'm just better with the Alien.

Graphics: 10
Sound: 10
Gameplay: 9
Storyline: 7
Length: 6
Overall: 9

Alien vs Predator.

2010-02-23T20:29:00.000+11:00

First Impressions

AvP 2010 on PC.

My first impression upon starting it up.

Pretty. Very Pretty.

The Alien storyline can take a little to get used to, not because it is too difficult but because the control scheme is strange and awkward to get used to if you have AvP2 and AvP1. In fact some of the default controls seemed determined to piss you off, this however is likely a direct result of it being ported from Console Versions.

The Middle Mouse button is your control for moving quietly from one surface to another, which is a pain unless you have a mouse with a big assed middle mouse button. The R key controls a "Hiss" you can issue that attracts the attention of the Marines on patrol which is a nice touch. But like all scifi enemies it seems that the AI seems to think it is a perfectly good idea to walk into a dark room without even telling anybody you were going there. And groups of enemies are apparently happy to up and walk away in different directions to look for you, despite them knowing damn well you're just waiting for you to do that so you can pick them off one at a time. Most of the other controls are in normal or sensible places however.

The storyline is extremely predictable, as I'm sure it has no difference in any of the AvP games. UNUSUALLY you start as a Drone instead of at the Facehugger stage. However it is the same old story, you escape confinement, get back to hive, kill some humans on the way, humans kill queen you become queen. Except that you only ever get to play as the Drone stage.

This does not however hurt the Alien storyline as really what else can you do with it? The Xenomorphs don't really have enough depth to give players a deep meaningful storyline. Oh, but you can break canisters with "Royal Jelly" in it and one of the storyline objective details is basically 'the queen has been defiled by the humans, go kill a few dozen'. What benefit it provides I have yet to discover personally though i'm sure a quick google would answer that.

The Graphics are brilliant and the sounds incredible. I could find no fault with them at all.

My only problem so far with the game itself is that, if the Alien story is telling then they're all too short. While I wouldn't expect a ten hour epic for each I would have appreciated the story to be more along AvP2's length.

However the game does seem to be plagued by a few bugs from what i've seen and heard though I have only experienced one of them personally which involved a "Verify Installation" from the properties menu of the game in Steam.

But these are just my first impressions of a single storyline so far. So if I had to rate them.

Graphics: 10

Sound: 10

Gameplay: 8

Storyline: 4

Length: 5

Overall: 9

Summary: Good game if a bit short so far.

Curses.

2010-02-21T15:58:00.000+11:00

Against my will. As ever. Finances didn't allow me to get the new AvP game on time thus my Review of it is obviously going to be delayed.

Sorry.

Introduction.

2010-02-17T21:28:00.000+11:00

Greetings, I am Kadaeux, an Aussie who likes games and has decided to share my opinion with the world. Why?

Does the world care about my opinion? Probably not...
Does the world require my opinion? Probably not...
Does the world give a flying rats ass about who I am let alone what I have to say? Fat chance.

So why do this?

For the same reason dogs lick their balls.

Because I can.

So i'll start with this short introduction here you can see, if this alone got some watchers they would... well ... probably be some likely disturbed individuals.

Within the next few days I will begin this with a review of the new AvP game. Assuming I can tear myself away from it, I have the crowbar ready.

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But, to keep people tided over here are some games I will, attempt at least, to review. These are all games I have already (and probably so have you) enjoyed and played before. While there are some really shite games I have played (Turning Point: Call of Liberty i'm looking at you.) I generally buy games I have a gut feeling I will enjoy anyway.

XCOM Series: I think that these awesome, and quite enjoyable (and old) games quite deserve another review, if only because I enjoyed them so much and still revisit them at least once a month.

Command and Conquer Series: I have followed this series with pleasure and will likely cover it in time. As well as cover my thoughts on what we're hearing for C&C 4. Of which so far I have not liked what i'm seeing or hearing. I love Command and Conquer mostly for its story. But what morons decided to completely revisit how a game is played on its final installment? If you want to experiment start something new.

Mass Effect 1/2: I loved these games and will tell you why.

Assassins Creed 1/2: Addictive and great fun. Some people complained about repetitiveness in number one but who fucking cares about the whining gits out there. ...

WINSMBT: A fan-done rebuild of an old and brilliant game from SSC called Steel Panthers 2 Modern Battle Tank. They did just as well with the rebuild and vastly expanded upon the game with a hell of a lot more content.

etc....

Extra Note: I will specify what my Review is for, whether XBOX 360, PC or the PS3 (and in some cases the PSP)