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Req.: P3 450, 128MB RAM, 16MB 3D accel. w/ OpenGL support, 600MB hd Reviewed On: P3 600/744, 384MB, GeForce 3ti 200, Win XP Pro | |||
Intro Aliens Vs. Predator 2 (AvP2) was a very pleasant surprise for me. It improved upon the original in every way, had a solid plot, and was the only game I know of that can make a grown man scream like a scared little girl… in multiplayer. With that in mind, I was very excited when the expansion pack Primal Hunt arrived at my doorstep a few weeks ago. "Oh!" I thought, "more creepy AvP goodness!" Turns
out what I got was just barely more AvP sans the "creepy" or
the "goodness". To say I was disappointed in the content of this expansion
is something of an understatement. What we have here is a perfect example of a
solid gameplay concept ruined by poor level design and a terrible plot. Gameplay: 3/10 The only reason Primal Hunt gets a three instead of a one is because the core gameplay that Monolith implemented is still present. The weapons are still cool, and things are still well balanced and easy to understand. The problems lie in the content itself. As the original and its sequel, Primal Hunt is broken into three segments, one for each race, and each having three missions apiece. I'll review each section separately, because they all play differently. Human: This time around the player assumes the role of a Corporate mercenary, players may recognize her as Dunya from the original AvP2. Dunya is tasked with finding an "artifact" at an archeological dig designated Zeta. The player explores Zeta site, finds the artifact, and returns to base. There are two very serious problems with the human campaign. First off, it's not very scary at all. I remember fondly playing through as a Marine in the main game, it was easily one of the scariest gaming experiences I've ever had. Primal Fear has the player facing aliens outdoors in broad daylight from long range. Not very scary. Once things move indoors, the game is a bit spookier, but not nearly what I was hoping for. The second flaw rears its ugly head in the later parts of the human missions. Namely, the later parts are freaking impossible, unfairly difficult even on the normal setting. At one point they throw the player against a Praetorian and six or seven Drones, and the only weapon available with AP rounds is the pistol. Sound like fun? The finale of the human section is a large, empty room with a gatling turret on one end. Aliens pour out the other end, and the player must survive for two minutes. I never did get past that part. After about 60 tries, I gave up. I even saved all my deployable turrets so it was me, three turrets, and the gatling gun. I still couldn't survive more than 45 seconds. Predator: The Predator is probably the most fun of the three this time around, mainly because it's the easiest. Its plot also revolves around this mysterious "artifact"; jumping from 500 years in the past to a few weeks before the "incident" of the original game. Unfortunately, just because it's the most fun doesn't mean it's anywhere near as good as the original game. The levels are for the most part uninspired, dull, and offer no real challenge to anyone who plays them smart. The one thing that will really stand out in my memory of this expansion is the Predator's ending. It is, bar none, the worst video game ending I've ever seen. We're talking lame beyond lame here, worse even than Half-Life: Opposing Force. I won't spoil it, but trust me, you're in for disappointment. PredAlien: One of the main selling points of this expansion is the new option to play an Alien that has come from an infected Predator. Sounds great to me, except the PredAlien doesn't play any different from a standard Drone. The only difference is a different skin for the claws and new (albeit cooler) sounds. I've always felt the Alien aspect of the game was the weakest, since they cannot manipulate the environment in any way other than smashing grates, things become very dull very quickly. They could have done some cool things with the Alien/Predator hybrid, but instead it's the same old same old: smash a grate, kill a few things, and find the next grate. Great. Perhaps the designers wanted to conceal this fact by making the player go through the whole facehugger/chestburster life cycle thing again, but the only thing the accomplished is reminding players that while the idea of being a facehugger is interesting it's something they'd only want to do once per game, thank you. So really you get ONE level as a PredAlien. The first two involve finding a host, then finding food. To top it all off, the ending for this section is also a let down (surprised?). It's so anti-climactic I don't even mind spoiling it for you: you walk down a hallway. That's it. No boss, no vindication, no real feeling of accomplishment, just a hallway and a short cutscene showing aliens walking around. Believe
it or not, I would have forgiven all this if one little thing had been included
with this expansion: Cooperative Multiplayer. When AvP2 first came out,
I even wrote Jason Hall of Monolith telling him how perfect AvP 2 would
be for CoOp. It appears my requests fell on deaf ears (though I did get a prompt
reply). What multiplayer fans of the game do get is four new levels and not much
else. Graphics: 7/10 Sound:
9/10 Overall:
4/10 [ top ] |
