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Skybuck's Aliens vs Predator (2010) Multiplayer Demo Review.
Hello,
Tonight I played the Aliens vs Predator (2010) Demo... it's only been out for about 4 to 5 hours or so ! The download speed on Steam was good about 2.2 MegaByte/sec it took a few minutes to download. The installation went smooth/ok, it installed some Visual Studio C++ 2005 Distributables and DirectX9. Then I started to launch/play the game on Skybuck's Dream PC for 2006 with a GeForce 7900 GTX with 512 MB of RAM. The default settings for the game were way to high and it played like a dog at first... then I lowered resolution and then it played a bit better... Then I wanted to turn the textures lower and that's when the first hang occured... because of "very high textures" it immediatly started to load them... so that's not good... it should wait until I go "back" before doing that. Anyway I had to terminate the app and restart it. Finally I played with the following settings smoothly: Resolution: 1024x786 Shadows: off Anti-Aliasing: 1.0x Textures: Normal Ambient Occlusion: Off (I wanted to try this with on but couldn't anymore see below). The menu's look pretty cool/good but it has a little bit of an issue as well... It takes to long to go back through it all and back into the game... it should try to do that more fastly... so that's my first real issue with this demo and the menu system it doesn't work fast enough. I don't like the blinking logo's in the demo... it's like it's damage or a bug or something. The rest of the menu's is ok. Now onto the game: You might be wondering how is it ? While it's hard to explain and describe... but I will give it a try... Let's start with the video's from youtube and such... those video's pretend that the game is really hectic and crazy... well... that's pretty much a lie so far... or at least that was my experience so far... everybody is still trying to learn how to play the game... I learned quickly and started to enjoy it... As I wrote... the game is not as hectic as in the youtube video's... but maybe it will give a bit more hectic later on... and yes it did get a little bit hectic once players get better... even a little bit too hectic at times ?! Overall it had a nice, relaxed feeling to it. The level is a bit smallish but at the same time also large... if you walk it feels large... if you run it feels small... that's a bit weird. The game controls are totally differen than Aliens vs Predator 2 and will need getting used too. While the system is interesting I think the usually system is better... The problem with the demo is that it uses "Mouse Button 3" (which is the wheel mouse for me) So this game is actually a 3-button game which is sort-of-a-bad-thing... Since pressing the wheel mouse is unusually for me... and the real reason is that it is hard to press and makes me aim go off... maybe it's a matter of practice... ?!? but I am used to just using left mouse button mostly... and sometimes a little bit of right mouse button... but for now I will give the demo the benefit of the doubt... but if I had the choice I would probably want the old system back... I can switch between weapons fast enough with the old system so I don't need a 3-button system... a 2-button system will do just fine... but as I said I am willing to put up with a 3-button system for now ! Now I will explain how the new weapon selection system works, especially when it comes to the predator.. it's kinda odd but here goes: 1. The wrist blades are always available/mounted... I can understand this decision a little bit... because in AvP2 sometimes you would run out of bullits and couldn't do anything or whatever... so this wrist-blades-always-mounted-thing might give you a chance of quickly fighting back... But the down side is it makes it harder to know what the hell you are doing because you don't know what weapon is currently "selected/active" which is a bit ****ty... and having to switch to mouse button 3 adds a bit of "lag/latency" to my reaction speed... hopefull with a bit of practice that might go away ?!? Anyway so you select a weapon with 1,2,3,4... but it doesn't become visible... only when you press 3 does it become visible and it immediatly throws/fires or whatever... so no time to aim ? or just a little bit maybe... so you have to pre-aim before you actually know what's gonna happen it's a bit weird... One thing I kinda miss from AvP2 is to be able to hold the wrist blades in attack mode... and only "release" them when a prey is near... but ok... 2. The wristling and the fighting is pretty cool.. a little bit strange sometimes... but not bad... this is a first for me in a shooter ? I immediatly wished from the start that when the marine is down and on the ground that he could have the ability to fight back from the ground... and fire with a pistol... or maybe fight with his hands... The marine doesn't have a block option like the other two have... which kinda sux for the marine... I want a block option for the marine ?! and more struggle for the marine on the ground as well... that would be cool ! I hope the final game will have/add this... but I doubt it 3. The default controls where a bit weird... I had to figure that stuff out... finally I managed to seperate the controls... because it's possible to bind multiple actions to the same key... which makes it confusing... for example I had vision mode and "focus mode" on the same key which makes it confusing at first for newbs at least... But ok... a bit of a gamer will manage to sort that all out right ? 4. So the vision mode is cool and all.. it makes the nice sound a little bit softer though... one vision mode is gone/disappeared... the special "predator vision" mode is gone... instead there is only human vision mode and alien vision mode... (predators to show up on human vision mode as "body heat from predator clearly distinctable". 5. The plasma cannon worked a bit weird... the enemy has to come close enough before it locks on... but ok I guess this is too prevent lame players from killing people from afar ! The special effect for the bullit could have been better/bigger... I kinda like the AvP2 effect better ! - It's more distinctive and easier to see for what it is ! 6. Throwing the stick at somebody is a bit weird... you see this little thingy fly at the enemy... you don't really see it hit... I think the stick from AvP2 was better.. just keep it in your hands and smack somebody with it... but that's not possible in this new game... throwing it would have been a nice add-on. 7. I also discovered the mines on the bars near the ceiling... The mines are kinda funny/cool... when people go near them the mines explode ! Nifty ! That'll make people think twice before sneaking up on me ?! I am not sure what visual or audial queues there are for other players to alert them of the danger... apperently none ?! As maybe a good mine should be ! Otherwise it would be useless ofcourse ! It's kinda fun ! =D 8. Which takes me too how to get the The game has a new mode called: "Focus mode". It works by "holding the G key". Maybe it would have been better if this was a "trigger key" instead... so that I can just press G once let it go... and still have the mode active... so I can focus my fingers on other more important keys like movement... it would be cool if this could be on the whole time... or off the whole... as I please... that would I could perform multiple jumps very fastly... now that gets a little bit difficult if I have to strafe right first... I would need to let the G key go and use another key... having to press multiple keys like that kinda sux a little bit but ok it slows down my gameplay and I have to think harder about what I am doing with my keys... It get's a bit tricky to pull it off... but after some practice I managed to do it pretty quickly... but it could have been even better/faster... However the focus mode is kinda nice... it takes me to place hard to reach... but it's also a bit weird... sometimes it's like an impossible jump or a "fly jump" or something it's a bit strange... maybe the old fashioned crouch and high jump would have been better... but then again... I kinda like this mode... it makes it more easy for me to navigate... There is also a contradiction which is weird/odd... the predator can jump... but not so high... with the spacebar.... but it can jump very high with the focus mode... that's a bit strange... maybe it would have been better if space can jump high as well... for example by holding it for a while to jump higher ?! 9. The game is a very dark... maybe a bit too dark ? Some items are hard to see.. the game "solves" this with visual queue's to indicate that somethings there... like weapons, ammo. It also gives hints to press "E" to pick it up... This is kinda strange and annoying... why doesn't it just auto-pick it up like "normal games do" Especially the weapons which can automatically fit to the pack... shouldn't those be automatically picked-up or do the slow you down because of extra weight ? Also pressing E takes too long... I need to hold it for a few seconds... like 2 or 3 seconds... that's too long... just 1 key press should be enough to make the gameplay faster... 10. The same can be said for grabbing people... maybe it should be more instanously... or maybe that would make it too easier and overdue it... but that could be compensated by requiring people to be more closely.... It's kinda strange that grabbing can only be done from the back... why not from the front as well ?! (Seems a bit anal too me ! ) It also got a little bit annoying when aliens repeatedly do that... but sometimes a bit fun as well... especially when the alien face is in front of the screen. Though I think adding a "server option" which disables this might be a smart thing to do. 11. The weapons are few and not that great... especially the marine seems underpowered to me...: "Nades" do not kill aliens institainously. "Pistols" do not kill aliens... I shot multiple rounds in the head of the alien nothing happened ? (Maybe lag?) "Flame thrower" do not kill aliens... It does very little damage... it's pretty useless... "Shotgun" even the shotgun seems pretty useless... even from midrange... apperently it's short range only... but even then multiple shots needed... One or two shots should be enough... not three but ok Which leaves the "Pulsar riffle" this is the only weapon which can kill aliens pretty decently... it's kinda amazing how I manage to kill aliens after I am "stunned"... maybe that a bit strange/unrealistic ?! Since I was just attacked... that doesn't really feel right... ofcourse it makes me happy that I killed the other alien but at the same time I am like... oh you poor ******* you almost got me ?! and now you get killed by a weapon cheat or so ?!? Bit strange... 12. The blocking is pretty awesome... it creates more of a struggle between players... that's very cool... I wish the game had even more struggle like that ! Like pushing people back... falling them on their ass.. jumping on them... fighting... maybe even rolling over the floor... that would have been cool.. At least the pushing back is in there... ! 13. I miss the "pounce" option from AvP2... 14. I miss the head bite from AvP2 It seems not present in this game ? 15. No crouching in this game which is definetly a short coming... I am used to crouching when somebody points and shoots a gun at me to try and duck out the bullits... this game is again a little bit weird at that point. Maybe it makes the game more newb friendly... but it makes the game also look a little bit newbisch ! =D At the same time the game does have a very powerfull headshot ! Which makes this combination very dangerous ! Without crouching capabilities people will get "headshotted" a lot... I would expect players to start counter acting this by bunny hopping a lot ?! (If possible ?!?) 16. The graphics are not top notch... but they are interesting to watch sort of... One reason for this could be more now older graphics cards... but still... even with top graphics cards this game is probably not top notch... it does have some nice lighting here and there... and destructable lights.... as far as I can tell one has to point at the light to be able to destroy it... one can't simply run past it and destroy it with arms/hands from alien ? Hmm maybe that a bit unrealistic anyway... but again it does slow down the gameplay if you have to destroy those lamps in such a way ! 17. The mode we played is deatchmatch... there is only 1 mode... and only 8 people can play ? While that might seem like not a lot... it seems like a whole bunch of people are in there ?! This game feels like playing on a 64 player server sort of... with only 8 people ?! Wow ?! Probably the run speed has something to do with that... and maybe little levels and slowness of pace sometimes ? Is it a good thing or is it a bad thing ? Yes and no... You will not be confronted with "hordes" of aliens with online play... which is kinda a shame... but you will be confronted with just "two aliens" coming at you... which will feel like a horde anyway I wish the game was in "team deatchmatch" to get more of a feel how that would be... but I suspect that maybe the game has issue's with "team deatchmatch"... the attacking party would run into a trap and get killed one by one... this is probably because of the "close corridor" situation... not a lot of room for multiple people to shoot at each other and help each other out... so that's a dangerous situation... This level probably not that suited for teamdeatch match... maybe other levels more suited. 18. The switching between always walk on walls and drop to the floor takes a bit too long... space can also be used to jump out of it... but then it's a bit weird.. does it continue or not with it ? I think this game needs a very clear indicator which tells you if you are in wall walking mode or not... I can't tell currently... which kinda sux. 19. I am not sure what the focus mode does during combat... or even when standing still... some weird out of focus happens and some red things appear on the enemy... 20. Sometimes the predator cannot jump somewhere... a weird red cross appears... why show that in the first place ? It's just confusing... leave it out or so ? Or make it a very clearly visible cross... or maybe this just needs getting used to... At least you will know that it's "jumpable" but just "out of reach". The "out of reach" situation is weird... sometimes you have to jump on a box to get somewhere... it seems a bit weird... The location looks reachable from where I am standing but the game says not... then a box which is actually further and lower away says... yes you can reach from here... which is just weird and kinda painfull... I guess that's the danger with this "focus mode"... the developers place these locations and physics goes right out of the window... which makes it odd and weird... and counter-intuitive. 21. The disc (?) Absolutely sucks... it's way too little, and way uncool... and the sound from AvP2 is not there... and the special "red drag effect" is not really there... This is the biggest suckage point in the Demo so far... The disc was awesome in AvP2 and now it's a piece of rubbisch... such a shame ?! "Also no re-collect trigger ???" Re-collect disc could be used in AvP2 to get another kill which was kinda funny and cool and luckly sometimes ! The little disc in this game does reflect off the walls but a bit too much... and way too fast ?!? In AvP2 the angle would determine if it would reflect or if it would get stuck... and maybe also a bit of luck... 22. The wrist blades themselfes don't really look that sharp... they a big thick ? But sturdy I guess 23. Why do the wrist blades "heat up" in human vision mode ?!? That's kinda weird and distracting... I wish it wasn't there... 24. The alien tail seems to strike a bit too far for my taste ! 25. The alien sounds are very cool when it fights. 26. The hiss sound is cool and somewhat amazingly cool ! Really scares other players and confuses them ! nice ! But a bit weird too =D But ok 27. The predator does not really have a distract mode ? It says it has... but it doesn't seem to work ? Also now laugh and voice messages ? V means active mic ? 28. The worst thing about the demo is the "Voice mic always on"... Other people have there microphones on... and it creates a lot of crazy noises during the game setup ?! That's pretty bad ?! I don't even wanna hear those people... ?! I just wanna play with them and that's all ?! 29. The options cannot be changed while the game is loading ? or while I am in the lobby ?!? Changing options will loading might be nice... especially controls or such... 30. I rather see a "load bar" to indicate when it's done... then just two arrows... Ok this just a demo... but still 31. Play time has to be way longer than just 10 minutes per game... gjez ! Ok... again just demo... but make it an hour or so at least ! This needs to be re-configureable in the final game... Constantly reloading is kinda suckage... and I wanna play a long time ! - More fun that way =D 32. The flamer thrower affect was kinda nice... but it could also have been better... I have seen better too... also something weird happens: Sometimes things catch fire... and sometimes not ? Even if I burn it a lot... that's weird... It should either completely started burning... like everything or not at all... It would be very cool if I could use the flame thrower to burn away the alien **** on the walls and it would catch fire... just for kicks ! and visuals ! And it could actually have a function as well: keeping aliens out... by using their on **** against them as a "firewall" ! How funny ! Maybe Aliens could "take a ****" to obstruct corridors ! That would be cool ! and funny =D 33. It would be cool if there were eating animations for the aliens at least to seem them regenerate their health... that would make more sense to the player ! 34. Alien bodies/corpses do not explode when I shot with a pistol on them or a pulsar riffle ?!? that kinda sux... bodies need to be able to explode like in AvP2... it's kinda nice if it can be thorn apart ! I send your soul to hell and your body to hell as well ! GET IT ?! =D - That's more blood thirsty and gorish... and has a nice function as well: Cleaning up the level for more speed ! And less distraction possibly 35. The marine no longer has a "vision mode" for in the dark ?!? What ever happend to "ultra violet" ? That;s a bit of a strange short coming... or maybe it's too cumbersome for marines to carry that equipment around on their hands... after all this ain't splintercell ?! But then again... it could be a "class specialization" or so... 36. There is no rocket launcher in this game ?!? That's very daring and maybe even foolish of them ?!? All great shooters had rocket launchers in them: Doom, Quake, Quake2, Quake3, Quake4, Battlefield 2, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Call of Duty 4, Aliens vs Predator 2, do I need to go on ?!? The rocket launcher is simply a requirement if you want to belong to the bigboys ! No rocket launcher = no cooky for you ! 37. The sniper riffle of the human cannot zoom in/zoom out ? HUH ?!? It feels imprecise and hard to aim as well ? Huh ?!? Maybe I need more practice ?!? 38. Default sensitivity speed for mouse was too low... it should at least be 0.75 procent ?!? Or is my mouse that slow ?! 39. I rather use shift for running/sprinting... then Q but ok Personal preference maybe 40. Some weapons require energy before they can be deployed again like the mines... it's kinda weird... maybe even unrealistic.. or maybe the predators have "syntheziers" like in Startrek which can produce mines from energy... the energy can be loaded at the things near the walls which seem to be camera systems as well ?!? That's kinda weird... but ok I pressume the predators have technology to extract power from human devices ?? 41. Cannot cut off/collect heads/throphies from dead bodies ? And then the game crashed... while I was doing a vision mode switch... other people left ? I also saw other people leave during other games which is kinda strange... did they not like the game ? Or were their settings to bad for them to be able to play ? Do they not understand how to tweak it to make it run better ?!? Makes me wonder... I tried to reconnect and continue playing but at this point the demo stopped "working"... I could not join anymore games ? It didn't find any... via quick match ?!? (Also it doesn't show ping times... so I don't know if there are lag issue's... ) So at that point I decided to shut the game down... and start writing this review for you enjoyment and interest Now the big question: Was the game fun ? Yeah it was kinda fun... Was the game interesting ? Yeah it was kinda fun.... Was the game beautifull/fun to watch ? Yeah it was kinda beautifull and fun to watch... The better graphics are fun and nice... and I for one... am glad that there is a new Aliens vs Predator Multiplayer Demo and soon full game coming out ?! The darkness in combination with the light does add a distrinct atmosphere to the game... but the question is what would you rather have: "Nice atmosphere" or "Great gameplay" ? I think with this game it can go hand-in-hand a little bit It's kinda funny when a alien manages to sneak up from you from the dark... but sometimes you'll die and not know what hit or killed you ?!? So in that regards this game is also lacking a little bit... if I recall correctly in AvP2 you could turn the camera around a little bit after you died... or it would be automatic... so you got an idea what happened... this game does not have that which is rather lacking a bit ! (But it could create issue's in such a close corridor map ?! But still AvP2 was able to do it... so why not this game eh?! maybe it will be added later on or in a future expansion...) Then again... the "wondering" what happened might also be kinda interesting... maybe you will decided to quickly go back there.. .and investigate ! and die all over again ! LOL ! until you figure it out or never know what happened Anyway my final conclusion: But games deserve massive respect: Aliens vs Predator 2 and the new Aliens vs Predator (2010) However I still hope that both games can be merged into a new game let's say: Aliens vs Predator 2 (2011?) So final conclusion: Whoever continues developing this franchise or game has still a lot of work cut out for them ! The demo says: "pre-release source code"... I don't really believe that ! It's like a little wish: "We wish it was better but alas... this is it... but we like to leed you on" But maybe I am wrong... maybe the final full game will be a little bit better than the demo... we shall see won't we ? - Funny sentence that last one... it starts with we and ends with we ! That's a first for me ! LOL Anyway one final last tip: Add the chat screen in the game room setup... so people can chat while they are waiting for the game start... It's almost as if the developers don't want you to chat... so you can't bitch about it Chatting could lead to trash talking... that's why it shouldn't load so damn much... just keep on playing ! No time to chat that way ! =D Ok peeps, Ok folks ! That's it from me for now ! =D I hope the demo works for you ! I hope it will work soon again ! I don't know what the problem was... maybe server issue's, maybe it got pulled ? maybe my operating system needs to close some ports ?!? Maybe steam ****ed up and thinks I am still logged in ?!? Hmmmm... Hopefully it detects it and resets it so I can play again later today/tomorrow or so ! Ok final maybe wacky comment from me: This game reminds me a little bit of... and feels like Splinter Cell... the multiplayer demo with the darkness and the sneaking around.. but then in an Aliens vs Predator style Wait wait wait I must admit one last remark: The shotgun from AvP2 is way cooler then in this game ?!? Though this game has a double shotgun... but it's kinda a weird gun... I don't need a double shotgun ?! What am I some kind of sissy lol ?! I am one bad ass motherfokka I am going solo with a single shotgun ! =D That had a nice feel to it in AvP2 and it's sound was awesome when it shot ! The shotgun in AvP2 is/was just as iconic to me as was the pulsar riffle in the movie ! I loved that shotgun... sigh Ok final final final last remark: Sometimes the smart gun doesn't seem to do a lot of damage ?!? Damage done tweaked down or lag issue ? Oke final final final final final last comment: I do like the simplified "hud" it has a more technical/experimental weapon feeling to it... like just basic fast computer system running... it's kinda funny and nice ! Nothing too fancy... though I wouldn't mind seeming something more fancy as well... I am neutral om that subject However I do like the health bar a lot... it's awesome... and the stims pack is also very cool ! I also like the way the predator injects the purple health thing into himself instead of knifes like in AvP2... I also like the way the marine does it ! Very cool ! I also like the way the "motion blur" kicks in when I turn around real fast... or half way... that's cool ! =D I was also kinda amazed that it was possible to actually climb over things with the marine... that was kinda cool ! But the alien seems to have a little problem with it ?! The marine requires the spacebar to be pressed which is a good thing... but the alien should just do it automatic ?!? Or maybe not... this way the alien can hide behind it as well Though the alien did have some trouble climbing over boxes when "wall-mode" was on... maybe that can somehow be fixed so the alien moves more smoothly over objects when "wall mode" is on ! Ok peeps ! It was again a long night for me... like many others... so I am used to it ! I am very glad that the demo is out so I had a chance to play it ! I loved it ! Ofcourse I will not rate this demo since it's not the full thing... when I have played the whole game I might give it a rating/stars I make no promises that I will write a review of the whole game... it depends on if I like the game or not... and if I think it's quality and fun or not... but from what I have seen it seems fun ! And that's what I am all about when it comes to gaming ! Having fun ! That's my major priority when playing games ! As long as it's fun you can count me in ! =D Bye, Skybuck =D |
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Skybuck's Aliens vs Predator (2010) Multiplayer Demo Review.
Lol,
I just had a very interestingly funny game lol. I played predator the others played aliens, there was one other predator too. I simply went to the room with the energy supply and I simply mined the doors. The aliens couldn't get in and kept getting killed... I only died once... after that I started mining the floor of the room as well... I wont with 18 kills, and the runner up 10 kills or so... Way too easy really One alien did survive one mine and got stunned and then moved at me but I still killed them. Sometimes they tried in team but didn't help them...second mine got second alien ! Ok here some further pointers to improve the game a little bit: 1. Don't spawn people in front of other people... so check line of sight... otherwise a marine could shoot a just-spawned-predator... which would be slightly frustrating. I am thinking about what aliens could have done to stop/kill me... not much except simply stay out of the doorways and wait till I come out... if I don't come out it might be 0 vs 0 kills LOL. Game also seems to be having some connection issue's... so that kinda sux... Lobby could be improved with custom game making as usual... with ping information and what not... though this game does not really seem affected by lag that much ? Bye, Skybuck |
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