Alien Vs. Predator – MMOMFG Demo Impressions

Alien and Predator fans rejoice; SEGA has provided us the sustenance for life necessary to carry on… in the form of an AvP demo. As an avid fan of the Alien and Predator series, it was a no-brainer for me to download this spine-ripping, brain-munching, pulse-rifling demo release of Rebellion Development’s revisiting of the franchise. Was it all I was hoping for out of a remake of one of my favorite PC games of all time? Well, we’ll get to that. First, here’s the breakdown.

Fight together or die alone…or both - The AvP demo is multiplayer only, so there really isn’t a storyline, just straight up deathmatch. I started up a match and after a relatively brief lobby time, I found myself in a party of 8, with a couple of options lying before me. I had the option to change my species and the option to change my skin. Now, changing the character’s skin wasn’t available in the demo, but it did let you look at the possible skins for each class, which look quite promising.

My other mouth says Hi - As soon as the match started, my world was flipped upside down… literally. Playing as an Alien and hitting the A button while looking at the ceiling sent my Xenomorph vaulting upwards and caused my eyes to cross. It wasn’t until I took about ten slithering steps forward that I realized why “deathmatch” didn’t sound too fun: I got shanked by another Alien. Now, don’t get me wrong, I should have seen that coming, but I really have to say starting a demo off by getting killed by your own species is disheartening. Where’s the camaraderie? Plus, with Aliens thrown in with Predators and Marines, where can you hide? However, you don’t often get to play a game that lets you run from ground to wall to ceiling and bite someone’s brains out through their eye socket.

These guys suck - Needless to say, I didn’t do too hot my first match, the next round was a little different though. Realizing how to change my species, I went with Marine this time around. But, as all the Marines in the movies, I got my rear handed to me. This is where the game really starts dividing the gamers from the fan boys. I can tell you, if I didn’t love the series and hadn’t gone in expecting lots of death as a Marine, I would have been furious. There are times when the auto-balancing system really doesn’t give you an option to be the other species, and you have to be a Marine to “balance” things out. It’s at those times where you can just go ahead and make yourself a PB&J sandwich and forget living for more than 10 seconds unless you’re the Jesse James of space.

Hunter, gatherer, disembowler - Lastly, I managed to squeeze into the spot of a Predator, which earns its title of Hunter. The Predator, like the Marines, must run around and collect his weapons that are laying around a la Quake, all the while switching through its vision modes to keep an eye out for enemies. There was a lot more safety in being a Hunter, and while anyone could insta-kill you by grabbing you, just like you could do to them, face-to-face confrontations generally didn’t last long. I enjoyed the Predator the second most, it was easy to control, powerful, and I didn’t die a lot, which helps.

All-in-all, the controls were nice as the Marine and Predator, the Alien was a little wonky at the beginning. The graphics were crisp, although dark, and the sound was spot-on and spooky. The main issue you will find though is balancing, because I couldn’t find it. Is it still worth playing, HECK YA! Double that if you’re an Alien/Predator buff. The game is unique and once you can get used to getting owned, it’s a ton of fun. When they look back in horror as your tail/claws go through their chest, whisper that MMOMFG sent you.

Oh and if you’re going to play as a Marine, keep extra undies next to you, you’ll need them.