Rebellion Studio Visit: AvP Singleplayer Preview

The Alien campaign starts before the marine or predator campaign which actually start concurrently. As you’ve all read, the opening cutscene starts with the birthing of some adorable baby chest-bursters. With a specimen tube placed over the exit point, the helpless bursters are trapped upon birth.

Except one sneaky bugger: Us. Our character actually gets back in – we don’t see this – and promptly takes an alternative route through the mouth. Seeing this Weyland takes a liking to our character, considering him special. We get labeled as 6 and are apparently subject to some experiments but this isn’t delved into during the 2 missions I witnessed.

The cinematics are simple beautiful. The look of fear on the face of the hosts was amazing. The animation team has done a wonderful job with the cinematics. I’d sure love to see a CG movie from Rebellion.

As previously reported the gameplay starts with a quick and easy tutorial teaching you the ins-and-outs of playing as the Alien. But what also impressed me was the start of the level as Number 6 is trapped in the restraints. All that the player could do was move the head and marvel at the detail in the arms and restraints. Rebellion aren’t messing about here. I can’t even believe one preview had the nerve to say this was barely an improvement over the last game.

Following the completion of the tutorial, Number 6 tries to make a break for it but finds himself being gassed at the hands of Dr Groves, voiced by Aliens’ William Hope. Bet you didn’t see that coming? Fade to next experiment, all the scientists are watching a live feed of Weyland attempting to open the pyramid again.

Queue massive energy blast and then a blackout. Looks like the facility has lost power. Bad for the humans, awesome for us Aliens. Promptly escaping our restraints and disposing of the humans nearby (apart from Doctor Groves who escaped). Next thing we’re off unleashing our brethren and generally causing a bloody mess. Figuratively and literally – as far as being literal in the video game world goes. It looked sweet seeing all those Aliens run ahead of you and take on the other AI enemies.

Like with the previous incarnations, a lot of time is spent on the walls and in vents. In an effort to make the game flow better, Aliens have their own focus mode which allows the player to focus on a vent entry and leap straight into it. It also allows you to zero in on enemies and leap straight towards them, covering the distance between you and them. It’s all about speed with the Alien.

The first level finishes with the Alien character having trashed the lab, unleashing all my fellow Xenos. They’re smart AI. These guys are off and before you know it, they’ve taken a great deal of the scientists and security guards out. Finally unleashing the captured Queen that Weyland took from the pyramid. I’d like to take a sentence or two to just say how amazing the Queen model looked. The detail and attention that had been put into showing the age of her was astounding.

The second level has you clearing out the sewers (where you ended in the marine campaign) and surrounding areas. For this level my casual gamer friend I took for a less biased opinion took controls of the Alien. Watching him play I could see how impressive the Alien could be when the player was more comfortable with the gameplay style.

The difference in gameplay style is huge. The limited experience I had at EuroGamer was enough to inform me that it’ll take a bit of practice. I could see the steep learning curve even more watching the guy from aliensvspredator.net and my friend play. Some players will either flourish with the Alien or they wont. Those who master the species will make multiplayer a “fun” experience.

Like with the marine campaign, Rebellion have put a lot of effort into making the game feeling authentic, as if you’re in that armored elongated phallic head of the Xenomorph yourself. To this effect, lights are destructible allowing the player to use shadows to move around in. There’s even a light indicator so the player is aware of how invisible you are to the enemy.

Of particular awesomeness (yes, it’s a word) are the much discussed trophy kills. I know there’s some concerns about them getting old but when it’s you doing the kills, it’s so much more grin inducing. There was one section in the second level where my friend was creeping down the walls, using the shadows and trophy killing the marines. The look of satisfaction on his face said everything.

Now we’ve all seen the trophy kill in which the humans are grabbed and promptly skull-fucked by the inner jaw. However if you kill a body and have left their skull intact, you can position yourself over them and headbite their skull to replenish your health. This goes alongside the slow automatic regeneration that the Alien also has.

The Alien also has his own hidden items to find. Scattered throughout the various levels are canisters of Royal Jelly that you must destroy. If you find and destroy all of the canisters you unlock an achievement. The Alien also receives its objectives through the Queen telepathy. Looks like someone has been looking into the expanded universe.

The Predator campaign is the aspect of the game we’ve had the most exposure to, being the first campaign to be revealed at E3. As the Predator you play a trainee cleaner Predator (ala Wolf from AvP Requiem) dispatched to retrieve the technology of fallen young bloods and dispose of their bodies. However that’s not where you start. As the Predator we are given a very short tutorial in the melee combat and basics of the Predator.

It actually takes place in one of the multiplayer maps that was at the EuroGamer Expo, Jungle. You’re confined to the small pit in the center of the map and after quickly learning the basics of Predator gameplay and passing your trials, you’re whisked off having detected the intrusion on Freya’s Prospect.

The Predator cutscene starts with the mothership scanning and promptly destroying the marine ship. You and a small group of other Predators drop down onto the planet to clean up the mess. There’s nothing new I can really tell you since we’ve all seen the updated level demoed in Russia. It’s exactly the same as that.

Dan, the rep from aliensvspredator.net, did put the voice mimicry to great use which isn’t something we’ve seen much of before. It works really well and when used properly it can help separate the marines and allow you to slip in and create a right mess. The Predators also have their own collectibles:  Hunter’s belts. I believe they’re just a certain amount you have to obtain to unlock an achievement.

In general, I think the game looks beautiful. The graphics are amazing and the level of detail Rebellion has put into the models is astounding. I did walk out of the studio disappointed though; Disappointed I couldn’t run back in, lock myself in Mega City One and not come back out until I’d finished the game.

This is simply the game we’ve been waiting for. The wait until February is going to be hard. I’d just like to thank Martin from Sega and Alex from Rebellion for making the visit possible. I look forward to seeing the final results of all your hard work.