Angry Mob Games and Fox Digital Entertainment have released a new mobile game entitled Alien vs. Predator: Evolution for iOS and Android devices today. Unfortunately, Aliens: Colonial Marines failed to meet expectations and left many fans with bitter sweet taste in their mouths. Will this be the case for Alien vs. Predator: Evolution? Read on to find an in-depth review from our very own RidgeTop and check out his verdict on the game.
“You play alternating missions as an Alien or Predator; marines are only here for the munching and slicing this time around. The first missions for both species are interesting as you start as a doomed Alien and Predator under siege by the Super Predators. You can put up a good fight, but ultimately, Mr. Black takes you out. As a Predator, you receive the distress call from your defeated clan mate, only to have your ship blasted in orbit by the Super Predators.”
Thanks to Fox Digital Entertainment for providing us with a review code. Be sure to let us know your thoughts on Alien vs. Predator: Evolution in our forums.
That part was pretty hard for me too.
Actually normal marines can't generally see you in the dark, only when you're really close (same as when you're cloaked) and I think also when you're doing an execution. Sometimes they also fire without aiming, which might still hit you. However there are 3 cloaked marines that have thermal vision, so they can always see you (even in other levels when you're cloaked), and their shots really hurt. So you don't need cloak for this mission. And if you just really need cloak, try the Wolf set.
And it's pretty normal that you can't tell if you're cloaked or not in thermal vision. After all, thermal vision is supposed to let you see through cloaks.
The real frustrating part is terrible camera angle system and general combat.
I really don't like keeping old tradition of nerfing Predator compared to Movie version. I don't think making Predator as efficient and powerful as movie version won't break gameplay. I am stuck at Predator level after Alien disables power generator. Light is out. I have to use thermal vision to take out a group of marines in dark, yet they can still see me very well despite darkness+cloaking. It is impossible to tell whether I am cloaked or not in thermal mode. It is plain frustrating. And energy depletes too fast considering amount of marines in present. Execution time is too long and stupid since it cancelles cloaking. It is stupid that execution takes too long and other marines kill me while in process. And it is stupid that developers still think keeping cloaking would be overpowered when it is not. Since I am stuck at that level, my review may not be 100% accurate, but when the game gives more frustration than challenge, then there is problem. I don't think the developers even tested their own games. I don't think 3d action translate well into mobile app, especially something like AVP which should be treated far better.
I say 5.5/10. And that's me being generous. I really tried to love this game. I even doubted people giving negative review, but after experience frustration after another, I just can't let my love for franchise cloud my judgement.
I agree that the gameplay is somewhat repetitive, and there are some graphical glitches.
I personally haven't experienced QTEs and combos not being recognized. Actually, as long as I bothered to time the combos, they came out alright. I didn't think the attacks were slow either. The first attack in a combo is slower than the others, but it's not that bad.
Things I don't agree with:
He says the game isn't balanced, the reason being that executions recharge health and kills enemies quickly, but it can be risky. Given the huge benefits of executions, wouldn't the risk actually balance it out? If it had no risk, wouldn't you become some kind of god-like being? It is frustrating to accidentally start an execution sequence though, but he doesn't touch on that.
He also says the framerate drops during some sequences. But then he specifically says he couldn't chain combos when being surrounded by enemies, which makes me think it's not quite that. Maybe he really does have framerate problems in those sequences, but you're (generally) not supposed to be able to chain combos when being surrounded by enemies because of recoil. When you get hit, your combo gets interrupted and you have to take some time to recover, which means getting boxed in is deadly for your character.
Then he complains some more about getting boxed in. Which raises the question, what is he doing getting boxed in? Considering what he said earlier about "prodding the screen until everything's dead", it sounds like he was too busy button-mashing to avoid getting boxed in. Besides, what do you expect them to do, politely line up and wait their turn?
His complaints actually convince me that this isn't a braindead button-masher.
I was thinking about buying it - only $5.50 after all (despite it being $4.99 in the USA and us having a stronger dolllar - f**k YOU APPLE!!) - but might wait for some updates. A few reviews talk about it being buggy.
He's also a huge fan of Aliens and the like.
http://www.destructoid.com/review-alien-vs-predator-evolution-247581.phtml?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Evidently this game is garbage too
I actually was thinking of picking this up, but now...nope! I usually don't have much in the ways of expectations for iOS games of this sort, but at least that Dead Space game worked well given the platform it was on. Frustrating in parts, but it worked.
2013 has been hard on the Aliens series it seems.
I do like that they did manage to include things like the lifecycle and customizable characters. As mentioned elsewhere, the prices of upgrades are a bit steep unless you are willing to lay down even more money (which I'm not).
My main complaints are that the alien doesn't quite feel like an alien- it just feels too slow and rigid. The controls for both alien and predator could do with being a lot more fluid. At times it felt like the touchscreen wasn't registering my commands. I think this is what spoiled my enjoyment most- it just became frustrating at times trying to guide your character through combat. What's quite strange is that the combat in Predators feels much smoother, so it feels like a step back in Evolution.
Wait, so there actually might be a Vita version? I thought that was just fan speculation.
What's the point of releasing it if it's not even letting you get through the loading screens, let alone letting you play the actual game at all. Doesn't matter anyway because unless they decide to fix all this with an update I'm not bothering with this anymore, I'm not even going to even try the Predator campaign.
Will re-do my review later.
EDIT: Review still stands. While I was able to successfully load the first two missions, the third mission now does the same thing the first used to do. Turned my iPod on and off twice and tried loading it around 20-25 times. It gets about halfway, and then just crashes. So, again. Unless you have an iPad or the newest iPhone, don't buy this. It isn't meant to run on any other device, and it shows. I'll have to pick up the rumored Vita version if the Vita ever supports the engine.
Facehugger and Chestburster were...neat, I guess. Never got to play as the adult Xenomorph, unless you count the intro stage. Which I don't, really.
Good review. Really enjoyed that.
Plan on picking up the game for my Galaxy Note later tonight.
Playing it on an iPad (the 'new' version, which was released between versions 2 and 3) and, thankfully, haven't encountered any moments which break it.
There is a definite lack of spatial awareness, though. Even if you set the camera to automatically turn with you, it doesn't do so immediately. You have to move a certain distance before it starts to move, which forces you to use the hand which should be comfortably rested in position to operate the strike/jump commands, to manually swivel and elevate the camera. Hectic when you're up against more than one target!
Finding out how to deal with enemies carrying shields, where you're told to do a 'heavy attack', is also quite confusing. You're not informed what a 'heavy attack' is classed at and a jump doesn't seem to have any more of an effect than a normal strike does. I tried just sort of randomly pressing hurried combinations of strike and jump and... Something appeared to successfully dislodge the shield, but I'm not sure what it was.
Entire thing looks/plays a lot like Monolith's entry to the AVP games, except completely in third-person. Which, honestly, would be perfectly fine, were it not for the frustration of the camera! You just can't get the degree of control available on mouse/keyboard. The movement is achieved by a virtual stick on the left-hand side and you find your thumb kind of just slipping off the screen when you need to make the character move for an extended period of time, forcing you to 'restart' the movement. In itself, not necessarily bad, but it's causing me to keep getting killed on a level which effectively forces it to change to an almost 2D side-scroller, where you're trying to move the Alien across an expanse of ground, navigating crates, while a dropship's firing at you. In a PC game? Easy enough. Maybe even would've been fun, but it's difficult to do this on the movement system they've set up with any real intuition.
Having said that, it feels kind of fun. Certainly not a waste of money for something this cheap!
A word of warning, though: During moments where you get the option to affect a kill animation of your choice? You have the option to choose an arrow-labelled direction and there's no indication which one you 'should' do, meaning that, sometimes, you'll try one and the enemy who's in your grasp will somehow find the strength to block or force you away. No explanation of what the deciding factor is when this happens.
Have definitely got the impression that if they had released it cheaply for PC, it'd be a lot more casual and entertaining. It's primarily the medium of how they've set it up to play through a mobile device, which makes it more frustrating than intended.
I've found in order to get them to work you have to start from the opposite edge of the screen and do the up,left or right gesture. The little arrows do make it seem like you should pull it off with just a little flick.
That's just insulting, then. The game crashed literally every time I die
Which can run The Amazing Spider-Man, which has free-roam in an entire, rendered city and graphics that are on the same level as this. There is really no reason it should be doing this.