Re: #15 - charging plasmacaster is for gameplay balance. not everything can be 100% pure to the movies, and even then varying strengths of plasmacaster bolts are arguably movie canon. Re: the second half of your post and also #19, single-player enemies will be by necessity weaker than you. Your opposing factions will be, by necessity, weaker than you. The game wouldn't be very fun if fighting two Aliens left you mortally wounded as a Predator, would it? With that said, it looks like the Aliens did a good job flanking and in large numbers would kill you (unlike avp2 where you could slaughter them by the dozens). The game so far is looking really good. My concern, particularly in light of Modern Warfare 2's release, is how multiplayer will be handled. Will there be dedicated servers? Will there be console commands? The ability to kick/ban? I am watching eagerly. A free pre-release demo would be a tantalizing way to put my concerns to rest (HINT HINT REBELLION).