Let's Play: Aliens, Predator, and AvP games

[Xenomrph]

I've been running a popular Let's Play video series over on the SomethingAwful forums, and some forum members over here asked if I'd post a topic for it so you guys could see it.

You can see all my videos here, from newest to oldest. Go to the last page to see the oldest one. I'm going to copy over the main OPs for each game and post them subsequently in this thread, and I'll update this thread as I update the Let's Play project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Aliens vs Predator: Gold Edition (PC) DONE
Alien vs Predator (SNES) DONE
Aliens vs Predator 2 (PC)  IN PROGRESS  Updated: 12/8/09


The first Alien-related video game was 'Alien' on the Atari-2600, a Pac Man clone that had you navigating the air ducts of the space ship Nostromo in an effort to evade the Alien (or in the case of the game, Aliens). Since then there have been side-scrolling shooters, first-person shooters, top-down action games, cell phone games, and several arcade games, including two light-gun games, the most recent being "Aliens: Extermination".
Predator has seen its share of video games as well, starting with 'Predator' on the NES, which put you in Dutch's shoes against Central American rebels and ultimately the deadly Predator itself. There have been subsequent games based on the two movies, as well as a handful of cell phone games, as well as one recent standalone console game where you play as the Predator, called "Predator: Concrete Jungle".
The first "AvP" game was on the Super Nintendo, and had you fighting as a Predator in the far future against waves of Aliens on the planet Vega 4, ultimately tracking down and killing the Alien Queen as your greatest trophy. Later AvP games were seen in arcades, on PCs in the form of the popular first-person shooters, and even on handheld devices and cell phones, most recently in the form of the 'AvP: Requiem' movie tie-in game on the PSP.

You can find a full list of Aliens, Predator, and AvP games here.

What is the point of this thread?

We're going to play through as many Aliens, Predator, and AvP games as we possibly can (and would make entertaining/interesting Let's Plays). Most will be video LPs, but there will be some screenshot LPs as well. Furthermore, this thread has its own theme song (credits to Holy Light of Demons).


How does this thread work?

Each game will get its own OP, linked to from this one. That should help keep things organized - people can come to this OP to see links to different games as they get LPed, and then those posts will include the links for gameplay videos and the like for those particular games.
I'll be doing most of the LPs, mostly in the form of video LPs with audio commentary over them offering up a silly amount of Alien/Predator/AvP trivia and the like. However, other people can contribute with their own LPs of games as well. If you want to LP a game that I already played, or planned to play, by all means go ahead and do it; I'll put a link to your stuff in that particular game's post. I plan on LPing a lot of games, though, even if other people do them as well. Hopefully it won't get too complicated with a lot of games going and potentially a lot of people doing their own thing, but we can cross that bridge as we come to it.
Multiplayer is a-okay, although not many of the games even have it – we can do collaborative efforts for multiplayer content if there's interest.
For those interested, you can download a ROM pack of almost all of the old Aliens, Predator, and AvP games from the AvPGalaxy downloads section. The pack doesn't contain emulators, though; you'll have to provide your own.


Who am I?

I'm Xenomrph, and I'm a recovering AvP fan. I've been an Alien fan for 15 years, and a Predator fan for a bit less. I have a ridiculous collection of Alien, Predator, and AvP merchandise and the like, including every movie on DVD, all the novels, all the comics but 1, and almost all of the games. I've got other random stuff like art books, scripts, making-of materials, etc. And most importantly, I know a crazy amount of useless AvP trivia, a good amount of which will get rattled off in my LP voice-overs. Some bits of trivia might get repeated between games, but that's only because I don't expect everyone to watch every video I do - if there's relevant trivia for 'AvP2' that I previously mentioned in a video for 'AvP1', it's only because I want the commentaries to be somewhat self-contained for each game; viewing the LP for 'AvP1' isn't a requirement to enjoy the 'AvP2' LP, especially since the games are almost totally unrelated anyway.

[Xenomrph]

Aliens vs Predator: Gold Edition (PC)





TABLE OF CONTENTS
Campaign Videos
Marine Campaign
- Derelict [Viddler]
- Colony [Viddler]
- Invasion [Viddler; no-commentary version: Viddler]
- Orbital [Viddler]
- Tyrargo [Viddler]
- Hangar [Viddler]
Predator Campaign
- Waterfall [Viddler; alternate intro video]
- Area 52 [Viddler]
- Vaults [Viddler]
- Fury 161 [Viddler]
- Caverns [Viddler]
- Battle [Viddler]
Alien Campaign
- Temple [Viddler]
- Escape [Viddler]
- Ferarco [Viddler]
- Gateway [Viddler]
- Earthbound [Viddler]
Bonus Videos
Marine Bonus
- Temple [Viddler]
- Vaults [Viddler]
Predator Bonus
- Invasion [Viddler]
- Escape [Viddler]
Alien Bonus
- Invasion [Viddler]

Aliens vs Predator: Gold Edition was released in 1999 from Rebellion studios, and promised intense action as all three major species in the AvP franchise, with the tagline The 3 deadliest species in the galaxy just met their match. Each other.

The game features one singleplayer campaign as each of the species, the Alien, Predator, and Marine, and features different gameplay elements for each one. The three campaigns do not intersect, or even make mention of one another, although the original plot ideas for the game had all three campaigns taking place in and around "Pandora Base" on an unnamed planet, and had the characters actually crossing paths. The singleplayer campaigns do pit you against the other two factions in combat, however.
Multiplayer allowed players to pick the species of their choice and go at it in standard deathmatch, team death match, and various other "gimmick" gametypes such as Alien Tag (one player was an Alien, killing the Alien made you respawn as an Alien, and the only way to score points was to be an Alien and make kills), as well as a "skirmish" mode against infinitely respawning enemy Aliens in both singleplayer and co-op gameplay.


Colonial Marine



The Colonial Marine is your basic foot soldier, thrust into combat with 2 extraterrestrial species that want to turn him inside out and generally ruin his day. He's not very durable, he's not very fast, he can't jump very high, but he's armed with all kinds of rapid-fire weapons that will hopefully keep his enemies outside of arm's reach... and help him survive the next 20 seconds. The Marine plays like you'd expect from a first person shooter – you've got guns, you shoot at things, and you pick up health packs, armor kits, weapons, and ammo, and you shoot at anything that isn't human. The Marine campaign is the easiest to just pick up and play... and is also hands down the most terrifying campaign in the entire game. So terrifying, in fact, that the original stock version of the game came with a free voucher for Big Dogs brand underwear. I am not joking.


Predator



The Predator is an intergalactic big-game hunter, armed with all sorts of fun high-tech toys and accessories. He's far more durable than the Marine, not as mobile as the Alien, and his weapons are substantially more powerful than the Marine arsenal, but with a much slower fire rate. He doesn't pick up armor or ammunition, and instead uses an energy reserve to power all of his weapons and abilities, including health recovery, firing weapons, and cloaking. Cloaking makes you almost invisible to human enemies (Aliens can see you regardless), although you are limited in what weapons you can use while cloaked. The Predator also has 4 different "vision modes" he can use, each specialized for each species. Basic vision is real-color vision, identical to the Marine's basic vision. Thermal vision (blue) is for targeting Marines, Electrical vision (red) targets Aliens and certain other enemies, and PredTech vision (green) targets Predators and their equipment. Certain weapons will "lock on" to an enemy in its respective vision mode, as well.


Alien



The Alien is the most unique of the three species, featuring no ranged attacks, very limited health, but exceptional speed, the best vision modes, and the ability to climb on any surface and recover health from killed enemies. In this regard, the Alien is the most challenging and disorienting to play, but also often the most fun. Most enemies can be killed in one hit, and the Alien can recover health by headbiting enemies ("live" headbites recover more health than "dead" headbites) or by simply clawing at their corpses. The Alien sees through a "fisheye" perspective, with enemies giving off pheromone signatures which are visible even in complete darkness: humans are blue, Predators are green, and other Aliens are red. Nonliving enemies have no pheromone signature. The Alien also has a "navigation" mode for seeing in complete darkness, but this mode eliminates the pheromone signatures. Obviously the largest limitation for the Alien is that it has to be point-blank to do any damage, and that is often a huge liability when all his opponents have ranged attacks that deal massive damage. In this regard, the Alien has to be fast, cunning, and out-think his enemies in order to close the distance and take them apart.

[Xenomrph]

Alien vs Predator (SNES)




Complete gameplay video (Viddler)

"Alien vs Predator" was released by Activision on the Super Nintendo In 1993, earning it the distinction of being the very first AvP video game ever made. The basic plot is that you control one of many Predators who land on the human-controlled planet Vega 4, which has recently been overrun with Aliens. You battle your way through hordes of Aliens, including several specialty "boss" Aliens, and ultimately confront the Alien Queen. The SNES game is unrelated to the AvP side-scrolling beat-'em-up that was released in arcades eight months later.

This is the Predator:


The Predator has several basic attacks, such as:
Punching (which can be strung together with a few multi-hit combos or throws)

A chargeable shoulder cannon (which can be over-charged to attack all enemies on the screen at once, but deals damage to the Predator as well)

A slide tackle attack

Jump-kicking


There are several pick-ups which the Predator can use, including:
A cloaking generator, rendering him temporarily invisible

A disc, which gives him a temporarily boosted ranged attack

A spear, which is an even stronger ranged attack and can pierce multiple enemies

A health boost, which restores some of the Predator's health and extends his overall health bar

An Alien skull, which rewards points


Enemies come in two basic varieties:
Drones

Warriors

The Drones and Warriors also have different color schemes, indicating different attack behaviors. There are also facehuggers and chestbursters on occasion, as well.

[Xenomrph]

Aliens vs Predator 2 (PC)





TABLE OF CONTENTS
Campaign Videos
Marine Campaign
- Unwelcome Guests [Viddler]
- Collateral Damage [Viddler]
- Betrayal [Viddler]
- A Long Detour [Viddler]
- Price of Admission [Viddler]
- Loose Ends [Viddler]
- Savior [Viddler]
Predator Campaign
- Hunt [Viddler]
- Trap [Viddler]
- Interloper Viddler
- Unexpected Allies Viddler
- Old Debts Viddler
- New Target Viddler
- Trophy Viddler
Aliens Campaign
- Birth Viddler
- Surprise Viddler
- Escape Viddler
- Vengeance Video
- Abduction Video
- Pursuit Video
- Freedom Video

AvP2 Blooper Reel (polsy.org.uk, blip.tv)

PROTIP: Download the source videos, because the longer videos tend to desync on Viddler because Viddler is retarded. The source videos are 800x600 resolution, very high quality, don't desync, and the text is all very readable! The videos are about 250MB at the absolute most, so they're not going to fill up your harddrive unless you have a lot of porn that you should probably delete to free up room or something.

Released in 2001 from Monolith Productions and published by Sierra, Aliens vs Predator 2 was the PC followup to the previous AvP first-person-shooter done by Rebellion. Boasting 3 intersecting campaigns and an extensive plot, AvP2 intended to raise the bar set by the prior FPS outing. Here is a fan-made trailer.

Like its predecessor, AvP2 had 3 campaigns, one each for the Alien, Predator, and Marine. Each campaign had its own storyline, but an overarching storyline for the game could be pieced together by playing all three. Once again, each campaign had gameplay elements that were unique to each species, including species-specific abilities, attacks, and equipment or weapons.
Multiplayer also included the three-species element, with team-based play as each species, and incorporated two new additions not present in the first PC FPS: species-specific classes (with different movement speeds, health, and sometimes weapon loadouts) and a "life-cycle" mode for the Alien, where players could start out as a facehugger and progress through the Alien lifecycle, potentially even becoming a Praetorian.

Colonial Marine



The Marine campaign follows Corporal Andrew "Frosty" Harrison has he gets in over his head with two not-so-friendly extraterrestrial species battling it out on the planet LV-1201. The Marine campaign plays similarly to your standard FPS fare, with automatic weapons, lots of enemies, pickups and equipment, and no help in sight. Harrison will need every item at his disposal to get off the planet alive.

Predator



The unnamed Predator is on a mission: to find the most worthy prey on LV-1201, and to kill it. In the process he'll have some detours and settle a few grudges, but he's up to the task: he's armed with all kinds of high-tech weaponry and gadgets to keep himself alive and take the fight to his prey, including many weapons straight out of the Predator movies along with a few new additions to the arsenal. Once again the Predator doesn't have health, armor, or ammunition pickups (although he can recover spears from downed enemies this time around), and uses an energy reserve system to operate all of his equipment, including cloaking, and many of his weapons. Also back are the 4 different vision modes, specialized for each species: thermal (blue) for humans, electromagnetic (red) for Aliens, PredTech (green) for Predators, and a basic "normal" vision mode.

Alien



The Alien lives to serve the Queen, fully willing to give its life to protect the hive and eliminate any threats to it. While there may be many Aliens, this particular one is special, and it will achieve many great things in an effort to preserve the xenomorph presence on LV-1201. With no ranged attacks and no pickups whatsoever, the Alien has its work cut out for it. That isn't to say the Alien is defenseless - with the ability to scale any surface, one-hit-kill most enemies, stun prey with a tail-strike, and recover health via head-bites, the Alien is not to be taken lightly. As in the previous game, the Alien has two vision modes (a normal "fisheye" mode, and a "navigation" mode for seeing in complete darkness) as well as pheromone signatures which are species-specific: humans are blue, Predators are green, and fellow Aliens are red. Non-human adversaries such as synthetics or sentry turrets give off no pheromone signature.

[Mr. Domino]

Awesome, man! I was considering doing something similar a while back, but it looks like you beat me to it!

I'll have to check these out sometime.

[Xenomrph]

Just posted the last Marine mission for AvP2, I'm pleased with how it turned out.

[Corporal Hicks]

Brilliant job man. Ive enjoyed watching these.

[Xenomrph]

Thanks! I'm editing the first Predator campaign vid right now, I hope to have it posted in the next day or so.

[Zyklon]

Ace! I was tempted the other day to make a 'Let's Play: Aliens - A Comic Book Adventure' so people could actually get a look at the game, then I realised I haven't got a clue how to make these sorts of vids 

[Xenomrph]

Don't worry, I'll be doing that game too

[Private Hudson]

I love these vids.

[Xenomrph]

FINALLY did a new video, first Predator campaign level.

[Corporal Hicks]

Entertaining as always Keep it up.

[Xenomrph]

Next level is recorded, I just need to edit it and do the voice over. I can't promise it'll be entertaining, but that's mostly because the level is pretty f**king boring. Thankfully it's a short one.

[Xenomrph]

Next Predator vid