*Video* Angry Joe's Aliens Vs Predator Review

[mbs357]

Pulse rifles dont even have iron sights, the marines fire from the hip.

You're right, they don't.
They have optics built into the carrying handle.
And yes, I saw plenty of marines aim in the movies.

Considering Joe seems to be such a fan of the multiplayer, I was surprised that he didn't comment on the lack of dedicated servers, which really hamstrings the experience.  Other than that I found the review to be quite balanced and fair, and I agree with the overall score.

He didn't complain about that because he's playing on the Xbox.
He's USED to that awful mess that is matchmaking.  I can't fathom why a person who seemed to be such a fan of two great PC games would get their sequel on an inferior piece of gaming equipment, but whatever.
He also complains about the graphics of the 360 version, which are terrible, yes.
But the PC is gorgeous, especially in DX11.

[SpaceMarines]

Good review. I hope I can convince my brother to pay for half of this thing; I don't want to pay for an entire game again.

[Skinner]

Awesome review, Joe. I agree with most of your points.

[Gladius_]

Good review Joe!

[spychi]

Hahahah very funny. +1 one for that but you could give it a 8 ;p

[101ST Starwind]

Watching the review now, but I agree with the numeric rating for the singleplayer. Marine AI is too poor - However, the Alien AI is pretty great, they just needed to be faster moving. The story is too weak, but what can you expect from an AVP game? Plus the voice acting is "meh", a couple of the boss fights aren't great. So in that regard it's a fairly average single player experience, but bumps up to a 7 because of the visuals (it really does look great in DX11) and the sound. Once the dedicated servers are live I foresee the multiplayer being more of a 8-9 range, maybe a 10 if they add a few things and polish it up a little.

As for iron sights, I really am a tad confused as to why everyone keeps screaming for them. The only possible explanation is wanting the magnification (like 1.5X zoom with most games), as you already have ADS accuracy when "firing from the hip" (if you pay attention, the Marines always have the weapon shouldered, minus the smartgun) in this game. Even on full auto the pulse rifle is nearly pinpoint accurate.

[SpaceMarines]

Everyone just want all games to be like CoD. Don't get me wrong, I love Call of Duty, but it isn't the be-all and end-all for first person shooters.

[mbs357]

Personally, I hate the zoom devs add to using iron sights.  It needs to die.
Aiming the firearm properly does help you hit things, but it doesn't have some kind of supernatural zoom effect.

[xboxgamer4life]

Pulse rifles dont even have iron sights, the marines fire from the hip.

You're right, they don't.
They have optics built into the carrying handle.
And yes, I saw plenty of marines aim in the movies.

Considering Joe seems to be such a fan of the multiplayer, I was surprised that he didn't comment on the lack of dedicated servers, which really hamstrings the experience.  Other than that I found the review to be quite balanced and fair, and I agree with the overall score.

He didn't complain about that because he's playing on the Xbox.
He's USED to that awful mess that is matchmaking.  I can't fathom why a person who seemed to be such a fan of two great PC games would get their sequel on an inferior piece of gaming equipment, but whatever.
He also complains about the graphics of the 360 version, which are terrible, yes.
But the PC is gorgeous, especially in DX11.

to say the graphics on pc are great and on 360 terrible is bull and you know it. dx11 pc version agianst 360 or ps3 version looks almost exactly the same. most people probably couldnt tell the differances between the 2. id say the graphics are great on both version and whoever says they look bad only think there bad because the game is so dark.

[MadassAlex]

Everyone just want all games to be like CoD. Don't get me wrong, I love Call of Duty, but it isn't the be-all and end-all for first person shooters.

This.

I've been playing the CoD games since the first one. I love them for what they are. Which is why I play them.

So when I play a game that isn't CoD, I specifically do not want to play CoD.

[SpaceMarines]

I got a "This!"

[Sifer2]

I understand the Iron sight request either. I mean Left 4 Dead doesn't have Iron Sights an you don't see people complaining. And as far as Marine as concerned this game is fairly similar to L4D. That is you don't need super accuracy to accomplish what you have to do just spray a bunch of bullets. Granted in L4D you CAN crouch to improve accuracy. An that's something that really should have been in this game. Since Crouch has so many uses.


I also don't really think his idea of Alien vs Alien swarm war would be fun either. Would just make the Alien campaign even more repetitive an boring. Honestly I think there is just only so much you can do story wise when your playing as a big bug. It's more about the experience. Which is why the best possible thing they could do is make an Alien campaign where the full Lifecycle is represented. Facehugger, an Burster like in AvP2. Then some Drone levels. Then molting into Praetorian an having to fight your own kind. Using that idea that Praetorians make a scent that angers the hive to weed out the weak. Then sort of being able to lead your fellow Aliens in attacks after you have proven yourself. An finally you become a Queen an take over completely.

[Xenomorphine]

Personally, I hate the zoom devs add to using iron sights.  It needs to die.

Aiming the firearm properly does help you hit things, but it doesn't have some kind of supernatural zoom effect.

Agreed.

[MadassAlex]

I also don't really think his idea of Alien vs Alien swarm war would be fun either. Would just make the Alien campaign even more repetitive an boring. Honestly I think there is just only so much you can do story wise when your playing as a big bug. It's more about the experience. Which is why the best possible thing they could do is make an Alien campaign where the full Lifecycle is represented. Facehugger, an Burster like in AvP2. Then some Drone levels. Then molting into Praetorian an having to fight your own kind. Using that idea that Praetorians make a scent that angers the hive to weed out the weak. Then sort of being able to lead your fellow Aliens in attacks after you have proven yourself. An finally you become a Queen an take over completely.

That's just as lame as an Aliens vs. Aliens hive war.

[Elude]

Why would you want Iron sights in this game?

They'd be useless.

Bullshit. Sorry, but thats absolutly nonsense. I have to say that, without the intention to afront you or anybody else.

Any kind of action to increase the accuracy would be definitly usefull, specially on larger maps, where you dont have to worry that 10 enemys are permanently around you or you got mates, that protect you, if you are soooo afraid to get killed by using it (people who want something like that usually arent).

No matter, if ironsight or another action, like hold the gun a bit higher and move (and aim) less fast but you can shoot more precise, it would expand the gameplay (like ravenshield maybe?  ).
At least it would be good, if it would make a difference if you walk or crouch, to increase the accuracy (with a changing crosshair, like in the AJL-Mod for AVP2). And there are many more reason crouch would be pretty good for rine or predator, it can even safe your life (specially if you or your enemy are on different levels of the map), besides you are a smaller target (i recognized that at least in AVP too).

The firing out of the hip is a relict of movies from the eightys and arcady videogames.
In Aliens it would still make sense, cause the aliens were allready pretty near, as the rines started firing.
But its ridicilious, that a trained marine cant fully use a assault rife.
Overall you can have different opinions, if AVP should be more based on arcady games or reality (i mean the real reality or the one from modern movies  ).
But there is definitly room for a more complex marinegameplay, so crouch is still essential and more then one accuracylevel would be a improvement, like the sprintkey.
After all i would be happy with a compromise, so you primary use firing from the hip in melee or if the enemys is not very distant.

You specially recognize the limitations from the rines, if you fight other rines (something i liked in AVP2 AJL).
Its a waste of potential and the game would still be far from being an "simulator".

[I dont play COD, Halo and Gears only sometimes.]

BTW: I still have to wait a little bit for my copy, but i would like to see videos from other (bigger) maps , specially one in the AVP-Movie-pyramid. Can someone help me?

I'm pretty sure we are lead to believe we are already using iron sights given the positioning of the marines weapons from a third person perspective, the only reason we dont see this in first person is because it would look very dull, and boring when theres an alien in your face about to chomp you. Lets not also forget, looking at the side of your gun looks way hotter then looking down a few metal crosshairs.

Aside from that... The weapons already fire insanely accurate from the hip and the last thing we need is to be moving slower, and having almost half of our screen being taken up by a giant weapon in our face. More then half the battles you duke out online are within 15 meters anyway and require no additional zooming or increased accuracy abilities.

Now a crouch would most definitly be atleast somewhat useful, atleast as useful if not more then a jump, which as of right now isnt that useful lol.