Aliens versus Predator

Aliens versus Predator is a 1999 first-person shooter game developed by Rebellion and published by Fox Interactive (as well as Electronic Arts in Europe) for PC. It received positive reviews from fans and media outlets for its scary atmosphere and the varying gameplay between each species. A sequel was made by Monolith Studios and released in 2001.

Official Description

This 3D shooter gives you the opportunity to choose among 3 races in the struggle for your life control. You can pick deadly Aliens, that has very piercing claws and striking tail, beside the double mouths that can pierce the enemy skull. You can also be a Predator, also an alien race that came here to hunt, and by that he uses chameleon transparent cover, many vision modes, easy to locate anything that breaths or moves, with one gun mounted on his shoulder, and add-on knife-alike pack on his arm fist.

He also uses other weapons, and can easily zoom any enemy even to 8x. Last race is Humans, to be specific, a Marine. Without weapons he’s fairly weak, but that’s why his weapon arsenal is huge, flamethrowers, miniguns, machineguns, bazookas, etc. and beside that he can watch in night-vision mode, or use his flares to enter the dark. However, flares are limited to five at the time. So pick a race and demonstrate your abilities, either as a human, alien or predator.

Features:

• 3 Different Species Play 3 different species: Each with different strengths, weapons, physical abilities and objectives.
• Many Unique Areas Over 40 different levels in environments including Spaceships, Alien Temples and Underground Caverns.
• Deformable Environments Scorch walls and surroundings with a flame thrower and write your name on the wall with a Pulse Rifle!
• Multiplayer 10 Multiplayer modes which include: Species War, Co-op, Deathmatch, Tag, and more.
• Particles and Dynamics System Stunningly real smoke, steam, sparks, fire and muzzle flashes!
• Total Freedom of Movement Look up and down, jump, crouch and climb.
• Dynamic Lighting Shoot out lights and the world plunges into darkness, fire a flare down a corridor and see it light up the walls as it goes.
• Full Physics Model Objects can bounce and spin.

Story & Gameplay

Unlike Aliens vs Predator 2, the storylines of each species is completely separate from each other. Playing as the Alien, you have to defend the hive and then reach the Marine’s spaceship, the Ferarco before heading to the Gateway station. As a Colonial Marine, you begin at a research station on LV-426 which is studying the Derelict Spacecraft. Aliens attack and you must fight your way through the research station, the derelict and the colony. You travel to the Odobenus Station before heading to the spaceship Tyrargo where you’ll battle the Alien Queen.

As a Predator, you have to recover a Predator spaceship and recover a Predator from a military base. You have a battle with a Predalien before escaping in a Predator ship. You visit the planet Fiorina “Fury” 161 where you’ll fight more Marines and Aliens. You’ll eventually reach an Alien habitat that is controlled by Marines and you’ll battle the Alien Queen.

In terms of gameplay, Aliens versus Predator is very similar to the 1994 Jaguar game where you have three separate singleplayer campaigns where you can play as either an Alien, Predator or Colonial Marine. Each character has a unique set of gameplay traits and unique weapons and the levels in the campaign are designed around these elements.

The Colonial Marine possesses armour, can use a number of weapons and can use the image intensifier and flares to light up dark areas. The Predator has many iconic weapons including wrist blades, disc and shoulder cannon. You have a cloaking device and have many different vision modes that can be used in different situations.

Playing as the Alien, you can crawl across walls and ceilings and use your claws, tail and jaws to attack enemies. Your vision is distorted into a fish-eye lens. You can fall from any height without damage and you are the fastest of the three species. You can detect pheromones to distinguish between human or Predator enemies which are highlighted on screen.

There are several bonus levels that allow each character to explore areas of missions of the other characters. For example, the Marine could explore an Alien mission with the use of a jetpack and the Predator can use a grappling hook.

Development

Aliens versus Predator was developed by Rebellion who were no stranger to the franchise. They originally brought Alien vs Predator to the Atari Jaguar in 1994. Soon after the Jaguar game’s release, Atari were exploring the possibility of porting the game to their CD peripheral. They approached 20th Century Fox who passed it back to Rebellion. Fox Interactive announced the game in 1995 for a Christmas 1997 release on Sony Playstation, Sega Saturn and PC.

AvP PS1 Gameplay Footage at E3 1997.

The PC version was pushed back to 1999 and the console versions were scrapped altogether. The early code of the Playstation version was shown off at E3 1997. You can view a scan from Playstation Plus magazine (thanks to Ross Sillifant for the scan) which shows some screenshots of the PS1 version. You can also view some gameplay footage of the PS1 version to the right that was taken at E3 1997.

They said the game looked a whole lot better than the Jaguar version with better 3D environments. In the August 1999 issue of French magazine Consoles+, they said the game would be released for Dreamcast in 2000.

An expansion pack was released in 2000 called the Millennium Expansion Pack, which included nine new multiplayer levels, two new weapons and a save game feature. A compilation title called Aliens versus Predator: Gold Edition was also released July 28, 2000, which contains the main game, the expansion and the Aliens Versus Predator: Prima’s Official Strategy Guide.

In 2001, when the game was reaching the end of support, Rebellion released the game’s source code and tools so the community could support the game. Aliens versus Predator was unofficially ported to Linux in 2001 and later to the X-Box in 2009. The community have kept the game up to date through patches.

After many years of unavailability, Rebellion decided to re-release Aliens versus Predator on January 15, 2010 under the title Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000.  The game had been updated to work with modern computers and also had support for X-Box 360 controllers. It included all the levels from the main game as well as the Millennium Expansion pack. At the start, only singleplayer was accessible but multiplayer functionality was eventually added. A patch was released four days after the rel-release which added widescreen support, optional unlimited saves, a locked frame rate, mouse improvements, and other updates.

Covers

AvP (US Cover)

AvP Gold (US Cover)

Screenshots

Magazine Articles

Play (July 1996)

Playstation Plus

Zone (September 1997)

Next Generation (October 1997)

PC Zone (August 1998)

CGW (August 1998)

PC Accelerator (December 1998)

GamesMaster (January 1999)

PC Zone (February 1999)

Total Control (February 1999)

CGW (March 1999)

PC Accelerator (March 1999)

Total Control (April 1999)

Ultimate PC (May 1999)

PC Zone (May 1999)

GamesMaster (May 1999)

CVG (May 1999)

CVG (June 1999)

Next Generation (June 1999)

PC Accelerator (July 1999)

Consoles+ [French] (August 1999)

Hyper [Australia]

Promo

AvP Advert

AvP Advert #2

AvP Advert #3

Release & Reception

Aliens versus Predator was released in Europe on May 25, 1999 and April 30, 1999 in North America. It received positive reviews praising the terrifying atmosphere and how you can play as each of the three species while negatives included the lack of a save game which made it quite difficult. PC Zone scored it 91/100 praised the scariness and how different the characters are but criticised the lack of story and save game: “But the potential is there, and multiplayers hankering for the Aliens experience will not be disappointed with what’s on offer. As with the single-player game, AvP is a very different experience from what we’re currently used to. I’d be surprised if AvP took over the world, but glad if it did.”

GamesMaster scored it 94% praising the graphics, sound and tense gameplay: “AVP deserves a place up there just below Half-Life as one of the most enjoyable first-person shooters.” CVG gave it 4/5: “Allens vs Predator makes good use of an excellent licence to provide you with another very tasty corridor game. Well worth hunting. ” PC Accelerator scored it 8/10: “Regardless, AvP is highly recommended, and offers some of the most intense, distinctive, and downright frigtening action ever on PC.”