Since its inception, the Aliens Vs Predator brand has been a profitable venture for Fox, spanning two movies, 13 games and a plethora of graphic novels, comics and action figures. In terms of quality, however, the return is much less rich.

The movies are the standout examples of this. Both of them are brain-dead special-effects-’em-ups, with the second one in particular being absolutely nakedly tasteless. The problem with the film adaptations is that, having run out of ideas, they became lazy rehashes of the iconic features of the source materials, passed off (intentionally or not) as loving homage.

Where it has been proven to work is in videogames. Rebellion Software’s previous first-person entries, for the Atari Jaguar in 1994 and the PC in 1999, were fine confluences of novel FPS gameplay and an appreciation for the source material. But that was then, and unfortunately for the latest entry into the AVP pantheon, it seems Rebellion could be making the same mistake as its Hollywood brethren, at least in one sense.

From what we’ve played, it appears that this new AVP, while undeniably solid, could again be suffering a dearth of imagination. Not in the narrative sense that afflicts the movies, however. Although the game regurgitates the Erich von Däniken-inspired pseudo-scientific ‘Ancient Astronaut’ theory (the Predator temple as the base for man’s technological advances) from the movies, and contains pretty much every iconic signifier from the series oeuvre, we would actually argue that this is a good thing.

Although the overuse of dialogue from the movies grates, the locations themselves are wonderfully evocative. The Marine campaign even features a derelict world that harks back to the movies of Scott and Cameron, with harsh winds sweeping ominous human debris around abandoned colonist structures. Hearing the screams of your comrades over the intercom as they are slain in a nightclub is reminiscent of excellent Aliens: Newt’s Tale comic, and when you arrive on the scene to find the music blaring but the party dead, it’s a thrill.

The Xenomorph campaigns are equally well set; the steaming jungles for the Predator and the cramped, air-vent-based scurrying of the Aliens are all fantastic playgrounds. But this was never going to be a problem. Being in these locations again is different to observing them in film, and with the advances in audio/visual presentation, we would say that revisiting these places will only get more interesting, exciting and terrifying.

That is, however, only if the gameplay matches up, and at the moment AVP’s doesn’t quite do it. Undeniably fun as it is, we can’t help but feel that in this area Rebellion is suffering the dearth of imagination we mentioned earlier. Like before, players are cast as a lone Marine, Predator and Alien to cut a bloody swathe through the campaigns. The problem is that these mechanics are aged – another Rookie (he’s actually called that), another drop gone wrong and more squads of incompetent superiors being inexplicably killed while you survive. The Alien campaign has also apparently lost the fish-eye lens effect while eschewing the interesting alien life-cycle mechanic found in AVP2 on PC.

It’s aged because the humans in the movies always worked as team, as did the Alien contingent. Given the advances made in online gaming and co-op play, it would have made more sense to go this route. The Predator’s solo nature renders this less relevant, but is still predicated upon ten-year-old hide-and-seek gameplay that pales in comparison to Batman: Arkham Asylum heartbeat-sensing panic.

… continued