Aliens Versus Predator 2

Not to be confused with the film Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

Aliens Versus Predator 2 is a science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Sierra On-Line for Microsoft Windows in October 2001, and for Mac OS X in July 2003. The game is a sequel to Aliens Versus Predator (1999); both games are based on the characters of the Alien and Predator media franchises as well as the Alien vs. Predator crossover series. It is set on the fictional planet LV-1201, which houses a vast series of ruins infested with Aliens that is routinely visited by a clan of Predators who hunt the creatures for sport.

Aliens Versus Predator 2
Developer(s)	Monolith Productions
Publisher(s)	Sierra On-Line
Producer(s)	David Stalker William Westwater
Designer(s)	William Westwater
Programmer(s)	Kevin Stephens Andrew Mattingly
Artist(s)	Kevin Kilstrom
Composer(s)	Nathan Grigg
Series	Alien vs. Predator
Engine	Lithtech Talon
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Mac OS X
Release	Windows EU: October 22, 2001 NA: October 31, 2001 OS X WW: July 2003
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

The game is played from a first-person perspective. In the single-player mode, players control one of three characters, each with their own abilities and individual story modes. An online multiplayer mode, which allows players to play as one of four teams in competitive modes, is no longer officially supported and requires a community developed patch to enable multiplayer.

An expansion pack titled Aliens Versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt was released in 2002. A "Gold Edition" of Aliens Versus Predator 2 followed, combining both the original game and the expansion pack into a single package. There was never an Aliens versus Predator 3 nor any plans for a sequel, but in 2010 Rebellion Developments made a reboot simply titled Aliens vs. Predator.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Aliens Versus Predator 2 allows the player to choose one of three characters: an Alien, Predator, or human Colonial Marine. Each character has different objectives, abilities and weapons at their disposal. The single-player campaigns present the player with a conventional series of levels that are designed around the abilities of each species.

As an Alien the player can explore most of the game's environments freely, even climbing across walls and ceilings. However, the Alien has no weapons and must use its claws, tail, and jaws to attack enemies. The player can also use a form of echolocation in dark areas and can detect pheromones to discern human or Predator enemies. The Alien can drop from any height without injury and is the fastest of the three player characters.

When playing as the Predator, the player uses a variety of weapons from the Predator films such as wrist blades, a throwing disc, and shoulder-mounted energy weapons. The Predator is more durable than the human or the Alien and can survive falls from greater heights than the human. It can use a cloaking device to become invisible and several different modes of vision to help in the detection of enemies, including infrared vision and a mode sensitive to electrical systems. Unlike in the previous game, the Predator in Aliens Versus Predator 2 recharges its energy supply using a personal item.

As the Colonial Marine, the player uses a number of weapons to combat Aliens and Predators. The Marine wears armor for protection, and uses an image intensifier, flashlight, and flares to improve visibility in dark areas.

Multiplayer

Aliens Versus Predator 2 has several multiplayer modes which can be played through an internet or Local Area Network connection. In each game the player chooses one of four teams to play as: The Aliens, Predators, Marines, or corporate mercenaries (called "Iron Bears" in the game's storyline). Each team has unique abilities, advantages, and disadvantages. The Aliens are able to scale walls and ceilings and the Predators can become invisible, while the two human teams have a large array of heavy weapons as well as motion trackers.

There are six different multiplayer "modes" played on a number of "maps". "Deathmatch" mode is a free-for-all match in which the player's goal is to accumulate the highest number of kills. "Team Deathmatch" has the same goal except that the player is teamed with other players of the same species (or faction, in the case of the Colonial Marines and the Corporate Mercenaries). In "Hunt" there are two teams, one designated as the "hunter" and the other as the "prey"; the hunters accumulate points by killing the prey, while the prey can themselves become hunters by killing members of the hunter team. "Survivor" mode designates all players as "defenders" at the start; if a player is killed they become a "mutant" and can then earn points by killing defenders. Defenders gain points by staying alive without becoming mutants. "Overrun" is a timed match between two teams that is similar to "Survivor" except that each player has a finite number of lives; at the end of the round points are awarded based on the number of surviving members on each team. "Evacuation" is another two-team match with a finite number of lives, in which one team is designated as the "attackers" and the other as "defenders". The attacking team wins by killing all of the defenders, while the defending team wins by locating the map's evacuation point and having at least one member survive within it for ten seconds.

In November 2008, Sierra Entertainment shut down the master server browser for the game.

Synopsis

Setting

The story of Aliens Versus Predator 2 largely takes place in the year 2231, approximately 52 years after the events of both Aliens and Alien 3. Humanity has established an outpost on the planet LV-1201. The research colony consisted of two major installations: the Primary Operations Complex (POC), designed with the same "shake and bake" architecture seen at Hadley's Hope in Aliens; and the Forward Observation Pods, a set of four (originally five) scientific research facilities suspended over a canyon by a network of trellises, with an internal design style reminiscent of the Nostromo from Alien. A garrison of corporate mercenaries known as the Iron Bears, led by the mercenary general Vassili Rykov, provides security while Dr. Eisenberg runs the science division.

The plot revolves around "The Incident", an event which occurred shortly after 5:18 AM, on November 25, 2230, in which a fight between a Xenomorph (the player character in the game's Alien storyline) and a Predator resulted in the Predator activating its self-destruct device, causing massive damage to the Primary Operations Complex and allowing it to be overrun with Xenomorphs. Since the POC was the communications link between the Forward Observation Pods and the rest of the galaxy, this leaves the survivors at the Pods stranded and unable to call for help. Six weeks later, the Colonial Marines are sent to investigate what happened. Different parts of each campaign take place anywhere from 1 day and 7 hours before The Incident to more than six weeks after.

It is later established in the expansion pack Aliens Versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt that LV-1201 was also once the location of a Predator hunting ground, where the Predators hunt Xenomorphs for sport. In Primal Hunt, a lone Predator survivor from a previous botched hunt unwittingly caused a Xenomorph outbreak in Pod 5 while trying to alert other members of its kind to its location. The Iron Bears were forced to destroy Pod 5, while a lone Predator ship intercepted the call. The Alien storyline, which is the earliest point in the main game, picks up about five weeks after this catastrophe occurred.

Plot

Unlike the preceding game, in which the storylines of the three player characters are independent and do not affect one another, the three story lines in Aliens versus Predator 2 intersect each other. The events of each storyline trigger events in the others. The events of the game are set fifty years after the events of the film Alien 3. Following the flight telemetry of the derelict spacecraft found on LV-426 where the Nostromo crew first encountered the Alien eggs in Alien, the Weyland-Yutani Corporation has discovered a planet with the ruins of an extraterrestrial civilization infested with Aliens. The planet, called LV-1201, and the Weyland-Yutani research station established there are the primary settings of the game. The facility is supervised by Dr. Eisenberg and consists of a Primary Operations Complex and a network of five Forward Observation Pods suspended over a canyon. When the game begins Pod 5 has been destroyed; the cause of its destruction is revealed in the expansion pack Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt.

When playing as the human character the player assumes the role of Corporal Andrew "Frosty" Harrison of the Colonial Marines, stationed aboard the spaceship USS Verloc en route to LV-1201. There has been no contact with the research facility there for six weeks and the marines are sent in to investigate. The landing goes awry and the player must battle Aliens, explore the research facility, and rescue the surviving marines. In the process the player causes a security breach which allows the Alien character access to the Forward Observation Pods, becomes temporarily imprisoned, unwittingly releases the Predator character from its cell, and battles an Alien/Predator hybrid creature. The player must then retrieve a data disk containing records of all the illegal activities taking place on the planet, regroup with his squad, battle the Alien queen, and escape the planet.

When playing as the Predator the player arrives on LV-1201 with two other Predators, and all three are soon captured by the human researchers. A former marine turned mercenary general named Rykov recognizes the player Predator as one which injured him twenty years earlier. The Predator is imprisoned for six weeks until being released through the actions of Corporal Harrison. The player must then recover the Predator's weapons and battle humans and Aliens through the research facility in pursuit of Rykov. After a climactic battle with Rykov in the Alien hive the Predator is recovered by others of his species and they pursue the Verloc into space.

As the Alien character the player first takes control of a facehugger, stalking a guard through the Primary Operations Complex and implanting an Alien embryo in him. The player then controls the resulting chestburster, finding food until it grows into an adult Alien. As the Alien the player battles through the complex, releasing other Aliens which infest the facility and cause it to lose contact with Earth. The game then shifts forward six weeks, when a security failure caused by Corporal Harrison allows the Alien to access the Forward Observation Pods. The player battles through the pods killing guards and scientists, releases an Alien/Predator hybrid, and liberates a captive Alien hive. The player must disable several explosives planted throughout the hive and then pursue Dr. Eisenberg, who is bent on capturing the Alien queen. The player catches up to Eisenberg and the queen, while sabotaging Eisenberg's extraction by dropship and defeating the scientist. Eisenberg is then cocooned in the hive and revealed to be an android.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	85/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
AllGame
Computer Gaming World
Eurogamer	6/10
Game Informer	9.25/10
GamePro
GameRevolution	B+
GameSpot	8.7/10
GameSpy	78%
GameZone	9/10
IGN	8.2/10
PC Gamer (US)	86%
X-Play

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Aliens vs. Predator 2 for its 2001 "Computer Action/Adventure Game of the Year" and "Online Game Play of the Year" awards. However, it lost in both categories to Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Similarly, the editors of Computer Games Magazine nominated Aliens Versus Predator 2 as the best action game of 2001, but ultimately gave the award to Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis.

Aliens Versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt

Cover art

An expansion pack, titled Aliens Versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt, was developed by Third Law Interactive, published by Sierra Entertainment and distributed by Fox Interactive in August 2002. It was also included in the Gold Edition of Aliens Versus Predator 2 released in May 2003, which bundled the original game and the expansion pack into a single package. Primal Hunt adds new weapons and multiplayer maps to the original game, as well as a single-player campaign set during the storyline of Aliens Versus Predator 2.

Gameplay

The player is once again able to play as either a human, Alien, or Predator character, each with its own campaign and abilities. The plot lines of the three characters intersect with the events of the original game.

Plot

The events of Primal Hunt are set on LV-1201, the same setting as the main game, but take place in different time periods. The stories of the Alien and Predator characters begin five hundred years before the events of Aliens Versus Predator 2 and continue in the year 2230. The human campaign begins in September of 2230. Primal Hunt revisits the Forward Observation Pods of the research facility and explains the destruction of Pod 5.

Marine/Mercenary

Major Dunya, a female member of the Weyland-Yutani private military contractor known as the "Iron Bears", is stationed on LV-1201. She is ordered by her superior officer, General Rykov, to retrieve an artifact from a location known as the "Zeta Site" which houses part of a Xenomorph hive as well as technology from both the Space Jockeys and the Predators. The player battles xenomorphs through the Zeta Site, retrieves the artifact, and returns to find that Aliens have infiltrated Pod 5. A Predator steals the artifact and the player defends the cargo area from Aliens until the pod is evacuated. Rykov then destroys the pod's supports, sending it crashing into the valley floor below.

Predalien

The Predalien character's story also begins 500 years before The Incident, but after the Predators have established a presence at Zeta Site. The player begins by controlling a facehugger, exploring the Alien hive and Predator camp in search of a host. The facehugger attacks the Predator, but both become trapped in the stasis field. The game then shifts forward five hundred years to the chestburster emerging from the Predator inside Pod 5. The creature is an Alien/Predator hybrid, called the "Predalien" in the game, and the player controls it and searches for food until it grows into an adult. The player then battles human guards in search of the artifact, but is interrupted when Rykov destroys the pod's supports. The player must then battle several android guards in armored exosuits in order to escape the pod with other Aliens before it falls into the valley below.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	55/100

Review scores

Publication	Score
Computer Gaming World
Game Informer	8/10
GameSpot	5.5/10
GameSpy
GameZone	7.3/10
IGN	6/10
PC Gamer (US)	68%
X-Play

The expansion pack received more mixed reviews than the original AvP2, and has a score of 55 according to Metacritic. GameSpot cited it as "being boring", "repetitive", and "giving no sense of direction as the face-hugger". Echoing this, IGN concluded that the title was "[boring], stale, frustrating and plain, Primal Hunt tarnishes the good AvP name".

External links

• Aliens Versus Predator 2 at MobyGames
• Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt at MobyGames