New Aliens Vs Predator game!

[NecroMorrius]

I can see the people who played the first two buying it for the multiplayer.

[therealjohnpeat]

why?

The only reason I can think this wouldn't be an obvious MP purchase is the raft of MP titles already out there and the difficulty a new game has in forging a niche in a world dominated by TF2, CoD and the like...

That and the fact it's clearly being sold on having some solid SP action too - perhaps people want the story and not just the punchups ???

[Dave White]

Again not arguing that, as it turns out the video linked to earlier was the most achievable option we had. Think people are misunderstanding when I say the right choice to promote the game was based on available options, not necessarily the perfect solution.

Certainly not dissing it linkster, after thoroughly enjoying that interview video my excitement went into overdrive. Like many of us oldies the opportunity to have something look this good and do complete justice to the franchise is so exciting.

Its a day one purchase for me whatever the weather

[linkster]

Block+counter attack = win.

Certainly not dissing it linkster, after thoroughly enjoying that interview video my excitement went into overdrive. Like many of us oldies the opportunity to have something look this good and do complete justice to the franchise is so exciting.

Its a day one purchase for me whatever the weather

mate honestly no offense taken, it's perfectly valid criticism, just trying to give a bit of background

[Dave White]

Hey Bob thanks for that that really helps

As I mentioned I am that doped up on Diazapam and Codeine I cant even focus, so running around as an alien is not me best option lol.

My greatest wish is the tension of a hunt is captured, I can't wait to sneak up and cause bloody murder on my friends and hear em squeal

Linkster are there sentry guns in MP?

[Number 28]

I've been repeatedly attemping to play a broken AVP Classic MP recently, and as such this seems mind bogglingly incredible to me.

[Mr. Gerbik]

Hey Bob thanks for that that really helps

As I mentioned I am that doped up on Diazapam and Codeine I cant even focus, so running around as an alien is not me best option lol.

yeah I thought I could either keep yapping down the mic and explain everything at 100mph whenever someone new joined the lobby or I could write it all down, nice and clear and readable and without a Dutch accent getting in the way.

I can't recommend the marine enough if the Alien is not an option, when playing as him the game suddenly turns into a survival horror game. The motion tracker is essential but will stress you out to no end. Good stuff.

Someone earlier wondered who would be buying this for multiplayer, I say to them what a ridiculous notion. As someone who usually gets bored really fast of bog-standard FPS MP fare, this is nothing less than brilliant. To me this is miles ahead of something like Modern Warfare 2, which might be polished to fuck but is the same old same old if I'm brutally honest.

[linkster]

apparently PSN has it now

[Pob]

Someone mentioned earlier about the marine being able to 'hide' to stay alive a big longer. But with the Alien and Predator vision modes lighting them up, is this really viable? Or can you cover yourself in mud?

[Guest]

Is it not possible to join a game in progress, under any circumstances? Trying to join a friend on my steam list and it says "Game is in progress" - not "Game is full".

I'd hope you could join a deathmatch while it was in progress?

[Uzi]

Someone mentioned earlier about the marine being able to 'hide' to stay alive a big longer. But with the Alien and Predator vision modes lighting them up, is this really viable? Or can you cover yourself in mud?

Turning your flashlight off won't do much for the aliens- they can still see you at all times. It can help you with predators if they're using normal vision- if they turn thermal on, your flashlight doesn't matter anyway. I just kept it on and made sure my back was always to a wall to prevent being instakilled.

Marine's can't really hide, hence them having guns! But its better to play smart than run around like a headless chicken

[therealjohnpeat]

Firstly a small apology - when I removed and reinserted my gamepad (PC) it does give a 1 page 'how to play' screen whilst loading.

Plenty of time to read it tho as the (PC - Steam) multiplayer matchmaking is truly fucked - 10 attempts to get into a game, 8 times I gave up after 2-3 mins, kicked from the game as soon as loading was completed the other 2 times...

I give up - let me know when it's working eh?

[moosegrinder]

Wokring fine on xbox

[Mr. Gerbik]

Wokring fine on xbox

Yep and it was also working fine on Steam for me. I had a couple of games with a few people from here and some randoms, no lag, no problems, no nothing. I've moved on to the 360 version though for now.

[therealjohnpeat]

I got a couple of games earlier this morning - but several attempts since have been wastes of time (weird - I'd have thought more players = easier but clearly not).

Linkster says it should create a new game if it can't find you one in 30 secs but it clearly isn't doing that - it often keeps trying (or at least doesn't create a new game) for minutes at a time.

The problem of being kicked/disconnected between the lobby and the game is more annoying because - apart from the wasted time - it means when games do start they often have just 3-4 players - and one time it ended mid-game which I suspect was down to either the host being kicked or there simply being not enough players left...

[FuntimeDave]

I can't wait for this.

Co-op, Team versus. Marines, Aliens, Predators.

Can we weld doors shut and deploy sentry guns. Can we put the little girl in charge. I love my co-op so extremely pleased this has been catered for. Only recently stopped playing Natural Selection (the alins versus marines) half life mod and this sounds like my dreams come true. Please please don't let there be glitches or any game breakers.

Apologies as limited access at work but when is the release date?

[hanzo]

Ooh yeah, is there welding and bunkering, that sort of stuff? Or is it a more streamlined affair?

[Sergeant Squid]

Feb 19th...the day we nuke the game from orbit, just to make sure.

[Deeptone]

Hey linkster, your not thinking of selling this to people are you?

You'll kill thousends with heart attacks. It's the most terrifying thing I've ever played. One game and I've had to turn it off like a big girl. The motion sensor noise will haunt my dreams for years.

Having said that, it's chuffing brilliant. Really looking forward to playing the single player now, if I can grow a big enough pair.

[moosegrinder]

Well that game was abominable. Got my arse handed to me

Couple more thoughts: The trasnition on the Xeno when going through doorways is fucking awful, it's not accurate enough sometimes (as I think Linkster has mentioned) and so it made me feel ill with it swooping around.

The Flamethrower is utter fucking garbage, it does fuck all.

If a Predator sprints and (heavy?) attacks you, you're fucked. One shot kill, game over. Full energy bar to nothing.

Stimpacks could do with being a little quicker, Marines are brittle as it is.

What do the little stations do when you're a Predator? Is it recharge or something?

It's amazing how many people run along the floor as a Xeno. And no bugger else takes the lights out!

Oh, and yeah, playing as a marine is TENSE AS FUCK.

[Rudi von Starnberg]

Gave this a quick blast, got two games going fairly quickly. First impressions are 'oh Jesus this is just Xbox Live', from the lobbies (with no text chat and always-on microphones and the migrating lobby wait periods) to the lack of any indications as to latency - it seemed quite high, but there was no way to check. "Don't tell them their latency, they won't notice" is an attitude that seems very out of place on PC. On the plus side it all integrates well with Steam Friends.

As to the game itself... only played for 20 minutes, as that's my lunchtime gaming time used up now, but it seems quite good. The pulse rifle is satisfying (though grenades are going to be hard to master, I feel); the shotgun seems limited, and I only got to use the flamethrower once, against a predator, and it appeared to do absolutely nothing to him. The look of it all is great, straight out of the films, and of course the motion scanner. Lovely. Managed to top the scoreboard with 14 kills (streak of 6) as marine, including a brief period of working together with a friend who was also marine. Although that ended very bloodily!

Tried out the alien briefly as well, and it seemed pretty good - don't have the fine points of combat down, but grabbing enemies and chewing on their brains is cool and transitioning between walls and floors won't get old. It was also a lot easier to transition once I figured out that spacebar worked as well - having middle mouse as the on-screen prompt is counter-productive, I feel, as it's a LOT easier to hit spacebar than to click the mousewheel. In other control issues, it's bemusing as to why Q would be the default for sprint, but that's easily changed in the control customisation I guess.

Will play more of it, there seems to be a solid MP game in there. Just a shame the interface screams 'minimum effort console port', and that Deathmatch was chosen for the demo. As everyone else has said, would love to have seen some Team Deathmatch instead.

[Mr. Gerbik]

I'm really getting the hang of the Alien now and oh my this could very well be the best first-person multiplayer game I've ever played. Ever. I just finished first with a max killstreak of 7 and I died only once. Only once! It's all about taking your time, waiting, observing, carefully making your way around, smashing every single light I come across... and then BAM strike out of nowhere at 100mph and then vanish just as quickly. I saw other Aliens, Predators, marines all walk by but I cherry picked my targets waiting for the right time and the results were amazing

Simply put: thinking and acting like an Xenomorph would nets the best results and it's an amazing experience. it takes time (a lot of time and effort tbh without a tutorial) to get anywhere but once it clicks - oh my. It gives me the same adrenaline rush I get from stealth games, it's bringing out the best (worst?) sneaky bastard in me. It's like playing a really good and atmospheric stealth game which has great AI for once since the other players (victims? lunch?) are human-controlled. Fuck me this is good stuff.

[Razilez]

Played the 360 demo and am absolutely loving it! Also managed to win all my games so far. B)

As for the game, thoroughly enjoyed it. Visually it looks great I think, with plenty of dim-lit corridors and such. Loved the gore when using the Aliens grab from behind.

The Alien is quite powerful and if you manage to get in first with the heavy attack and constantly use it, then enemy has no chance! (unless they manage to figure out how to block/counter ) That said managed to get taken down on plenty of occasions with marines meleeing you. Hell when I played as a marine, it was so piss easy to just melee an Alien or a Predator then shoot them up. Easy kills! Still don't agree with a melee button, should have kept it like the previous games when you just had to run backwards. Not managed to play as a Predator yet, but will do so soon.

I'll admit I'm interested in the game for Singleplayer and the Survival mode, but I did enjoy the three-way deathmatch games. Looking forward to playing the full game!

[Dave White]

Linkster

can you tell us how many mp maps there are? Any nice large ones with plenty of height??

Any pics we can see?

[Number 28]

It's amazing how many people run along the floor as a Xeno. And no bugger else takes the lights out!

I still don't feel like running on the ceiling gives you much of an advantage, but i'm still getting to grips with the transition thing. I'm not sure why there's not just a button you hold down to climb...so you can let go to drop straight down. Dropping straight down means pointing your view at the floor for a transition, but i'd rather keep my eyes on the enemy.

I tried taking some lights out, but a lot of areas seem to have ambient light everywhere, so it seems a bit futile.

[Sergeant Squid]

A question: The 'special' edition comes with extra maps, right? But will these maps be available to purchase over XBL as well? Seems a bit shit segregating the community like that, really. Also, £15 extra for a steel case and a couple of extra maps? You're having a laugh tbh!

[Mr. Gerbik]

I still don't feel like running on the ceiling gives you much of an advantage, but i'm still getting to grips with the transition thing. I'm not sure why there's not just a button you hold down to climb...so you can let go to drop straight down. Dropping straight down means pointing your view at the floor for a transition, but i'd rather keep my eyes on the enemy.

I tried taking some lights out, but a lot of areas seem to have ambient light everywhere, so it seems a bit futile.

Sounds like you're mssing some stuff, like tapping RT to drop straight down or using A to jump and cling to a different surface:

Anyway, this is what I know of the Alien so far and I hope some people may find this useful:

-when behind someone press X to insta-kill (risky, only do it when people are not around)

-LB is heavy slow attack, RB is light fast attack

-Hold LT to lock onto someone when he's close enough and press RB for a homing attack - very useful for surprise attacks from above!

-Press the left analogue stick to sprint which is essential for the Alien because it goes at like 200mph and will get you to safety (or near a target really really fast)

-Hold RT to crawl up walls and ceilings.

-Tap RT while on a wall or a ceiling to drop down to the floor

- your crosshair is a horizontal line with a vertical line in the middle that always points towards the floor (crucial to prevent disorientation)

- you can also jump onto any surface! Whenever the single vertical line in the middle of your crosshair turns into a three lines you can jump instantly to that point by pressing A. THIS ESSENTIAL TO REALIZE, you can basically jump from groundfloor to the ceiling to the side of a pillar all within less than a second this way and it will help tremendously when stalking or getting away from someone.

-don't attack head-on, try to drop in from above or behind or the flank.

-never use the floors! Always get around by running/jumping across the walls and ceilings

-you can smash the lights with your tail by looking at one and pressing LB; smashed lights stay smashed and you will be much harder to spot.

The A button to jump and cling to a different surface works amazingly well: I was lying in wait for a marine, he spotted me on the ceiling and I quickly jumped onto the wall behind him - I turned around and he was still shining his torch on the ceiling wondering where I went so quickly. You can guess what happened next

[moosegrinder]

I still don't feel like running on the ceiling gives you much of an advantage, but i'm still getting to grips with the transition thing. I'm not sure why there's not just a button you hold down to climb...so you can let go to drop straight down. Dropping straight down means pointing your view at the floor for a transition, but i'd rather keep my eyes on the enemy.

I tried taking some lights out, but a lot of areas seem to have ambient light everywhere, so it seems a bit futile.

Hold the trigger down at all times. Then if you're on the ceiling you only have to release and tap it to drop. Bit convoluted but it works well. And don't forget you can leap to any wall you're near enough to.

[BrerLappin]

Played the 360 demo and am absolutely loving it! Also managed to win all my games so far. B)

As for the game, thoroughly enjoyed it. Visually it looks great I think, with plenty of dim-lit corridors and such. Loved the gore when using the Aliens grab from behind.

The Alien is quite powerful and if you manage to get in first with the heavy attack and constantly use it, then enemy has no chance! (unless they manage to figure out how to block/counter ) That said managed to get taken down on plenty of occasions with marines meleeing you. Hell when I played as a marine, it was so piss easy to just melee an Alien or a Predator then shoot them up. Easy kills! Still don't agree with a melee button, should have kept it like the previous games when you just had to run backwards. Not managed to play as a Predator yet, but will do so soon.

I'll admit I'm interested in the game for Singleplayer and the Survival mode, but I did enjoy the three-way deathmatch games. Looking forward to playing the full game!

Hello Raz

[NecroMorrius]

I'd have loved it if they took Left 4 Dead, made the zombies aliens and made the survivors marines.

Is there anything like this in there? Survival sounds promising but is it point to point or simply holding a designated area?