I’m a big science fiction fan, and have been a huge follower of both the Aliens and the Predator series in the movies, comics, novels, and of course … video games. Fans of both series have been treated to a number of Alien and Alien vs. Predator titles ranging from 2-D side scrollers to action packed FPS creepfests, and the AvP game on Atari Jaguar was one that many said was the only really good game for the failed system. Recently, the Alien vs. Predator war has been revived and re-packaged for the PS2, only this time in an RTS style of gameplay. Does it stack up to what us fans have come to expect over the years? Well … not really.

On the distant planet of LV-742, a unit of Colonial Space Marines makes a terrifying discovery. A massive, all out war has erupted between two of the most dangerous species in the galaxy, the insectoid and acid blooded Aliens and the ruthless, fearless Predators who hunt for glory and honor. The arrival of the Marines only serves to escalate things into a bloody mess, and now all three factions are in full assault to claim sole control of LV-742. You get to play as one of these three groups in determining the fate of your species and it’s survival.

Up front, everything looks and sounds great about AvP Extinction. Each species is well represented and includes various models and types to select from, and each side has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. The Marines of course employ a ton of firepower and come with troops like assault squads, medics, flame throwers, and synthetics for ultimate support and ranged destruction while the Predators hunt in smaller numbers and more based on melee attacks due to their increased strength, healing suits, and cloaking capabilities … the ultimate hunting and killing machine. The Aliens were the most gratifying to play with though for me personally, since you had to cultivate eggs, find human hosts, and hatch Facehuggers to impregnate victims and completely overrun your enemies with speed and numbers.

During each mission-based level, your troops would of course get whittled down as they go from battle to battle in grouped formations. AvP was nice enough to help out in this area though by allowing you to call in reinforcements, provided that you had enough points to do so. Basically, killing enemies and completing level tasks awards points to your team that can then be used to call down more soldiers, send in more Predators, or lay more eggs. As an added feature, you can also allocate these points to upgrading existing troops as well, so you can get better abilities and strengths to help you win the war. By the end of a level, it wasn’t uncommon to have not only greater numbers, but also tougher hombres to kill whatever may lie ahead.

As I stated before, all of this sounds really great, and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy playing it and didn’t love the whole idea and premise behind it. Unfortunately, history has shown us that consoles are not the best places for RTS games to find a home, and AvP definitely proves this to be true. Now, to the developer’s credit … they did some good things in trying to make it PS2 friendly. The left stick moves your cursor to select troops around and the right stick will quickly send the camera anywhere on the map you want it to go so that you don’t miss a battle, and the controls are simple enough for even the beginning RTS player to jump right in without an issue. Unfortunately, troop selection can be a pain since it’s not the easy “hold and drag the cursor” style that is found on PC. Instead, you hold down the X button that creates a slowly growing, circular “lasso” and selects everything in its path when the X button is released. This of course can cause headaches in trying to select only certain individual units among a group, and wasn’t as user friendly as I have come to expect from my PC titles. It can also cause some serious problems in the heat of battle.

Secondly, games like AvP are meant to be fast … especially since you are dealing with three factions that have to be agile. Well, happily they are, but this presents some really dull gameplay after a while since trying to target enemies is near impossible when a battle breaks loose. Basically, you sit and let your entire troop auto fight whatever you just wandered into, or what wandered into you, which continues until one group is dead. Trying to click on one specific high-speed enemy isn’t just hard, but will probably get missed and cause your group or individual to move rather than fight. This game would have been light years better in the control department if the action could have been paused to give commands, then un-paused, and repeat if needed.

Marines are tough dudes, Aliens are vicious, and Predators are killing machines, but this game also shows us that they can’t walk and fight at the same time. Aside from that, the AI will do weird things from time to time like having one person randomly wander or run off, and you don’t realize it until you are notified that a battle has broken out even when you are looking at a quiet background on your screen. They sometimes tend to do this in battle too, and I just have no tolerance for deserters, especially when it seems to be due to a glitch rather than a program.

The last and probably biggest issue for me was in the overall repetition that creeps in after you go through your first three or so missions with all of the species. The Aliens weren’t as bad due to the harvesting thing, but every level seems to get monotonous with the constant feeling that you are just supposed to move in large numbers and kill everything. There really is no building, no gathering resources or break in the monotony of constant action that entails every stage, and the story for each level doesn’t really seem to go with the one before it … so the plot doesn’t really help to push the game along either. In the end, you’re left with a game that’s chock full of action, but nothing much more than that. Not necessarily a bad thing, but RTS games usually tend to be a little more strategic and fulfilling in what you have accomplished.

Graphically, AvP was pretty good, especially in the characters themselves and the different models that were used to represent each troop type. They even included some really wicked characters, like the Predalien, the Predator Hydra, and even a Marine Exosuit to play with, and each was well animated and moved pretty fluidly. The environments and background weren’t quite as impressive though, and overall seemed a little dull and sparsely populated even with some periodic things like lava, caves, or corpses lying around.

Overall, I really can’t say that I didn’t enjoy playing AvP, but I’m also a really big fan of the series. RTS lovers who have those types of games on PC may want to steer clear of AvP unless you too are a big fan of the series, and even so … I would still recommend renting it first to make sure that you feel it is worth the price tag. For you first time RTS players who don’t have a PC, this isn’t a bad game to get used to the mechanics of what the genre is all about, but I would also check it out before making the final decision to buy.

Gameplay: 6.5
There were some really good ideas that were done here, the main one being to give AvP fans something a little different than your typical FPS game. There are a lot of troop types for each species to choose from, and each one can be upgraded and called in during the game as needed. Unfortunately, the console controls just don’t work well for this kind of game, and not having the ability to pause during a battle and order set jobs to be done really caused some frustration and just seemed like autopilot fighting until one group was dead. In addition, the plot felt disjointed and there really didn’t seem to be much more than building a huge army and overrunning your enemy when it was all said and done.

Graphics: 7.0
As I stated before, there are a lot of troop types to select from and each one was represented well and was pretty fluidly animated. There were some neat things individually that were added in as well, like the Predators ripping the skull from a kill and unleashing that hollow scream that we’ve come to know and love from the movies. The environments and backgrounds seemed a little dull overall though, and tended to be repetitive from stage to stage.

Sound: 7.2
The music consisted of the creepy, hollow, industrial style “noise” that is found in the popular movies. There are voices, like explaining your mission objectives and confirming movement and whatnot and it wasn’t too bad. The Aliens would also emit their high pitched screeching when injured or killed, and Predators would make that bizarre clicking sound when they would move and unleash those beastly roars that they are famous for in the big screen versions.

Difficulty: Medium
Each species has seven missions to go though and complete, and each one can be challenging … especially at the get go while you are still few in numbers but needing to get from point A to point B. The challenge is also unfortunately increased by the difficult controls at times, but RTS veterans and newcomers alike will be able to jump right in and get the hang of it in no time. 

Concept: 6.9
Actually, the overall concept was awesome in my opinion, there was just a lot more that could have been done with it to make it a lot better. It definitely didn’t meet my expectations in what I have come to know of this series in the gaming world.

Overall: 6.4
If you are a big fan of AvP like I am, you will probably get some enjoyment from this game as I have. I would say to rent it and try it out, since it’s still a neat idea and can provide a few hours of mind numbing and violent fun in the ultimate Sci-Fi showdown of two of the most ferocious xenomorphs in entertainment history. RTS purists and PC players probably should stay away from it overall, unless you are a big AvP fan as well, but the rental rule applies to you also. I applaud the developers for trying to do something different with the series, and with some work maybe we’ll see a good sequel in the future.