3D Gamers (http://www.3dgamers.com/games/alienspredator2/)
WaitingPlanet (http://www.fileplanet.com)

The game that bleeds with atmosphere is back, a cult following can rejoice. In typical AvP style we can now get our hands on the Marine demo. Expect to most likely play with the Predator and Alien in their respective demos later down the road.

While you are waiting for the 52.8 MB demo to download, read up on the Alien vs Predator universe with a quick browsing at Dark Horse Comics (http://www.darkhorse.com/search/index.html?res=1&sstring=Aliens+vs+Predator&fld=0&ao=wa&mode=normal&k=0&srt=date&disp=100&pro=p&thumbs=on).

I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks to Darth Lunatic for reminding me to get off my butt and download the thing.

Thanks for the link Krayt

All you peeps who have downloaded the aliens vs pred 2 demo.. what do ya think.. personally I think i twas pretty good, the skins looked great and there was definitly a bit o atmosphere.. but my only disappointment (apart from a few bugs.. but hey its a demo..) is the backgrounds.. they disappointed me a bit.. i bumped the game up to 32 bit, and it helped, but full detail on all settings, did not hide the fact some of the walls and stuffon them , looked a bit sinful.. overall, im lookin forward to the game, cos i guess ill be too busy running to worray about the walls, and i thought the gameplay was pretty decent (from what little a go they give ya..) bring on the other demos...
p.s sorry Krayt Tion (thought you were just postin info.. so i thought id start a discussion up elsewhere.. but sweet as..)

[ August 18, 2001: Message edited by: SkUnkY_OuNcE ]

I was hoping people would dicuss it here too... thanks for understanding.

I ran the demo a 1024x768x32 with everything on high and framerate was decent on my P3 933 with 256MB RAM and a Geforce 2 GTS.

When ever an alien popped through a vent during a scripted sequence there was a caching problem (I believe that is the official explanation) and there was a jerky slowdown for a few seconds.

The aliens and their animations were very weak imo. So were their death sequences.

The weapons are OKish. The models were decent but the carbon scoring was majorly weak. Both the pistol, pulse rifle and shotgun left the same kind of 'holes' in the wall. As for the grenade launcher you could fire it and barely tell where you hit after you fired. The sounds were okay, the Pulse Rifle sounds OK but could still use some minor tweaking in that regard.

The level itself was half-way decent, nothing to write home about.

It still managed to scare the pants off me, at least the first time through.

This game has so much potential it is uncanny. But they're really going to have to get on some things.

Had exactly the same problem: when an alien pops up, there is a noticeable slowdown, which really interrupts the mood.

The game mood and atmosphere itself is truly fantastic. It is just plain fun to be scared during the game, and AvP2, like the original AvP knows how to cast fear into the gamer's heart.

I think the writing is much better for AvP2. The fox/monolith team did a great job in Noone Lives Forever, so I am really hoping for good quality in the storyline and dialog. The writing in Noone Lives Forever is leaps and bounds over other games, which often sound like they were written by the progammers themselves.

AvP2 is on my 'must get' list, but I have a favorable bias since I really enjoyed the original AvP. Hopefully the network code will be an improvement so that multiplay will be even more fun than in the original.

[ August 18, 2001: Message edited by: Wilhuf ]

I'm biased because I think the Aliens universe rocks. It is a tree so ripe to pick upon many of the human species' shall we say Lesser Qualities. Some of the goods ones, too, but that is never what must comes to mind when I look at the Aliens universe.

The storyline is looking better and especially more streamlined then the original AvP so that is good. The gist of it, however, is neither more impressive nor distinctive then what's already been done in the AvP comics. It should still manage to play out alright in my book...

Just downloaded it, so I shall try it relatively soon. Got a few errands to run, and then I'm off into the world of Aliens.

Did any of you have problems activating buttons i.e for doors? i had to stand to either side and look from a strange angle to get the green activate thingy to appear. oh well they have a few things to run on, but damm i loved the last one, and damm i hope im gonna love this.. :D

Well, it certainly wasn't as smooth as opening a door by pressing just anywhere on it.

Then again it that bracketed activation system worked a lot smoother in games like System Shock 2. It wasn't as difficult to get a bracket confirmation then. Maybe they should work on this.

Well, I played it this morning. I did feel some of the mood that was mentioned before, but overall I wasn't very impressed.

My concerns are:

1. The lighting was far too dark. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but I had to use my shoulder lamp to see just about anything.

2. It took me a long time to figure out how to get to the action in the map. Finally figured it out.

3. Again, it was very slow, as was mentioned. The aliens appeared so suddenly that I scarcely had time to aim at them. And where did they come from? Some seemed to have just appeared out of thin air.

4. Also, as was mentioned, the sound effects weren't quite right. Further, the music was poor and annoying, in my opinion.

5. No joystick support, but that's just in the demo.

The lighting part was probably intentional. AvP was also Ьber-dark. Gamma adjustment will help, but the designers want you to be surprised by enemies that pop up in your face. I don't know whether AvP2 demo included night-vision goggles. They worked pretty well in the original, and they were necessary.

Agreed it took too long to get to the action. They could have built up suspense a little bit more leading up to the first encounter (although that movement blip helped).

I saw the critters dropping down from the ceilings and out of wall grates, just like in the movies. But the framerates took a big hit whenever said critters pop up.

I rather liked the sound effects. Always sounded like something was shuffling just over your shoulder, out of sight. Oh well this is all subjective.

Looking forward to the Alien version demo (if they do one). Very different gameplay from the marine. You can climb walls and ceilings. There is no up or down for the Alien. Just a continuous surface you can traverse. And it's much easier to see in the dark.

Interestingly enough I feel quite the opposite regarding the suspense in the demo.

The most nerve raking part of the demo was the exploring before any aliens popped out. I didn't know for sure how the aliens would get at me for the second incarnation of this game, how it would look like or how it would feel. I cautiously picked my way through the level knowing I was going to crap my pants enventually.

I played it on easy the first time so it wasn't until I brought the security system back online that they came at me. The suspense had plenty of time to build up before it blew up in my face with an explosion of laggy aliens. ;)

To paraphrase the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, "suspense is telling the audience that there is a bomb somewhere in the stadium, but not telling them when it will go off."

Exactly, hey.

Some good info at planetavp's interview with David Stalker (http://www.planetavp.com/features/interviews/davidstalker.shtml), Producer at Fox Interactive, on the multiplayer modes for the upcoming AvP2 (thanks Blue (http://www.bluesnews.com)).

PlanetAvP - I hear that you're working out on what multi-player modes should be in the game. What modes you all ready know will be in place, and what are you considering should be put in?

David Stalker - There are several different multiplayer modes including the classic DEATH MATCH and SPECIES DEATH MATCH and the new HUNT, OVERRUN and EVAC modes. Monolith packed in loads of functionality into the game browsing and configuration screens so that you can easily adjust each MP game as well as find the games that you are interested in. There's a fabulous in-game feature that will let you swap species on the fly without leaving the map! This is great if you happen to get into a game where the species weighting feels off. You can see how many of each species there are and choose to switch if you like. When you do switch your score is cleared but it's such a thrill to not have to disconnect from the game, change species type and then try to get back in again.

The HUNT mode is kind of like the AvP1 Tag mode where there is one of one species pursued by everyone else playing another species. The best new element to this is that you can choose exactly which species will be the hunter and which the hunted. In OVERRUN, the attacking team is trying to obliterate the other within the given time. In EVAC, the defenders are trying to reach a certain point without being entirely destroyed by the attacking team!

Who knows what other possibilities could be in store after the game releases…

Overrun and Evac sound like they have good fun potential.

Excellent job dude, i notice some of ya complaining about lag in the game.. im using a geforce1 card with 32 mb, but 256mb of ram, maybe the extra ram is helpin (cant be my video card) ram is so cheap now, i recommend gettin more.. althought im saving for a gforce 3 which ill get when the first new wave of games hits (wolfenstein, allied assult or aliens) plus the 1 gig processor to run the force.. but right now i only have a p3 650 and i had all details on, and in 32 bit.. though i have to admit only in 800x600 cos thats my max res on my ****ty little screen.. hope my blabbering helps in some way.. :cool:

eh demo didn't do that much for me.....the reasons have already been brought up earlier in this thread so I won't go into too much detail :)

Too dark, aliens looked/moved poorly, "bracket" control panels annoying, great suspense until aliens appeared...then felt like 101 other FPS games.

Hunt, Overrun and Evac all look like good modes for recreations of certain scenes from both the Alien and Predator movies.

Sometimes though I almost wish Aliens didn't have such a cult following, there might be pressure to make a better game for sales concerns. I'm not talking about the hardcore fanboy pressure that demands claw X of the predator to be a certain length, I'm talking about people who can really see the FPS potential of working in an Aliens vs. Predator environment. I see too many thing in my head swimming around that show me this game might always be a 'could have been.'

The original Doom was supposed to have been an 'Aliens' FPS. Back before Doom, Id Software approached Fox on making an ''Aliens' type FPS, but for whatever reason, Fox were not interested. So, instead of Aliens, Doom had demons. A good example of a 'could have been.'

i think if you had fought aliens in doom, i wouldnt have liked it so much... it was a whole new universe and a great story to boot, aliens would have been cool, but i think that this was the way to go...

I got the full version of AvP2. Oh is it good!!

It's out already?

Yes it is avaiable in US retail stores.

Oh man it is good. Yesterday, gamers on my server were telling me they were literally jumping out of their chairs in fright while playing multi. I can't say there are many mutliplayer games that can do that!

Jedi Knighters would like AvP2 in that the pace is very fast. Not 4-Star Force Speed fast (nothing is that fast), but still, you have to be a fast deadeye and very fast on the trigger as a Marine or you are dead.

[ November 05, 2001: Message edited by: Wilhuf ]

I was rather disappointed with this demo. Compared to the first marine demo for AvP, it was rather dull.

The atmosphere just wasn't the same (not as scary as the original), despite the improved graphics. The few fights at the end just didn't excite me that much either.

The MP demo was pretty bad too, IMHO. Buggy, plus the level itself was too open, so that it didn't lend itself well to large games (plus it was just deathmatch, which was one of the weakest points to AvP I thought).

What AvP2 really needs is something to set it appart from the original, but in a good way, to build on what came before, not just copy it. But I'll reserve my final judgement until I can play the full version.

The multiplayer aspect really needed work in the original game. Well done cooperative play was sorely needed. I'd like to see some well planned goal based missions (taking Assault from UT as an example), rather than the species deathmatch, skirmish, recycled stuff that is just too repetative to be fun in this type of game (casting aside any balancing issues).

I could make a laundary list of what I felt was wrong with it, but suffice to say, while pretty, I just didn't find it FUN, like I found the original. The "scary music" when a xenomorph was around was kinda neat though (a la Serious Sam).

I really enjoyed AvPGold and I want to like this game...

Kurgan

[ November 06, 2001: Message edited by: Kurgan ]

Oh my gosh The full version ROCKS. Well the marine part that is. I just beat the marine part last night. The end is heart pounding.

I also like that the Preditor seems to be whatching and hunting you through out the hole game.

The minigun is unstopable.

It was also pretty cool playing the part of an alien. Its really fun starting off as a face hugger.

ssssssshhhhhh.......dont tell
some of us cant buy the game yet
No spoilers!!
plz

Full version blows the demo out of the water. No slowdowns, stable, smooth multiplayer. A vast improvement over the demo. Almost seems like a different game.

So far I've played 'Overrun' and 'Evac' modes.

Overrun: a squad of marines must surive alien onslaught for a given duration. The alien attackers must obliterate the marine squad. Victory is also given to the squad that destroys all members of the enemy team. By default, aliens get 2 respawns each. Marines get no respawns.
Lone ranger types will be destroyed, as marines are relatively weak alone against the alien hordes. Teamplayers have the best odds of survival. Overrun can be adjusted to support class-based play, and can also be adjusted to support marine v. predator, or predator v. alien matches.

Evac: As the name implies, this mode is about evacuation. A squad of marines must reach an escape point and survive during the evac countdown that is activated once the escape point is reached. The alien horde must prevent marine evac. Victory is also given to the squad that destroys all members of the enemy team.

I still haven't tried the other modes (hunt, survivor, team dm, and dm).

Weapons are a blast. If class play is enabled, marines will have differing speed, weapons and abilities at spawn. The flamethrower just cracks me up every time I use it. It is just too damned funny to watch an attacking alien go flailing around uncontrollably after I light him up.

Of course the shoe can go on the other foot: several times I was 'lit up' while playing as an alien. It's hard to see through the sheet of flame that engulfs your body when you get immolated by the flamethrower. Sometimes, as an alien, you can actually light up the grunt who flamed you. Just try to hit him and he might ignite as well. Other times, the marines literally panic, fail to check their fire, or cross fire lines, and light each other up! Gotta love it.

The smartgun is just like in the movies ('let's rock!'). The rocket launcher is very fast and powerful, and with good reason. The aliens move very fast, with the exception of the Praetorian Alien, which is slow and very heavily armored (in fact it resists non-armor piercing rounds).

The ability to climb on any suface (walls, celings, floors, ladders, gratings, etc.) and quick pounces make the alien an extremely mobile killer. The marine motion detector counters this, but of course if one is sneaky and holds still in ambush, the detector will only reveal movement when it is too late. It is just so damned satisfying to cling to a corridor opening, upside down, and motionless, and suddenly pounce on the completely unsuspecting target when it emerges. You can tell from the target's reaction that they must have been startled by the surprise attack and almost instant death. (Comments like 'oh **** I didn't even see you!' give it away.) :)

Like the marines, aliens come in different classes, each with differing armor, speed and ability. This is also true for the predators.

I still haven't tried the predator classes and weapons.

So far I've been very impressed with the multiplayer maps. Some of them are huge Jedi Knight-style maps with massive exteriors. Others are cloisterphobic, dark and dank facilities that have been overrun by alien 'hive.' Others are set in the Central American jungles of 'Predator.' Excellent atmosphere. Soundscape is right on. One map looks exactly like the aircraft docking facility where Ripley has to flee from the Queen. Another looks just like the dropship hangar on the Sulaco (sp?). As I've said, several gamers have declared 'this is just like the movies.'

I still haven't tried the single player game yet, and that is supposed to be the primary focus of the game. So far I've really enjoyed the multiplayer part.

Anyone who vaguely likes the Alien films and multiplayer FPS games should seriously try this game.

[ November 06, 2001: Message edited by: Wilhuf ]