Alien Vs. Predator 2009 Demo - Thoughts

[wytefang]

After playing the Demo for a bit the past couple of days, I have some thoughts to share and would love to hear other gamer's thoughts about this anticipated title:


The Good:

1. Captures the flavor appropriately - both graphically and in "feel"
2. Aliens are a blast to play, once you figure them out, control-wise
3. Marines offer the most tense experience, which is also cool
4. Just feels fresh and fun compared to the recent slate of same ol' modern combat shooters that are all the rage at the moment (other than the great L4D & L4D2)
5. Very good audio - atmospheric and creepy
6. Insta-kills are loads of fun.

The Bad:

1. Graphics could be better but they should be in the final release - the Demo, as it clearly informs you, is running under DX 9 rather than the final version's DX11. For the most part, though, the graphics aren't bad in DX 9, even.
2. The User-Interface is pretty heavily consolized, with huge blocky text and interface elements that clearly appear made for those who might be sitting back in front of a large HDTV from a distance - not a deal-breaker but still a bit annoying.
3. Match-making in the DEMO only is P2P rather than using Dedicated Servers - according to Rebellion themselves, however, the FULL version will indeed have Dedicated Servers. Which is good because the matchmaking interface using P2P is awful. They've recently patched this so now you can at least find a game more frequently. This isn't something, though, that I'm terribly worried about in the final release since it will, according to Rebellion, offer Dedicated Server support.
4. Controls seem rather wonky for the Alien and Predator - but mostly for the Predator. I never could figure out how to fire a different weapon other than his claws, despite scouring the Options/Configure Controls page. Hopefully they make it a bit more intuitive in the final game. I actually got the hang of the Alien after not too long but never could really get the Predator's weapon-selection stuff to work right.

My overall opinion is that this will end up being a really fun game despite any of the Demo's niggling issues. The final version should offer some great value and I can't imagine the SP mode not being loads of fun, too. Can't wait for the 16th...sucks that they moved the date from the 11th for the release.

[Reoh]

Is this what the Demo looks like, or maybe its the internal build?

[wytefang]

No, that's from the Final build. The Demo informs you that it runs using DX9 but the Final build will utilize up to DX11. That look pretty good compared to the Demo though I don't think that the Demo is necessarily all that bad-looking.

[Drac]

Felt like I was playing doom with updated graphics and those are the slowest most pondersome aliens I've ever seen. Padding bear moved faster. It just didn't have the trashing frantic feel of the previous games IMO.

Will hold out for the reviews and opinions of the full game by fans of the earlier ones.

[wytefang]

I loved the earlier ones - played both, though I found the Monolith version to be far less enjoyable than the first one by (ironically) Rebellion. Try playing the Alien using the Sprint function - once you do that, you won't feel that they're not fast enough. I do think that the Humans should move a bit quicker but the Predator feels just fine for how they seemed to move in the movies and in the previous versions of this game.

I'm pretty stoked about this game so far. It seems like it'll turn out alright but this is, admittedly, a tricky game IP to nail down perfectly, I think.

[Drac]

I think I hold out for Gearbox's version. I liked what they did with Borderlands and keen so see their take on Aliens.

[Reoh]

Borderlands was a really awesome game, a must have in any gamers library imho. Especially now that most of the bugs and such have been patched up. Just be aware that Australians pay a 30% increased premium on them compared to the rest of the world (even the DLC if bought through steam, which you must if you have a steam borderlands).

[wytefang]

I loved the art-style of Borderlands but the fact that it's not at all optimized for PC makes me no longer interested in any Gearbox games at all. If they can't take the small amount of time it would take to provide a normalized FOV, a decent PC UI (with legible text), and the option to turn off View Bob along with providing anti-aliasing (a must for games, imho)...then that's not a company I'm terribly trusting with my money. \

Like I said, I enjoyed the graphics and the idea behind the game at least.

[Duckforceone]

i must say, i was counting down the minutes to the demo release, and when i found out it was deathmatch only, i never logged on.

So i am patiently waiting for the full game release, before i'll even touch this...

so sad they thought releasing deathmatch was the best idea... when they would have gotten more people if they had released either a small single player, or a team deathmatch instead... i don't want frag fests, i want AvP style fun... races against races at least... or the lovely survivor mode or infestation.. those are the ones i'm truly holding out for...

[Reoh]

If you're the developer for this game, you should really contact me right now and give me a free copy to try out for review so I can let these people know how great the game is... unless its not. If thats the case, you probably should ignore this message!