Aliens vs. Predator Multiplayer Hands-On

Oct 26, 2009

As a Colonial Marine armed with a pulse rifle and motion detector, you might assume your chances of survival in any environment would be pretty decent. That's not the case in the battle arenas of Rebellion Games' upcoming shooter Aliens vs. Predator, where two of pop culture's deadliest species are trying to tear you to shreds. Like the AvP games past, you're not limited to running and gunning as a Marine -- all three races are playable and require different skill sets to meet with success. If you've been following coverage of this game, on track to be released early next year, you'll have seen bits about the single-player campaign and how that's changed compared to Rebellion's previous work. This time we got a look at the game's multiplayer modes, where up to 18 players can pick a race and slash each other to ribbons online.

Before getting into the specific modes, here's an overview of how each race differs. The Colonial Marines play much like a standard human soldier in any other first-person shooter, though their style and sounds are lifted out of James Cameron's 1986 Aliens movie. Their pulse rifles fire with the film's distinctively sharp, flat sound effects and the unnerving electronic blips of the motion sensors alert you to incoming targets. A few additional weapons are scattered throughout multiplayer arenas to boost your firepower such as grenades and shotguns, and alternate fire modes are built into the weapons that allow them to more rapidly unload shots should the situation call for it. While this all may sound familiar and make it seem like the Marines can hold their own in a fight, such an assumption doesn't quite hold up once you consider what they're up against.

The Predators, for instance, can cloak themselves and sneak around maps. They can target high ledges and make jumps Marines can't, and bring into battle a number of one-hit kill weapons. They can, for instance, activate their cloaking device (which will stay active unless an attack is made), and hop up to a high perch. From there, the Predator can wait until a Marine or Alien happens to wander into the space below, at which point the prey can be targeted by its shoulder mounted cannon and blasted to bits. Ammunition isn't unlimited, however, so people who play this race will need to wander around and look for special terminals to interface with and recharge their reserves.

Predators can also set traps for opponents, launch razor sharp discs, and flip on a special infrared vision mode. Just because these guys are cloaked doesn't mean they're totally invisible though. Like in the 1987 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, a cloaked Predator can still be spotted when you're close enough as a blob of distortion. In this game you'll also be able to see plants shake or dust kick up in a few of the maps when a Predator is walking by, though noticing these kinds of things might be a little tough in a full 18 person game. It also takes the Predator's shoulder cannon a little while to lock in and fire on a target, and while that's happening you can see a red light extending from the gun, giving you a chance to slip behind cover and revealing the Predator's position.

Of course the Predator isn't just about staying in the shadows and attacking from afar, these guys also have violent melee attacks that will probably gross out a lot of players once they seen them. If you're able to creep up behind a player it's possible to do a sneak attack, which is triggered with one button and results in an instant kill. From what I played it doesn't seem like you have to be particularly close behind an opponent to trigger this attack either, so if this system stays the same expect multiplayer matches post-launch to be filled with Marines getting their throats ripped out. The trade-off for the easy kill is that the animation takes a little while to play out, so if you've triggered it out in the open, chances are another player is going to be able to see you and take you down right after the kill sequence is finished.

Those unable to circle behind targets will find it's possible to initiate gruesome kills from the front with a simple combo system. After successfully landing an initial hit, a subsequent button press will trigger a trophy kill. The result, if it's not blocked by the target, is always a kill, and the animation differs depending on which species is attacking which. For Predator against Marine, for instance, the Predator will grab the Marine's head and yank it right off, giving you an uncomfortably close-up view of everything from the Marine's expression of intense pain to a dangling spinal cord dripping with gore.

Then there are the Aliens, which need to be up close to attack. They use their claws and tail to wipe out the opposition, and have a few advantages when it comes to movement that helps them get into the proper position. Unlike the Predators and Marines who prefer bipedal locomotion, Aliens will crawl around using all four limbs, meaning any Marine will have to adjust their aim if one of these guys is approaching on ground level. Chances are aim adjustment will have to be more dramatic than that, however, since Aliens can crawl on any surface in a map. This means they can, at any point, drop down from ceilings and sneak attack or trophy kill their targets, then use their superior speed to dart away from the area and maneuver for another assault. An enhanced vision mode also helps Aliens locate their prey, and their acidic blood will deal damage to any who stumble over their corpse. While these guys definitely take a little bit of practice to get used to -- it can be quite disorienting to shift perspective so frequently as the Alien scrambles over every angle of every surface -- it's clear they have some definite advantages over the competition.

So how do each of these races actually compete online? There are options for standard deathmatch style setups where each player can jump in with their preferred race and cause havoc. The two maps we were cycling through were set in alien ruins and offered choke points and terraces on multiple levels of elevation. Paths through the stages sometimes funneled players into cramped quarters and corridors perfect for sneak attacks by Aliens and Predators, and other spaces were more open making it easier for Marines to spot their enemies. In all cases it seemed if you're playing as a Marine, you've really got to keep your back up against a wall if you want to survive for any reasonable amount of time.

Playing as a Marine is most of what you'll be doing in two more specialized game modes I saw. The first, called Infestation mode, starts everyone off as a Marine and then randomly selects one to respawn as an Alien. The goal is to try and avoid the Aliens and be the last man standing, though this is tough since every Marine killed then respawns as one of the dark and deadly crawlers. Near the end of a match, you and only one or two others will be huddled together as the hisses and rasps of Aliens echo on all sides as everyone's frantically glancing around, using flashlights to try and see if something snuck in across the ceiling.

The other mode, called Predator Hunt, operates on roughly the same principal. Everyone spawns as a Marine, then one is randomly selected to turn into a Predator. The twist here is that instead of simply trying to survive, you're trying to dispatch the Predator at which point you'll respawn, take its place and earn points for killing Marines. If you do successfully take on the role of the Predator, the previous player who was in control is then respawned as a Marine and must again hunt the Predator to try for more points and, ideally, a high rank on the post-match statistics screen.

With more modes to be revealed at a later date, it seems fans of the previous games and the fiction in general will have more to look forward to in terms of online play, so we'll be back with more details as development continues at Rebellion.