In this information page, you can read about basic and detailed information about Aliens vs. Predator II: Gold Edition.

Name: Aliens vs. Predator II: Gold Edition
Publisher: Sierra Studios/Fox Interactive
Creator: Monolith Productions / Third Law Entertainment
Type: First-Person-Shooter

Minimum PC Requirements	Recommended PC Requirements
English Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP	English Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP
English Windows compatible keyboard and mouse	English Windows compatible keyboard and mouse
Pentium III 450 or equivalent processor	Pentium III 700 or equivalent processor
128 MB RAM	256 MB RAM
24X CD-ROM drive	24X CD-ROM drive
16 MB DirectX 8-compatible D3D video card	32 MB DirectX 8-compatible D3D video card
16-bit DirectX 8-compatible sound card	16-bit DirectX 8-compatible sound card
DirectX 8 or higher	DirectX 8 or higher

Aliens vs. Predator II: Gold Edition

Aliens vs. Predator: Gold Edition contains both Aliens vs. Predator II and Aliens vs. Predator II: Primal Hunt for a low, low price of $19.99. Below you can find information on both Aliens vs. Predator II and Aliens vs. Predator II: Primal Hunt.

Aliens vs. Predator II

Aliens vs. Predator II uses the Lithtech 2.5 engine, and what an excellent choice it was. The Lithtech engine is sometimes badmouthed by people, but in this game, it definitely was the optimal choice. The engine brings out the "life" of the game, if you will. Everything is to scale, excellent in color, and is vibrant in playability. More games should definitely look into using this engine.

 

Unlike the original game, AvP II uses a lot of scripted events, best compared to the ones in Half-Life. This definitely adds to the eerie feeling when you are walking through the hall as a marine and all of the sudden an alien busts through a grate in the floor and starts dragging a scientist down with it. The scripted events are much better than FMV sequences because you are still actually playing when it occurs, unlike an FMV scene. Another pro to Aliens vs. Predator II is the usage of cutscenes. Cut-scenes are the core of a developing storyline, which this game so promisingly delivers. These scenes never fail to fill the player in on what is going on, which never leaves the player (you) lost of what is happening, which is a deciding factor on how well a game will succeed or succeed at all.

The audio factor of Aliens vs. Predator II is by far the best. The sound engineers did an outstanding job integrating the sounds from the movies to the game. The sharp screech of pain from the alien is the exact as the one from Aliens. The roar of the predator is the exact as its movie. Though those are excellent, I lean toward the radio chatter. The background radio conversations between marines makes you feel as if you were actually in the movie, and isn't that what most games aim for, to make you feel as if you were really there? Well, AvP II delivers it in the purest form. Walking through the hallway hearing faint screams and gunshots of marines always adds to the fear factor, thus making you just a little more weary when you walk through the corridors. Even the musical scores of the game are excellent, and when each is played, it respectively matches the scene you are in, if you know what I mean. There are even some occasions when the music from the movies is played, most noticeably from Aliens and Predator.

This section will discuss the three main species, and their levels of playability, but before that, a little background of the world you'll be fighting on, LV-1201. This world is the center of battle in Aliens vs. Predator II. When Dr. Eisenberg found this planet, he also discovered an alien hive, which is when he decided to set up his research center. LV-1201 has forests, barren plains, rocky regions, and some lakes. Basically, all natural features were implemented to give the player an overlay of environment. Be prepared to fight in different types of terrain and atmosphere, this is one all-out battle.

The Colonial Marine campaign revolves around Corporal Andrew Harrison. The first marine mission starts out with you and your team landing via a drop ship on LV-1201, where the center of conflict will take place. Through the cutscene, the general gives a thorough debriefing of the mission, and like the movie, Aliens, some of the marines have some smart-ass remarks. After the cutscene is over, the player takes control of Cpl. Harrison and runs to a door while two other marines cover you in flanking formation. The player has to use the hacking device to get the door open, and from then on, it's one big fight. One thing that interests me the most is, as a marine, you "encounter" a predator first, before anything or anyone else, totally different from the original. As the marine, you'll be able to use a vast number of weapons and tools such as the pulse rifle, pistol, shotgun, smart gun, rocket launcher, mini-gun, hacking device, welder, and many, many more.

The Predator has also improved over the original. As the predator, you start off watching a cutscene of your ship landing on LV-1201 probably preparing for a hunt. As the predator you'll be able to use the staff, spear gun, disc, net-gun, and plasma caster. You start off on a rock monolith of some sort and make way down to the lower levels of the forest killing marines and scientists on the way. During the level, you'll encounter a light armor predator who will give you the staff and the heavy armor predator who will allow you to use the disc. Not much longer after that, faint radio conversations can be heard between the marines, and you know that they know you are there. From then on, it's a hunting frenzy. There will be a lot of marines that try to stop your progress, but just use the stealth ability and choice of weapon wisely. There will be a small alien and praetorian encounter in the beginning, but besides that, you will not have to fight another alien until the middle of the game.

The Alien is probably the most fun species to play. The beginning cutscene for this species is not as impressive as the others, but I guess it gets to the point. The level starts off with you playing as the face-hugger. As you crawl your way through the level, make sure not to let anyone see you, or you're done for. Also, do not face-hug someone while there's other people around, because they'll go into frenzy and kill you, the host, and destroy anything around you. Once you find the innocent sleeping victim, face-hug him and prepare for something really cool. The next level starts you off as a chest-burster actually inside the host's chest! As the chest-burster, chew your way through the body, and finally the rib cage making your way to the ground. At this point, eat all the small animals and organisms you can find, while avoiding anyone with a gun. By the end of the level, you'll be a drone. So, run through the level using all four means of your attack, pounce, claws, tail, and inner-jaws.

Aliens vs. Predator II also comes with multiplayer capability. Though the single player feature alone is impressive, even more so is the multiplayer aspect. There's six different modes to choose from which are deathmatch, team deathmatch, hunt, survivor, overrun, and evac.

Deathmatch and team deathmatch are your typical all-out killing spree modes where everyone is someone's enemy. Hunt has three sub modes to it, which is hunter race, where only hunters can score, prey race, where if a prey kills a hunter, the prey mutates into the hunter, and visa versa. Hunters vs. Prey keeps the teams even. Survivor mode is where as a human, you must survive and not be killed by a predator or alien type. Overrun has one team as the defenders and one team as the attackers. If the attackers killed all defenders before the round is over they win, and defenders win if they are all alive. Finally, is evac, and this mode is win one race has to make it to the evac point without getting killed.

The multiplayer mode is pretty extensive. You get to choose between several different characters, like the marines, predators, aliens, and corporate, all of which have about 3 different characters. Now you'd think that maybe the graphics for multiplayer would be a little cheaper than the single player version, but it isn't, not the slightest bit. All of the playable characters for multiplayer have that "smooth" look to them. Even the levels for multiplayer look great, especially the Auriga, that looks almost exactly as it did in Alien Resurrection.

Since before its release, Aliens vs. Predator II went gold and will be the official game for the CPL Tournament, which must say something about the game itself. This sequel is unique in its own way, unlike most other sequels. I hope you have enjoyed this extensive game review and for those of you that haven't bought it yet and liked this review, what are you waiting for!? This is definitely one game that you do not want to pass up.

Aliens vs. Predator II: Primal Hunt

Aliens vs. Predator II: Primal Hunt does an excellent job of explaining the events in Aliens vs. Predator II, as I've mentioned above. Below, you'll find a description of the campaigns you'll be playing in Primal Hunt.

The Corporate campaign starts off with Dunya and Dimitri talking amongst themselves about, well, more personal things. They're interrupted by the General who informs them about the "Artifact" that all of the species are bent on finding. Dunya's sent in with two other Iron Bear corporates to find it. Unlike Aliens vs. Predator II, the action starts off as soon as you enter that first door. A sentry gun sits idle as you can pick it up and deploy it to help you fend off your enemies, which happens as soon as it's picked up. Aliens swarm Dunya and the other two corporates like no tomorrow, and this is when the sentry gun kicks into action. Deploy that bad-boy and watch it take names as it mows down the hordes of aliens swarming your way. However, the sentry gun is not enough to save your teammates, as it's scripted in the game that they die. This leaves Dunya, now an army of one to search for the "Artifact." Throughout the three corporate missions, such weapons as the sentry guns and turret gun will play a vital role in Dunya's survival. One specific thing that I found while playing the corporate campaign, is to make sure that the sentry guns are strategically placed. At one point, you'll have access to three of them, however, if not placed correctly, the aliens will swarm through and eventually take you over if you're low on ammo and health. Just remember, however, that the sentry guns eventually will run out of ammo or overheat.

The Predator campaign starts you off 500 years prior to AvP 2 as you take control of the ancient predator. The predator starts off by landing on LV-1201 in search of hunting prey. However, further into the campaign, the predator learns of the "artifact" and also becomes one of the three species to take it. The predator will encounter the new species, such as the mutated bull and the underground worms, kind of like the ones from Tremors. As the predator campaign continues, you'll find yourself defending the "artifact" and trying to hunt it down. From aliens, to humans, to indigenous life, the predator will be encountering it all throughout the three new missions. Another great feature you'll experience near the end of this campaign, is the new cloaking addition. Yes, cloaking was in Aliens vs. Predator II, but it's been changed for Primal Hunt, and you'll see what I mean when you play it.

The Predalien campaign starts off exactly like the alien campaign did in Aliens vs. Predator II. As a facehugger, you must find a suitable host to lay your egg and evolve into a chestburster And what would be more suitable than a predator? While playing the face hugger, your main job is to steer clear of all the predators roaming the halls of a facility on LV-1201 and let the bigger, fiercer drones handle them. Eventually, you'll sneak up behind a predator in the middle of an egg chamber typing something into a computer (there's a twist to this, as you'll find out when you play through the predator missions.). A cutscene will queue and you'll face hug the predator. The next mission starts you off as a chestburster, and like AvP 2, your main goal is to find a secure place to eat. Roam the halls and stay clear of the predators, and you'll find yourself evolving into a predalien in no time.

Just like Aliens vs. Predator II, the missions for all three species intertwine in a well thought-out plot. Even if you don't play the missions in the correct order, you'll be able to piece all of the information together you saw in the cutscenes Once all of the missions are completed, a final cutscene will take place where you'll see and read about familiar characters that are in Aliens vs. Predator II and will most likely find yourself wanting to replay it, so you can complete the entire storyline.