Thirith on 2/2/2010 at 14:05
I enjoyed the Marines and Alien campaigns of the original AvP greatly - some of the tensest, most adrenaline-driven gameplay ever. As far as I'm concerned, AvP2 lost that, not least because of the cartoony visuals.
I was never all that keen on playing the Predator - yeah, it's fun for a few minutes to be able to sneak up on marines and take their skulls as trophies, but I just didn't get into the campaign I did get into the other two.
I'd imagine that playing the game now would require a high level of tolerance for old-school visuals - the game was always moody and atmospheric, but it definitely wasn't a looker. It also takes a measure of masochism, because some levels are definitely intent on breaking you, at least with no saves or even limited saves. There are some marines levels I must have played dozens of times, always getting to the end just to have that one scuttling facehugger get me in the end...
SubJeff on 2/2/2010 at 15:17
AvP1's Predator campaign was rock hard too. Against humans it was easy but against Aliens it was nails. That electric gun was cool, though I tried to use the disc as much as possible. Oh, I always play on the hardest difficulty and I can't remember what the difficulty levels were on AvP but I know that sometimes it was really, really tough.
froghawk on 2/2/2010 at 15:19
Quote Posted by Phatose
Don't.
The tension level is created largely through making it fucking impossible to see anything. You can get the same experience by playing any other FPS with the brightness on your monitor turned way, way down. What tension it does have is entirely subverted by having a crack/caffeine hyperspeed pacing, Multiplayer balance is laughable, and the level design is flat out mean spirited.
Just wait for AvP3.
I just got the game, and I can't agree with you at all. The darkness is easily remedied by the different vision modes, and the game is still tense when you change them. It has an extremely fast pace which no modern game can even start to compare to, and I have to say that I think that increases the tension rather than eliminating it. Sure, it's basically a dumb shooter, but it's so fast and sadistically difficult that it becomes very tense - the darkness isn't half of it.
Thirith on 2/2/2010 at 15:29
Also, I don't think any game's had the kind of 3D level design and experience that the Alien campaign in the first AvP had. In some ways it's almost closer to Descent than to your run-of-the-mill FPS.
gunsmoke on 2/2/2010 at 15:35
AvP2 was considered 'cartoony'? This is the first time I have ever heard this. Does anyone else share that opinion?
Phatose on 2/2/2010 at 15:52
It's styled after the various AvP graphics novels, not the movies. It's cartoony as opposed to the first, which which for a more film-like aesthetic. I thought everyone was aware of this.
june gloom on 2/2/2010 at 16:29
I wasn't, and I don't see it myself.
Thirith on 2/2/2010 at 18:37
For me it's mainly that the human characters look like they could be bit players in No One Lives Forever. It's a very similar style, added to which the colour scheme IMO is more cartoony - more bright, varied colours. The first one is much more murky in its colour scheme, which worked better with the atmosphere IMO.
nicked on 2/2/2010 at 19:58
The NOLF engine certainly makes it cartoony, although a lot of the texturing and visuals are not at all cartoony, particularly the bleak planetscapes and hive sections. However, this is scuppered by using the same style of cutscene as NOLF and half the same voice actors. You expect one of the marines to yell "Yes sir, I mean no sir! I mean yes to the first part and no to the second part, SIR!" at any moment.
Although if you've never played NOLF, that'd probably go right over your head and you'd have a great time with it.
Sulphur on 2/2/2010 at 20:37
AvP was great back in the day. The marine campaign dripped with tension. The alien segments were inspired. The predator bits were... okay. But it was a hard motherfucking game to love, because it was motherfucking hard.
Limited saves, instadeaths -- I did not enjoy the marine campaign, simply because I was forced to learn the level layouts and spawn points by rote AND REPLAY FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE FUCKING LEVEL because I either had run out of or didn't want to run out of saves.
It doesn't look like it's aged too well either. And while it's not a 'dumb' shooter in terms of mechanics, there's really no narrative whatsoever to hold it together.
AvP 2 was the shiznit though. If it didn't crash or hang or force you to search for some arcane and arbitray trigger for the next scritped event. Fun otherwise. Not so much cartoony as stylised, IMO. Part of that's due to the low-poly NPCs and Monolith's trademark Lithtech 'look' back then.
