Caltrops - Alien vs. Predator 3





	[quote name="Mischief Maker"]I'm judging these games next to the <A HREF="http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-AVPC/alien-vs-predators-classic-2000">original PC version</A> of Aliens vs Predator (AvP 2000). I'm totally willing to agree with Fabio and Jerry on the superiority of regenerating health bars for isolated competitive firefights against enemy soldiers. That's not what the movie Aliens was about and that's not how you translate it to a game. As Quake-like as AvP 2000 was, I think it captured the feel of the movie perfectly. A state of the art team of space marines come down fully loaded for bear with state of the art weaponry, but find themselves unexpectedly outmaneuvered by <strike>the vietcong</strike> the Aliens, and every battle is a Pyrrhic victory where not only are team members dying left and right, but the technology that just barely gives them an edge over the aliens is being broken, sabotaged, or is running out of ammo. Take the autoturrets scene, for example. That's the experience playing AvP 2000. You start out with armor, with tons of ammo, and a poorly-lit maze of industrial design to dash through. The Aliens are randomly placed and respawn faster and faster as the levels progress. If you slowly and carefully walk your way through, admiring the scenery along the way, the aliens are going to whittle away all that ammo, all that armor, and all those health points. The correct way to play this game is running full tilt for the exit, trying not to waste too much ammo from panic spray every time an alien jumps at you from an unexpected corner because if you let one get too close, you'll pay for that mistake for the remainder of the level. AvP 2000 is the only "horror" game I know of that is scary the 2nd time because it's scares are gameplay-generated. (AvP 2 fucked this up). I think the scene that perfectly encapsulates this in the movie is in the initial attack where the survivors run for the APC, one alien sticks its face through the door and Hicks tries to have an "Hasta La Vista" moment by sticking his shotgun in the alien's mouth and screaming "eat this!" No one-liners in Gigerville, Hicks! He's rewarded by having the alien spray acid blood all over him and has to desperately tear the chestplate off his armor before it reaches his flesh. Bit by bit the designated action hero of the story is being broken down until the civilian Ripley is the only one left with any ability to fight. So when somebody makes an AvP game where getting pounced by an Alien is a survivable QTE, and each room you clear you're back at full health and once again at the apex of your ass kicking ability, you've fucked it up.[/quote]