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Clocked the Alien missions last night.

Turns out I was almost at the end when I last saved it. All I had to do was weaken the Elite Predator and harvest him to create a new species. The last cutscene for the Aliens shows the Queen dying (Part of the Marine campaign), then Number Six is captured and taken offworld. I wont spoil the full ending, but I enjoyed it and it set the game up for a sequel (please let there be a sequel!). Just the Marine campaign to finish off now.

Although the individual campaigns feel a little short, together they make up a lengthy story told from various different viewpoints. Each species has different goals and visits different areas, with the occasional crossover “Heey, I was just there as the Marine!” moments. The game is getting a lot of flak for its length but I think it works very well in this case. I can run through Portal in no time at all but it’s still one of the best games of the last decade. Likewise, Team Fortress 2 does not even have a single player mode and still has a large following.

The three AvP campaigns added up, clock in at more time than Dante’s Inferno does. People need to really think about what they say in reviews imo. Metacritic shows some low scores for the game and has reviewers claiming all sorts of guff, ranging from bad graphics (lol), to short singleplayer (see above). How 1UP can give it a D (D=Bad / F= Don’t play) I’ll never know.. They rated Dante’s Inferno higher which is 100% a God of War clone and has a shorter campaign than AvP. Go figure. Anyway, I’ll store up my bile towards “professional reviewers” for another post as I have a lot to say on this matter.

I also spent some time on the multiplayer last night. After playing the Alien campaign I had learnt a few tricks I was confident in using during the match. When I first played the demo I kept to the floor and only used right trigger to transition to walls. The way to do it is to hold left trigger, point at the surface you want to be on and hit jump. The Aliens maneuverability is unmatched by the other two species and should be taken advantage of when possible. Keeping to the ceiling gives you an edge on other aliens who will have to transition surfaces to get in range of you, whereas you can hold left trigger and range attack them from above, plus, you can catch out a lot of players who have not adjusted to checking above them yet. Ranged attacks work well to close the distance on your prey but make sure you follow with a few weak attacks. I tried ranging from roof to target and following with a heavy attack but it’s too slow to wind up and leaves you open, following with a weak attack keeps them staggered to a degree.

Still a lot to learn and get used to, but really enjoying the game so far. More to follow after I complete the Marine campaign.