ALIENS VS PREDATORS II 

I have two words for this game:

Judas.

Priest.

12:00AM this morning I had just loaded this game and started out doing a single player Marine mission.  The atmosphere is intense, heavy, dark, brooding, creepy, and flat out fucking scary as hell.  I love this game.   Your mission starts out getting to a "shake and bake" colony on LV1201, a planet not unlike LV426.  This is a lot like the same thing that went down on LV426 in the movie “Aliens” except you arrive a lot earlier… some of the fighting is still going on just as your getting to it.  You end up separated and alone in a dark and damp complex.  Alone in the dark.  Your motion tracker picks up bits of movement all around you… you can hear screams… you can see dripping blood… you catch glimpses of screaming bodies getting pulled into vents… you get scared.  You get spooked.  And you haven’t even seen an alien yet.  You catch a glimpse of some sort of alien, a “Predator” that throws a body at you… you see explosions and here an alien roar.  Your heart is racing and your looking all over the place just scared as hell.  When you finally see an Alien, it is up close and personal… they are fast.  Your getting attacked before you realize there is a threat.  The M41A Pulse Rifle is your best friend… but remember… Short Controlled Bursts.  This seems simple enough… at first.  Then they come out.  When they come out… all your doing is scrambling backwards firing full auto and spraying everything.  Get them off!  Even if you kill the creature – it’s blood scalds you badly… you feel the pain… you want to scream but the scream is held in check by the fear.  Your mom was wrong… There IS such things as monsters.

These monsters are bad... unclean and unfriendly.  But they are very happy to see you.  If you defeat an Alien in your encounter, you live long enough to bump into the next one... until they win.  If your lucky, they will only kill you.  If you are unfortunate enough to survive an encounter with them they will violate you in such a horrible way as to make prison gang rape look inviting... they impregnate you with a little monster that gestates and grows inside you and then eats its way out... You will die.  Painfully.  Giving birth to yet another of the creatures that killed you and all your friends.  Nice huh? 

And those are the stupid ones.

The Predator is a different creature.  He is a professional hunter.  He has taken the heads of guys bigger, stronger, faster, and smarter than you... as his trophies.  In two words or less, describe your state of affairs when a Predator is on the hunt:  "Your Fucked."  These guys can hit you from a long way away.  They can blow you up from a casual distance.  They can also look you in the eyes as they rip out your spine from the small of your back all the way up to your skull.  After all, it is your skull that they want.  These guys are not your friends... but at least they will kill you quickly and with little pain.  Why?  Because a good hunter will kill humanely and not let the prey suffer. And they are good hunters.  And you?  Your the prey.

What do you have?  You have some pretty good firepower... you have your handgun, a knife, some flares... and the M41A Pulse Rifle.  Need more?  How about a flame thrower?  How about a "Smart Gun" machine gun?  How about a mini gun and a rocket launcher?  How about a cutting torch and a circuit "breaker" hacking tool?  Not enough?  Wait till you meet Alice.

This game is the most immersive that I have ever played of this type... it really makes you feel like your in the ALIENS movie.  No, scratch that... it makes you feel like the Aliens universe is real and your a part of it.  And all the slime and acid blood that goes with it.  The graphics are fantastic...  and the sound effects?  Oh hell.  The music alone will scare the bejeezus out of you.  Combined with these monsters that are the stuff of nightmares... your in for an experience.  The lighting effects are amazing.  The atmosphere of the game is so well done, along with the scripting and maps and missions... all very very well done.  A few things are not quite right, and it isn't perfect - but it is damn close.  Judas Priest!  I have shakes from playing this thing!  This is one of the signs of a great game... the emotional and physical responses that a truly immersive game can/will give you.  Doing the Marine mission with its 7 missions... is worth the price of the game alone.   

This game gets a 10.  Go buy this game.  Don't wait for a cracked copy, don't wait for Christmas... go buy this game.