Aliens versus Predator Classic 2000

I loved this game when I was a kid. Unfortunately, it's not as good as I remember. The bad: The graphics, the story, the controls, the gameplay, the movement, etc... The good: Playing as the marine is actually pretty scary at times. Conclusion: It's an interesting trip down memory lane, but that's about it. I gave this game 2 stars (instead of 1) for the nostalgia factor.

I like the general atmosphere of this game but the idea to progress further in the episodes only through Director`s Cut difficulty mode is plain bad. That mode makes AVP a soulslike.

Fun game that runs well. Some frustrating level designs can make it really easy to get lost, but the main problems are just the way games were made back in 1999. As much as people complain about handholding, running in circles for 30 minutes through identical looking rooms while trying to find a wheel to turn really isn't fun. Even saying that I'm still looking forward to trying the Predator and Alien campaigns.

There are few things that I remember from my childhood more fondly than reading AvP comics and my overall obsession with movie franchises that inspired this game. Naturally, because of this, I never missed an opportunity to play any Alien or Predator games that I could find, although the 1999 AvP somehow always slipped my grasp. Sadly however, despite being really excited to finally give this a shot, a brutal reality check hit me in the face faster than a leaping facehugger. The first major strike against the game for me, is that everything is just too damn dark. Clearly the developers were aiming to replicate the mood of the films, but in this case I feel like they went into such an extreme that it actively hinders player's progress rather than being a mere mood-setter. The night vision mode is supposed to be a solution to this but even that is hampered by even the faintest light source, which immediately flares up the entire screen and blocks your vision anyway. The only balanced option available are the light flares, however, the area that they can illuminate is limited and you can only pop about 5 of them before having to wait for a cooldown. The second problem is the level design. I tried each of the three available campaigns, and the furthest that I ever got was the third mission of the Marine campaign, because it was the only one where I was able to figure out where to go before I lost my patience. Being lost so often sapped any enjoyment out of the game for me pretty rapidly, and the problem was further exacerbated by constantly respawning enemies that drained my resources until I could either figure out how to progress or die. It pains me because normally I'm very open minded about old games, and dated visuals or mechanics rarely ever bother me to the point where I would stop playing. But I feel like AvP is simply not a very well designed game, and it was definitely a huge disappointment to me, after so many years of hearing good things about it.

There were obviously better shooters than this one. I remember though I was amazed with the Aliens part of the game, which was quite a fresh concept back in the days. Its nice to bring those memories back, but I'm not sure if the game has carried its appeal and playability over these years. Probably not... Thanks GOG for your great work on keeping the "history" remembered. :)