13 replies to this topic

[TheDR]

The demo will be released on all platforms tomorrow, so thats Steam, Xbox Live and PSN.
Its multiplayer and you can play as each of the three classes in AVPvm deathmatch gameplay.

I recommend you check it out, the game is looking great.

The game itself is going to be out on February 16th in America and February 19th in Europe.

[Chyros]

FUCK YEAH indeed. Pity all my days off are now spent today, but I'm definitely gonna check this out, being a very avid AvP fan.

Bring it biatches!



And that's the last thing I'll see before I get your blood all over my HUD .

[Magma]

AvP Demo is now out!

Download it fast, so we can play it.

[Chyros]

Downloading now at a pleasant 7.0 MBs^-1 .

Must say I'm very intrigued by this . Anyone wants a game on the PC, hit me up .

[Wizard]

I'll look into this. Never played the others, but worth a look.

[Kalo]

Loved the previous games and previews for this. Not so much on the last part when I tried the demo last night. The Melee combat is A LOT of fun provided you don't get "lunged", what is a lunge? It's where you get behind someone and press E to execute them. Not so bad, right? That would be true if the range wasn't a good 5 or 7 feet. and there's no way to counter it like some of the moves in the game. It is to me...a real game breaker. Especially when there's a "chain" of it. Other then that, lots of fun as either race when you get used to it. Also..Quick match is anything but "Quick".

Edited by Kalo, 04 February 2010 - 16:30.

[Chyros]

Wow. This is gonna take a while to pen down .

HUGE SPOILER ALERT - THIS OUTLINES EVERYTHING I'VE SEEN SO FAR.

The game's atmosphere is pretty amazing. The classes feel very alive and all are a lot of fun to play. However, it feels more than a beta than a demo . I'm gonna write a pretty big report to Rebellion because some of the stuff needs to get fixed ASAP and I do mean ASAP.

The game seems to be built for consoles, because there is a LOT of assist. Except for auto-aim on all melee attacks and stuff the jumping and moving around is done in such a way that the game basically guesses what you want done. In almost all cases, it assumes you want to do something really movie-esque. Especially the Alien is plagued by this since it seems to randomly make you wall-walk and it's extremely hard to just be able to drop down from a surface, which is quite annoying, as this is one of the major strengths of wallwalking - getting your prey from above. As it is I'd rather have wallwalk disabled at all times though. I haven't figured out how to jump to a specific spot with the Pred either: the controls are quite hard to grasp and not very intuitive at all - this has led me to not be able to get one of the Pred weapons which is on a three-metre high box but you can't get there it seems.

The spawns are... really weird . It will gladly teleport you right next to your killer, though due to the nature of the game this is much less a problem than in most FPS games. Still it's a matter that should definitely be fixed.

The weapons and classes are... interesting.

The Marine starts off with a Pulse Rifle for which there don't seem to be grenades available. It's a pretty good weapon actually. You can also pick up a shotgun which is epically useless (5-6 shots to kill something), a flamer which doesn't seem to register any hits ever, and on the up side, a pretty cool precision rifle which has a vision mode which does.... something and a Smartgun which is very useful, though you can't run with it. God knows how useless the pistol you also start with must be . Marines are extremely slow but don't have any assisted movement which means they handle quite normally. Finally they are equipped with a motion tracker integrated into the HUD which is very useful since it detects anything, though its range is short and has a 180 degree FoV. Marines have a melee attack apparently which reportedly is very weak. They regain health much the same as you use adrenalin in L4D2 - you start off with three.

The Predator doesn't seem to start with any weapons other than his wristblades, but these are quite okay, and you have an invisibility mode at your disposal. This seems to drain a little energy but if you don't use energy weapons it won't deplete it enough to notice. The invisibility is done in a quite slick way. Their HUD (which, IMO, is way too cluttered) also boosts thermal vision which lights up marines like a Christmas tree and also shows Preds this time around - even through a cloak (which only partially blocks out the thermal patterns). Alien vision makes everything grey and Aliens green - the vision modes look completely awesome to be honest. The Pred can handle himself with his blades but you can pick up the Disc, which looks more like a glaive this time (much like in the movies) and somehow seeks the target, I don't really know how. There is also a Plasmacaster which can make 1HK's but it's in a place I somehow can't get to. The last two weapons make use of a targeting laser which REALLY give you away to balance them out. Preds can do a "trophy kill" by pressing the use key when they are behind someone. IMO they need to take that one out. Energy is replenished at stationary points this time around.

The Alien has the advantage of never having to look for weapons unlike the other classes. They can only do melee hits as well as headbites (the Alien trophy kill - this one should definitely stay in) but you can't do the almighty pounce from AvP 2 anymore and since the wallwalk seems to be on randomly it's VERY difficult to get the game to manoeuvre you the way you want. The Alien is FAST though which is a major advantage, and this time uses a very charming way to portray the Alien's "pheromone detection" - enemies show as outlines through walls, which is another major advantage. The Alien's health replenishes over time and you can regain some by headbiting your opponents.

All in all, the classes are somewhat balanced though the Marine is not that useful until you get hold of a good weapon (the default weapon certainly isn't weak but won't exactly win you the game). I've won all games as an Alien and lost one out of three as a Predator - the game I played as Marine, I lost. Overall it's a fun experience but they seriously need to reconsider some stuff before this can be a really good MP game.

[Kalo]

For Chyros : The Shotgun is amazing try the secondary fire which does two shots at once. Kills pretty much everything if they're close. and I really like Marine because the battles are intense. when a Predators up close and you're wondering how you can win this and you somehow do when you miraculously block the blades then melee the guy back then give him a face blast with the Shotgun. It's incredibly satisfying.

[Chyros]

Ah ok then, I didn't know about the doubleshot option . Yes, that might help. And yeah, the Marine is pretty intense . Just like AvP 2 though, I like playing Alien and Pred the best - the Pred because being a hunter with vision modes is really really cool, and Alien because you're fucking badarse as can be .

Still, I do have to admit that the multiplayer is flawed in several ways - if they are not fixed, I can't see the multiplayer side of this becoming a particularly huge success.

[TheDR]

I tried several times and only got into one game where i was marine. It was quite fun, the lighting was really good but i guess it takes a bit of time to get used to the controls... but it didn't give me that time because it disconnected before the game finished

When i get into a few games, then i can say whether i like it or not.

[Chyros]

The Marine is quite a feely character to play. With the visuals I'm seeing, I'm guessing the Marine SP campaign is one hell of a ride .

[Kalo]

The problem with MP is you CANNOT join a game in progress and I imagine is the reason you can't find a game in a timely manner. :|

[Magma]

To all those who has trouble finding games, join (atleast for a little while ) TO HATCH A PREDATOR:
http://steamcommunit...oups/hatchapred

It's a group made for a AvP demo only which makes more easily to find a game, just join their group chat room, wind a guy who says join me or something and click join game, it (usually ) takes you to a group which fills quickly.

and my little review:

Gameplay:
It's resembles little bit AvP2 for it's intense gameplay, but it does had lot's of bad things; i agree for those trophy kills are awfull, it should be made that it DOESN'T always work. It sucks that if you trophy kill, someone kill's you with trophy kill when you're still middle off it, usually someone comes and trophy kills your killer, and then someone kills your killer's killer with trophy kills (i've seen this happen once) etc. etc. etc. It should be made that you COULD somehow evade this, like if you have about 100-75% hp, you evade it.
If someone tries to trophy kill you if you're staggered from front you can push em back <---- this is in the game, just smack your attack buttons to make it happen.

Aliens:
"you heard something?"
"Naah, it's only a rat."
"then what's that black knifelike thingie in your stomach?"
"I dunno."
"Well, that thing behind you really looks like a big rat..."
They're back, with sharper teeth, and mouth(s).
Alien's are my favorite species in AvP games cos they need little bit of of thinking how to kill well armed marines if they gang up and if someone in that group possesses game's most deadliest gun for Alien's, Smartgun. When facing predator<--- never face it one on one if he has that stick and/or plasmacaster, you end up dead pretty fast. In AvP Alien's wallwalking is imo pretty easy, it just needs to lots of practise to handle, there are something called " Alien Auto Transition" option in options which most likely make aliens transition(=jump to wall and stick there) somewhat easier for some, i haven't tested it cos i don't need it In the demo there is only Deathmatch which doesn't make sense; why would Alien's kill other alien's etc? Anyway, i know that in other gamemodes Alien's need to make rush attack's (in group's) to kill Marine's cos if you still manage to kill one Marine, other's will kill you really fast. Against lonely Predator, horde of Alien's are deadly; ONLY if they do not run toward's it in head on (Plasmacaster anyone?) if you really want to kill it: come from everywhere; one behind, one from roof and so on.
Alien's do have a huge FoV which makes spotting their prey easier and cos of their "senses" you can spot them through walls which is great for a ambush tactics.
And if im right, there aren't headbites in the demo to dead corpses? Atleast i haven't been able to do it, hopefully they put it in the full version. Why you may ask? If you say to zombies or Aliens that are Brains aren't yammy, you know the answer from them.

Marines:
bum, bum, bum, bum, bum cling, bum cling, bum cling
"o Shi..."

First and most best tactic for Marines is; watch your back.
Marine's really are both prey and deadly adversatory in AvP, if marine player know's what he/she's doing they are hard to kill. And when playing Marine, you really have some claustrophobic feeling; dark corner's, scary sounds everywhere and no help nowhere. Marine's melee is useful against Alien's which uses only melee; melee em and shoot couple of shotgun rounds to their already big mouths to make it(them) bigger. marine's do have a weakness; usually they rely too much for their motion tracker which doesn't pick up not moving adversaries(<--- did i say it right?), Alien's lurking in a dark corners and Predator's puts marines quickly to rest if they get behind them.
marine's gun's: (which i have tested)
Pulserifle:
pretty good at close - great at medium - good even long disances, huge clip and if it doesn't look good for you, grenade launcer always make's things easier. It's great weapon against one opponent at the time but if it comes to melee range, it doesn't have enough firepower to take down angry predator or Alein fast enough to save you.
Shotgun:
great at close - somewhat bad at medium - useless at long distances, if map where you play is indoors and has lot's of curves, this is a weapon for you, if you shoot a direct hit it staggers(stuns) opponent which makes them easy targets for you.
It does have low ammo clip which makes happy trigger finger people pretty easy prey and against Predators with disc or plasmacaster you should just throw our shotgun to ground and say your prayers.
Sniper rifle (Precision Rifle):
useless at close - not good at medium - great at long distances ONLY if a place where you are is open area.
Flamethrower:
Rebellion, please fix this gun!
It WOULD be great at close - not good at medium - useless at long distances IF it would work.... how so?; cos it doesnt register any hits at all, well couple hits per clip aint much. It would really be great weapon to illuminate dark area and sometimes make living torches out of Alien's.

Predator:
"Help!"
"you heard something?"
"What?"
"Someone is in trouble right behind that 1000 liter highly explosive liquid, let's check it"
"Aight then."
I haven't played big P much, so i can't say much about it. Anyway P's are deadly to Marine's because of Cloak, you still can see cloaked Predator if it's pretty close to you but usually you are already dead if you see him fully uncloaked. P's have unfair advance over their enemies; Thermal and Electromagnetic Visions But then again, Using one of them makes other kind to become almost invisible to P's eyes; if you use Thermal, you can't see Aliens almost at all, and using EMV makes Marines almost invisible, so use them wisely. Cloaking is great at Marine filled areas but if there aren't any, and only Alien's are present, it's useless, P's Jumping ability is somewhat slow to use; you need to find a place where to jump using focus mode and while jumping you can't shoot or swing your wristblades, but using you jump ability to get behind marines and Trophy killing them really is funny
PS. I haven't used a single other weapon's that Predator has (disc, stick, Plasmacaster etc.) so i can't say anything about them. Need to test them before i say anything.

Conclusion:

AvP is a different FPS game compared to other FPS games, you need to figure out different strategies for each species tofully enjoy this game. It does have some bad things, Trophy kill's (USE button masking to get lot's of easy and free kill*s) should really be changed to something else, Headbiting for Alien's really should be same which it was in AvP2 and Alien lifecycle should be in multiplayer to add some extra feeling. Graphics seems great even that this demo uses only Directx9 Dx10 and Dx11 should look awesome. Sound's in AvP sounds great, ambient sounds are awesome even tho there are little of them, small growling and hissing sounds which Alien's make truly sometimes get's your to your toes and Predator's (chuckling?) sounds are great to hear; only if are a Pred. Control's are little hard to understand, cos every species has their own control's which differs from other's pretty much.

oh, and one more thing:

We really need good TAUNT button!
Only one hissing sound for Alien's? c'mon now, it would be great to scare Marine's with more hissing/growling sounds.
Predator's DISTRACT ability? <---- only for SP.
Marine taunt's: None

Point's for this game via demo gameplay:

7/10

If they change Trophy kill menace, adding good taunt button and adding Dedicated server's:

8.5/10



I do have a imo great gamemode in my mind:

HARVESTING:

Two teams:
Marine - Alien

Objective for Marine's:
either to stay alive long as possible or destroy Alien Queen
Objective for Alien's:
Harvest or eradicate marine's (facehugger's if you don't know what Alien harvesting means)

Gameplay:

Maps should be large and long to compensate thing that Queen can't move, have lot's of vent's and dark area's (well... it is a Alien Hive)

Marine's start :
Limited Live's, depends how many marine's there initially is
Other end of the map where they start making their way to deeper and deeper to Queen's chamber. Now and then there are door's and/or obstacles to hinder Marine's steady moving, they need somehow open or move those obstacles to move forward, which makes them easier target's to Alien's.
There would be some checkpoint's which enables dead marine's to start from there instead of from a start (to prevent Spawncamping and and starting from start again)

Alien's start :
Limited or Unlimited lives, could depend what Harvested Marine's do
Alien's start from near marine's to compensate long maps, but still far enough to let Marine's have some free time to move on. to harvest a Marine you could either way to "kill" em and then drag them to nearest Alien egg or weaken them and then somehow disarm them and then dragging them to get hugged.

Winning condisitions:

If both team's manage either to kill Queen or killed/harvested every Marine there is, there should be somekind of points system to declare a winner:

TEAM 1:
As Marine team:
Queen killed: yes --->100 points
Marine Lives left: 5 --->100 points

As Alien team:
Harvested marine's: 13 ---> 130 Point's
Killed Marines: 20 --->40 points
----------------------------------------------------
TEAM 2:
As Marine team:
Queen killed: yes --->100 points
Marine Lives left: 7 --->140 points

As Alien team:
Harvested marine's: 10 ---> 100 Point's
Killed Marines: 25 --->60 points

Team 1: 100 + 100 + 130 + 40 = 370
Team 2: 100 + 140 + 100 + 60 = 400

Team 2 Win's

Why i posted something like this here? I dunno, something just snapped in my head and i wrote this as i made new ideas in my head, it does sound like a INFESTATION Mode but it has different objective's.
Anyway's, Preordered AvP and after playing AvP demo, i still going to buy it even it does have some setbacks.
One thing i don't forgive Rebellion if they don't put them ingame: DEDICATED SERVERS
Some say they will put them ingame, some say they don't, well... we can only wait and see, finger's crossed.
Check your motion tracker's, brush your teeth (in both mouth's), download new driver's to your wristcomputer:
AvP is soon here...

[Chyros]

Demo footage for those who want to take a look. Shows a bunch of trophy kills, the disappointingly short-ranged blowtorch flamethrower and the shotgun which doesn't do very much (though it seems to shoot in single-fire here). Excellent visuals though .