Graphics

Changing vision

Graphics in AvP are quite good, but by no means earth shattering. Probably the best thing about the visuals is Rebellion's use of darkness, lighting, and shadows. Much of the game is played inside of dark corridors, which forces you to use your night vision modes a lot. Some people seem to hate this, because the night vision modes each carry some significant disadvantages, but I felt that the darkness of all the levels fit well with the theme and added a lot to the overall atmosphere of Aliens vs. Predator. I haven't been this frightened in a game since Half-Life or Thief!

Lights can blind you

There's one now!

Bloody bits

The engine uses the Direct3D engine and requires that you have a Direct3D accelerator. Performance is good, even with more modest setups, like say, a 266MHz processor and a Voodoo 2. The marine characters don't look all that detailed in this engine, but the Rebellion artists did a standup job on rendering the Alien and the Predator characters. Combat is quite bloody and gory, just like the movies. You'll see limbs and body parts flying all over the place, with a lot of quivering death animations. If you're good with the Predator spear gun you can detach a Marine's head and pin it to the wall! One thing that disappointed me a little bit is that the dead bodies don't remain on the ground very long (though blood spatter does), and when they disappear they melt into the ground, Turok style. Call me quirky, but that was a touch I just don't care for at all.

Head for some health - get it?

Just another day