The Alien (Xenomorph)

Overview

The Alien is definitely the most unique character in the game. You've got no distance weapons, and you can take the least amount of damage out of all the classes, so you're blessed with many other abilities to balance that out. The Alien is by far the fastest of all the three classes, and you can run on walls and ceilings which give you access to many parts of levels that the Marine and Predator cannot get to. Running around with an Alien is probably the most challenging aspect of Aliens vs. Predator; trying to control your natural speed while running on walls and ceilings is tough! It's really hard to maintain a sense of direction - I found myself stopping often to try and get my bearings before continuing, which is probably bad because the Alien's best trait is its speed.

Is that a human health pack?

No more!

Fisheye

The Alien vision mode can be very dizzying even when standing still - the world looks as if it was in a fisheye, or fishbowl mode. Quake players, try turning FOV up to 110 or 120 and you'll have the basic idea. You can see more of your surroundings but depth perception is a bit screwy. At least, the Alien has the ability to always see Marines and Predators and other Aliens. Since the Alien hunts by sensing pheromones, there is no hiding from an Alien! Every organism gives off a colored halo. For low light situations, the Alien has the Navigate mode of vision which allows it to see for short distances in utter darkness. However, this vision mode makes you literally short sighted, and interferes with your pheromone detection. You'll literally run into enemies before you know they're there!

The aliens' navigation mode

Normal mode

Killing machine

Alien weapons are pretty simple. Hand claws for scratching, and a tail to whip out in front of you. Aliens do double damage if you can attack from the rear so always run around to the back if possible. Since Aliens don't pick up weapons or armor, they have a neat way of getting more health. Remember the movie, where the little mini head pops out of the Aliens' mouths and snap at things? If you center a Marine's or a Predator's head in your sights, your jaws will envelope the screen. Hit attack, and your jaw will snap out and take off the head! This gives you extra health, plenty if you can actually do it to a live enemy.

Blood decals on walls

I see a predator