I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to the discussion at Universal that lead to the formation of the Aliens Vs Predator movie. Here’s how I think it would have gone:

Ideas guy: ‘Dude, what about Aliens and Predators in one movie?’

Producer: ‘Man, that would be sick! But they’re not even in the same story universe’

ID: ‘Meh, so what? They did it in games in the 90s. Two of the best and biggest monsters in one movie, it would be epic!’

P: ‘Yeah but we can’t make a movie without a story can we?’

ID: ‘What about: Predators breed Xenomorph Aliens for sport hunting? Make it some sort of Right of Passage or something’

P: ‘Yep, that’d probably work. Game on, I’ll put a writing team together’

And so, the Aliens Vs Predator movie was born and a reboot to the series was initiated. Two of Universal’s biggest monster franchises, combined together into an all out action fest. Yeah, there was a story, well kind of, but the original AVP movie and it’s subsequent sequels have all been about glorious action. I think of them as the balance to all those period dramas and romcoms, which helps me come to terms with spending money to see a film with basically no narrative.

Of course, both Aliens and Predator have seen game-movie tie-ins that predictably have been a little weak. Probably the best of the lot was Alien 3 back in the 16bit era, but the latest in the long list of  franchise game spin offs, Sega’s new Aliens Vs Predator (AvP) is attempting to change that and it’s multiplayer was on show at the Eurogamer Expo in London for hands on.

Character select screen

Given that the movie that the game is loosely based on was all action, you can rest assured that’s the aim of the game too. What could be better than Aliens, Predators and Marines in one game? How about Aliens, Predators and Marines all in one match you ask? Well if that’s something you’ve been craving for with this generation of consoles you can be at ease, because that’s exactly what’s available in AvP.

On board with a Marine

Each character type has it’s own unique abilities. The Marines for instance can fire their assault rifles, whilst the Predator can roam around practically invisible. The party piece of the Aliens has to be their ability to run up and down on pretty much any surface; walls, ceiling and floor, they’re all game. The each player can take charge of any of the three character types, but I can safely say, after my short hands on experience with the game, no one is going to want to be a Marine. In one match one player playing as a Marine literally died every 3 steps. It’s certainly the weakest character in the game and is often the prey for both Predator and Aliens. Ok, they have projectile weapons, but in all honesty it’s pretty difficult to hit something that’s either invisible or lightning quick.

Predator takes a stealth kill

The multiplayer certainly plays fast. It’s a frantic rush of stealth kills and melee attacks that invariably ends in all parties dying just as frequently as they kill. Thankfully however the controls are pretty simple and responsive. You basically get two types of attack, heavy or light and you can run and jump to different extents depending on your character. The Alien is probably the most difficult to control as it’s incredibly fast and jumps orientation rapidly as you transition from floors to walls to ceilings, however keeping the action simple it’s pretty easy to get into the game and we found after a little adjustment that the Alien was just as easy to control as any other character. That I think shows that the team behind AvP has put some real thought into the potentially difficult task of controlling one of the most agile monsters available. Simplicity is however where the multiplayer element of AvP may come short. In our brief brush with the game it was easily apparent that the death match battles became rapidly repetitive, with little variety in confrontations and kills. Ok, with two types of attacks and no changing of weapons what do you expect? However fast and gory the action is, if it’s boring after a few goes you’re unlikely to come back to it.

Alien with a Predator in its sights

Graphically the game looked quite detailed but suffered from a flat looking textures that left something to be desired. Each of the characters were quite detailed, especially in the kill and death sequences. Sneaking up on someone from behind enabled a ’stealth kill’ prompt which when executed launched you at your opponent and played a small in-game animation sequence of the kill. For the Alien it was the traditional, grab the guy and ram it’s tail through their back and out their stomach. For Predator it was the invisible force holding the character before an invisible spear was thrust through their bodies and outlined in their blood. The animations were both satisfying to watch as well as frustrating in the time they took. They are one hit kill type strikes but often in the time it takes to do the animation sequence some opportunistic player can come up behind you and do the same manoeuvre to you whilst you don’t have any control. So I guess it’s something to be savoured and only used when there’s no one around.

Predator take a fate strike from an Alien

Having not had a chance to get any face time with the single player experience, which I understand has three separate story-driven campaigns that intertwine, I can’t say for sure what the whole game is going to turn out like and whether it will best previous offering in the franchise. What I can tell you, baring in mind that this is still a ‘work in progress’, is that the multiplayer has both good points and bad points. It’s obvious that the speed and frantic nature of the game play adds to an exciting multiplayer experience, but that highly repetitive kill sequences and limited combat options makes the multiplayer somewhat boring. If you were taking on some mates, I can see it being a really exciting and competitive experience with lots of trash talking and owning opportunities. Whether playing against randoms across the internet will keep you entertained for long remains to be seen.

[Photo credits to Ben Smith]

The follow up to the wildly popular Xbox 360 and PC game Mass Effect is set to hit the streets in January 26th in America and 29th 2010 in Europe. Mass Effect 2  is set two years after the conclusion of the original having stopped the Reaper invasion, Commander Shepard must join forces with Cerberus, recruiting some of the galaxy’s most dangerous operatives in a bid to find out what’s causing the miraculous vanishing of entire human colonies.

So what does the game handle like? Well it’s unsurprisingly more of the same so fans of the original should be happy. The textures and character models look a little more detailed and the cut scenes look great with highly detailed pre-rendered quicktime events in which you can chose what your character is going to say. What struck me about my time with the game was that the graphics looked really smooth, almost cartoonish in a way, but it might have been the setup they were using, only experience on a familiar system will be tell truthfully. The control scheme is similar to Gears of War with the cover system and firing very similar indeed. Most of the demo was spent sprinting from one piece of cover to another. Accuracy with the weapons in the game was also difficult to achieve, except the targeted rocket launcher that let you paint a target and then fire at them from any angle whilst the rocket was guided to it’s target.

Will Mass Effect 2 top the highly successful and critically acclaimed original, only time will tell, but from our limited hands on, fans of the series won’t be disappointed.

We apologise for not giving you any decent shots of the action but the EA reps were blocking photos and certainly weren’t happy when we tried to capture a few frames.

[Photo credits to Ben Smith]

As a massive fan of the original, I’ve been waiting for the next instalment ever since I stepped out of the Animus. Landing on American shores on the 17th November and PAL regions 20th November, thankfully we don’t have long to wait. Assassin’s Creed II is set in 15th century Italy between 1476 and 1503. The story follows the exploits of a new assassin by the name of Ezio which has him running around Venice, Florence and Tuscany in the same ‘open-world’ type game play as the original.

Assassin’s Creed II hopes to build on the original’s success with a more advanced, dynamic and fluid combat system that allows you to do things like strip your enemy of his weapon and use it against him. You’ll also be able to swim this time and even pilot small boats. The game will also feature a young Leonardo da Vinci, who will aid you in your quests with new-fangled weapons and gismos. The number of mission types has also been boosted by about three-fold, which should please critics that thought Assassin’s Creed to be a tad repetitive.

But enough blurb, what’s it actually like?

Well if you’re a fan of the original you’ll instantly be at home with Assassin’s Creed II. The control style is very similar and has been tweaked to make it more responsive and fluid than the original. Weapon select is now done via a quick select in-game action which makes switching between weapons a hell of a lot easier, especially in the heat of battle. The combat system itself is much improved and the ability to kill two people simultaneously is a huge boon for anyone looking for stealthy kills. Speaking of which, stealth kills are a hell of a lot easier now that you’ve got the ability to action kill people once you’re in the right place without having to select a hidden blade. Finding your target is also easier this time round with pretty obvious and helpful nav-points and highlights indicating your target allowing you to run around like a loony but still keep your target in focus. The ’sync bar’ has also been replaced with a more traditional health bar, which can be refilled using health items or even a quick visit to the doctor. The ability to swim in AC2 has made evading enemies a hell of a lot easier, especially in Venice where a quick dive into the canals can help you escape some nasty scrapes.

Graphically, from what we can see there isn’t that much different. Yes the textures are slightly better and the character models are smoother and have a greater range of animation, but if you didn’t know you were looking at the sequel you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the original.

Overall, do I think AC2 is going to be as big a hit as the original, yes more than likely. Is it revolutionary? No. Does it fix some of the flaws of the original, yes, they’ve certainly listened to the feedback from gamers and tweaked the form and function of the game to give it more variety. Watch out for Assassin’s Creed 2 on Xbox 360 & PS3, if you’re a fan of the first instalment, I think this is a definite purchase.

We apologise for not giving you any decent shots of the action but the Ubisoft reps were blocking photos and certainly weren’t happy when we tried to capture a few frames.

[Photo credits to Ben Smith]

We’re here and reporting live from the Eurogamer Expo in London. On show are some of the most exciting games to come out in the first half of next year and we’ve got some hands-on coming up for you shortly so stay tuned.

[Photo credits to Ben Smith]

Yours truly will be reporting from the London leg of the Eurogamer Expo this Saturday 31st October, bringing you the latest news and previews from one of Europe’s largest games exhibitions. The Eurogamer Expo, London, is a total sell out with 16+ different publishers showing off over 50 different titles, many with a 2010 release schedule including the first UK showings of:

• Aliens vs. Predator
• Assassin’s Creed II
• God of War III
• MAG
• Heavy Rain
• Left 4 Dead 2’s Scavenge Mode
• Mass Effect 2
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• Red Steel 2
• Split/Second

All of which will be playable.

So if you’re unlucky enough not to have snagged a ticket for either Leeds or London, then don’t worry because we got your covered.

All coverage of the Eurogamer Expo on Pixelated Geek can be found here.