The Alien campaign is possibly the simplest of all, but it does require a lot of careful planning to get through alive. As an Alien bred in captivity, Specimen 6 has only one objective in mind: escape and free the queen. Naturally, it isn’t long before an opportunity arises, and Specimen 6 escapes, taking the shadows and eviscerating anything that gets in the way of his goal. While the Alien is lethal up close, it’s also incredibly fragile, and must attack from the shadows and take down opponents quickly and avoid getting caught in front of an enemy with a weapon. Luckily, the Alien can jump incredibly high and run on the walls and ceiling, making this kind of guerrilla tactics possible. This time round, the developers have also included the ability for the Alien to home in on vent shafts and other small holes, making it far easier to dash quickly into them just like in the movies. In the previous games, it was possible to miss and run up a wall or something instead, so this is a nice inclusion.
The only real drawback here is that the campaigns are quite short, even when taken altogether, and some players might find the gameplay rather basic, with a lack of background interactivity and interest in anything but the current objective. There is a single player survivor mode, where a lone marine must fend off as many waves of enemies as possible, and the online multiplayer in which players can compete against each other as Marines, Aliens and Predators, which might add varying degrees of play value for some players.
With all of this in mind, a recommendation is tricky. If you’re a fan of the Alien or Predator movies – or, heaven forbid, the Alien versus Predator movies – and you fancy a delve into those dimly-lit worlds for a good few frights and some blasting action, then it hard not to recommend, as short as it is. The game looks fantastic and has buckets of atmosphere for players with imagination to drink up. On the other hand, if you want a fair amount of play time and ground-breaking play mechanics for your R700, then you might want to look elsewhere.
