advertisement

Real Time Strategy (RTS) games have been sparse within the console market, having traditionally been the domain of the 'PC gamer'. The 'point-click-drag-drop' style of control is perfectly suited to using a mouse, but rarely can this method be replicated on a controller with the same finesse. Sacrifices are to be expected.

What is good though, is that EA have obviously put a large amount of time and effort into ensuring that the controls in Aliens vs Predator are very user friendly. While they're not perfect, they never will be with a controller rather than a mouse, they are intuitive and quite easy to get to grips with. More on this later.

The game is set on planet LV-742, and you get to choose between three different species – Colonial Marines, Aliens, and Predators – with the ultimate goal being to wipe out all opposition. Unlike many RTS games on the PC, Aliens vs Predator focuses less on resource management, more on tactical action, which is a good thing for those who tire of mining, gathering, or chopping down trees! That said though, you do have to earn cash in order to request more troops or weapon upgrades. Earning cash is as simple as dispatching enemies or repairing one of the many broken down atmosphere processors on the planet.

Each species has a variety of flavours to choose from, with many differing attributes amongst them. With the marines for instance, you start with infantry, medics, synthetics and communications technicians. Infantry are your front-line soldiers, medics can heal the wounded, synthetics are faster and can carry larger items such as stationary guns, with comm-techs having the ability to requisition more units or call in guided airstrikes.

As you can probably gather, the comm-tech is one of the most important marine units in the game. Once they're gone, you are unable to order any new troops so it pays to keep them safe. Each level also has a maximum number of units allowed at any one time, so not only are you limited by the amount of cash you have, or don't have, you can't build a massive army and then simply overrun the enemy either. Careful management of your team is imperative in order to survive, but the lack of serious resource management allows you to concentrate more on your troops, be they man or beast.

Talking of beasts, there are some pretty cool variations in each of the Predator, Alien and Marine camps. Several combat units and a number of upgrades feature, but also units of a more specialized nature. The variety of these is excellent, and while not all of them are initially available, progressing through the missions sees more becoming available throughout the game.

The differences between each of the species is really very extreme, so it is worthwhile playing each to see what these differences are. It is interesting how they relate to each other too - if marines have particularly low health, they fall into a coma. When in this state they are prone to having an Alien Facehugger impregnate them with their offspring. After exiting the host, these charming newborns are known as 'transbreeds', and go into a 'combat-frenzy' when close to their alien queen. The type of transbreed is determined by the type of host, be they human, predator, or otherwise. So the many diverse unit choices and how they interact with each other certainly show how much effort has gone into creating a decent balance between them.