Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem Hot

I almost bought a Jaguar. You see, Alien vs. Predator was released for the system in 1994 and, along with Tempest 2000, nearly justified owning the system.  I didn't know about the comic books, so the very proposition of Aliens and Predators (and Space Marines!) satisfying their seemingly insatiable bloodlust by fighting each other was mind blowing.  I didn’t play the game until recently, but I did see the first AvP film in 2004.  After it was over, the overwhelming disappointment nearly matched that of the new Star Wars films.  Sure, it wasn't a complete failure, but it just felt like, given the source material, such a waste of an opportunity.  Hearing 2007's holiday timed sequel, Requiem, was actually worse, I decided to preserve the sanctity of Christmas and skip its theatrical run.  Of course, just like in real life, one cannot escape from Aliens or Predators, and I'm charged with the task of reviewing the PSP exclusive title based (somewhat) on the film. 

If it bleeds, we can kill it

As a Predator, your mission is based around three objectives; annihilate any Aliens on site, destroy any identifiable remains on your crashed ship, and try to avoid contact with humans as you proceed through the levels.  This is complicated by the fact that parts of your crashed ship are everywhere and both the Aliens and humans are dead set on killing you.  Actually, "complicated" isn't the right word there, because Requiem is probably the easiest game I've ever played.  The location for the missing ship parts is pinpointed on your map, and general combat is probably the most challengeless void of any PSP action title.  Not only do most of your weapons auto-lock on to their target, but the Aliens and humans usually drop like rocks on contact. 

I suppose the availability of weapons and endless forces of Aliens are supposed to be kept in check by your health and energy bars, but these are equally inept at providing any shred of difficulty.  Health is comprised of multiple bars and will instantly start regenerating (up to the nearest bar) a few seconds after conflict has ended.  Your weapon power bar fills all the way back up almost instantly, which makes taking out hordes of Aliens a joke.  This is compounded by the ability to completely refill your health bar by expending your energy bar, basically rendering you as an unstoppable badass.  I mean, I get it, the Predator is awesome and probably should be an elite killing machine, but that doesn't exactly translate over to a compelling gameplay experience.

If nothing else, I definitely have to give it to the developers for staying close to the Predator side of the source material.  From the get-go you have access to your mirrored invisibility, three different types of vision, super razor claws, and the nifty auto-tracking shoulder cannon.  As the game proceeds you're thankfully granted to option of shurikens, spears, more cannons, and the almighty lethal throwing discs of death.  Unrestricted access to such wonderful toys and the promise of using them against the infinite hoards of Aliens sounds like a fanboy's dream.  "So," you ask, "what can I do with all of these goodies?" 

Not much.   You'd think that access to a streamlined cache of advanced technology would make for some interested gameplay devices or, at the very least, a few righteous kills, but it all feels like a waste.  Oh sure, the different visions are cool to mess around with and all the weapons are fully functional, but they eschew the opportunity to fundamentally change the gameplay.  There are few instances where one specific weapon is necessary and, if you wanted to, you could pretty much shoulder cannon it through the entire game.  A third person action title should have a multitude of use for things like infrared vision, invisibility, and other advanced alien weaponry but, save the invisibility, it's all fluff.

Come on! Kill me! I'm here! Come on! Do it now!

You can sort of tell the developers may have approached the limits of the gameplay and, as a result, tried to extend it as best they could.  One notable addition, honor points, can be used to upgrade your already powerful weapons.  These can be acquired by pre-targeting an Alien before you actually shoot, or destroying smaller face huggers.  Level selection offers a reasonable amount of choice, giving you the option of selecting branching paths, but they all lead to the same conclusion.  This slight hint of openness is appreciated, but ultimately comes up short in its goal to provide the player with options.

There are a couple of bonus modes outside the main narrative.  Skirmish, which functions as an arena/kill-as-many-as-you-can battle in the give time limit, is mildly amusing.  There's plenty of needless combat in the main game and, honestly, I'm not sure why you would want more, but it's there if you enjoy it.  Multiplayer is essentially the same thing, with you and a friend competing to see who can slay the most bugs.  Why you can't fight each other feels like a missed opportunity, but I suppose one mode is better than none.

While the gameplay may be tired and needlessly archaic, the presentation does its best to make strides above the pits of mediocrity.  The art design is at least somewhat competent, with varied architecture in a host of different environments.  The suburban, industrial, and underground areas conform to their traditional videogame archetypes, but don't expect anything too flashy.  While there is a reasonable level of detail (it was nice to see your claws actually leaving scratch marks on the wall, for example), nothing was particularly extraordinary; the fire looks good but not great, the lighting is interesting in places but it's far from, dynamic, and the color pallet has some interesting hues, but it all runs together in some sort of blue/green filter.  Maybe this was to keep in check with the movie, I don't know, but there's definitely an omnipresent feeling of sameness.