The Internet has been a-buzzin’ lately about the totally great-looking Aliens game due out in a couple of months, so I thought this might be a good opportunity to post Mike Zeller’s piece on the last good Aliens game. (Unless you count Metroid Fusion, which is a totally valid interpretation.) I discovered Capcom’s Alien Vs. Predator two years ago in Japan, and it is marvelously fun. Sure, you’re just walking straight ahead punching things, but that’s half the games these days anyway.
I always hold that the appeal of a beat-em-up lies totally in its license… for me personally, at least. That’s why ‘great’ examples like Streets of Rage 2 I find boring, and that’s why I really like poor examples of the genre, like Captain America.
Either there’s more locales than the Sulaco, or the presence of that Space Jockey is….uhhh…huh. Odd and curious at least.
I used to absolutely love this game. I played it so much I got really close to 1 crediting it once. Unfortunately it was on summer camp where we stopped at an arcade next door to the cinema to wait for the film. Was dragged away from the machine. When I was asked if I wanted to see Batman Forever or stay there playing the game I guess the guy wasn’t expecting ‘nah I’ll stay here, seen it already and it was shit’.
One thing I find interesting is that there are various ways to play through this game. It is actually possible to just gun everything down from a distance with each character’s special weapon if reloading times are carefully managed. Or you can play with Lynn and create super long close-quarters combos. She has the most and longest combos, as well as special moves. My favorite two:
-hold Attack down (energy charge), Down + Jump (slide kick), Forward Forward (katana slice), release Attack (Hadoken).
-Jump forward, Down + Attack right after jumping (downward katana stab sends enemy into air), Forward + Attack next to enemy in air (air grab + ground slam, most damaging move in the game).
Oh, and another useless bit of trivia. The human male character is actually Arnold’s same character from Predator, Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer.
Was that not mentioned in the article? Huh.
Man, that game is pretty much the best beat ’em up. I’d kill for a port.
Linn Kurosawa is always my top candidate whenever Capcom brings out a new Versus game.
This Japanese guy’s run of the game, aptly titled “Linn Acrobatic Show,” is a thing of pure beauty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugUTz3jkfgM