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[aegies]

The thing is, anyone trashing this game is ridiculous. This game has good production values. The three campaigns offer different gameplay. The multiplayer is fun, though how long that will last needs to be seen with more people online playing.

I mean sometimes trashy reviews are just that trashy. I mean we can go over and over this again about how some reviewers click with games and don't, some get paid (or not who knows), etc, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter. Its a little number at the end of some text. Play the game, form an opinion, express said opinion if you want. Though it really grinds my gears when people jump on review bandwagons just because a "professional" reviewer comes out and says the game is shit or weak.

I mean hell I know I don't get paid to play games, but I've played games since I was 5 years old, I've written for a few online fan based publications, I do youtube video reviews, and what makes these professionals any better at this then me aside from maybe more funding, money, etc for video editing and what not? NOTHING!

It does NOT have good production values. DOES NOT. The only way you're getting anything remotely resembling the screens they've been sending out is with a PC running them at maxed, there are about 6 marine models, every character in the game suffers from some pretty underwhelming geometry, the framerate drops to shit on 360 frequently, the Aliens animate inconsistently, and the game underwhelms.

It sounds like your arguments are actually motivated by the idea that you could do what those game critic douches do easy-like, so why should you listen to their opinions? If that's the case, I strongly urge you to keep doing it. But that doesn't invalidate my (or Gamespot'ss, or Game Informer's, or Gamespy's, or IGN's, et al) opinion. I've played a ton of games in the last year, and AVP is near the bottom of the list. The nicest thing I can say about it reading this thread is that it isn't Rogue Warrior.

 

[BattleMonkey]

"Such awful reviews! game is a disappointment."

But people really aren't saying this. It's gotten some mediocre and bad reviews, of course it's going to concern people, but overall people are not going "zomg this game is shit". If anything it seems like more people are being overly defensive.

 

[ArjanN]

Ah, we're back to this. Reviewers are "trashing" a game because they "weren't paid off" to write a glowing review. That's the biggest pile of bullshit, and it makes you sound like an insane conspiracy theorist.

He never said that. He just said Gamespot has no crediblity anymore.

Not to mention all the people who actually mattered left Gamespot after that incident.

 

[aegies]

:lol
This isn't conspiracy. It was a giant issue a couple years back when Kane and Lynch released and one of the core editors at Gamespot resigned/quit/fired because of this bullshit that happened.

http://www.destructoid.com/rumor-ga...e-eidos-w-r-hearst-rolls-in-grave-56683.phtml

An internet meme which was never proven, and never will be. I understand that it's touted like religion around here, but given that I'm pretty sure you weren't there when it happened, you don't actually know what went down. Was it shady? Yeah. That doesn't suddenly indict the entire press. If you want to criticize writing in mainstream game coverage, or the lack of well-thought out opinions that go beyond press releases, fine, I'm with you. But accusing a site of reviewing a game poorly because SEGA didn't pay up makes you sound like the one with issues.

 

[chespace]

An internet meme which was never proven, and never will be. I understand that it's touted like religion around here, but given that I'm pretty sure you weren't there when it happened, you don't actually know what went down. Was it shady? Yeah. That doesn't suddenly indict the entire press. If you want to criticize writing in mainstream game coverage, or the lack of well-thought out opinions that go beyond press releases, fine, I'm with you. But accusing a site of reviewing a game poorly because SEGA didn't pay up makes you sound like the one with issues.

Reviewers are just paid fanboys with a bias and an agenda (but only if they shit on your favorite things). Get with the times Gies.

 

[Unicorn]

An internet meme which was never proven, and never will be. I understand that it's touted like religion around here, but given that I'm pretty sure you weren't there when it happened, you don't actually know what went down. Was it shady? Yeah. That doesn't suddenly indict the entire press. If you want to criticize writing in mainstream game coverage, or the lack of well-thought out opinions that go beyond press releases, fine, I'm with you. But accusing a site of reviewing a game poorly because SEGA didn't pay up makes you sound like the one with issues.

You obviously don't know what a meme is.

I'm discrediting the Gamespot review because that have no credibility. Not to mention their reviews are shoddy and I don't agree with them on a whole. Whether it's poor writing or different interests, I don't care about gamespot reviews because there's other outlets I CAN read, and trust.

 

[SlasherJPC]

Gamefly sent this out today, the demo was awesome and I haven't read anything about the singleplayer yet so hopefully it isn't just bot matches ala Shadowrun.

I knew someone was going to post that pic! :lol :lol :lol

 

[plagiarize]

It does NOT have good production values. DOES NOT. The only way you're getting anything remotely resembling the screens they've been sending out is with a PC running them at maxed, there are about 6 marine models, every character in the game suffers from some pretty underwhelming geometry, the framerate drops to shit on 360 frequently, the Aliens animate inconsistently, and the game underwhelms.

i haven't played the console version outside a couple of goes on the demo, but is it really that bad? it ran very well on mid end PCs even with everything turned up full. smooth framerate... really detailed models and textures... great animation on the aliens espescially...

maybe it's just versions, but the demo i played was pretty damn impressive technically, and i know the nit pickers over at Lens of Truth and Beyond 3D's forums felt the same way... so it isn't just me.

and to say that even on a high end pc you'll only be getting something 'remotely resembling' the screens is complete nonsense.

how many marine models are there in Halo 3? i honestly don't know so if it's dozens and dozens let me know, but i sure saw the same few marines over and over again.

and again, how could they have properly reviewed the multiplayer? you think they'd give 18 staffers a day to test all the different modes just so the guy writing the review would have a decent idea how each mode played as each character?

even if we go with that, then they never tested the net code.

i don't blame reviewers for that kind of thing. the pressure is on them to have the review done before release, and that means that there's just no way they can play the game in the same environment we all will.

a game like this with so many modes and permutations... it took me a week of playing the demo for an hour or more a day to start to get to grips with one of the characters comfortably.

it's fair to say in your review that you have to be prepared to deal with a pretty hefty learning curve... but there's no way the Gamespot reviewer spent as long playing the MP in the full game as I did in the demo... and i only really feel like it's all starting to click now for one map on deathmatch.

do you know how i know that for a fact? because he spent two minutes of his time writing up his multiplayer experiences, and he spent the rest of his time focussed on the single player.

why do you think he barely mentioned the MP and talked at length about the SP? because he talked about what he could... and it isn't his FAULT the environment to properly test the MP didn't exist before the game was released... or that he had to turn his review in before he could properly test it...

but that doesn't mean that all of us that love the MP in the demo have no cause for pointing this out on a thread that will ultimately help some people decide if they want to buy the game or not.

you want to know how the single player is, read the reviews or wait for your friends and other gamers to spend some time with ti.

you want to know how the multiplayer is? talk to the people that spent all that time with the demo, because i'd bet you that they've played more MP than the Gameinformer or Gamespot reviewers did. whether they liked it or hated it, i'd take the opinions of gaffers who actually gave the MP a few hours over any of these print reviews... that just haven't had a real world experience of playing the MP.

 

[SlasherJPC]

It sounds like your arguments are actually motivated by the idea that you could do what those game critic douches do easy-like, so why should you listen to their opinions? If that's the case, I strongly urge you to keep doing it. But that doesn't invalidate my (or Gamespot'ss, or Game Informer's, or Gamespy's, or IGN's, et al) opinion. I've played a ton of games in the last year, and AVP is near the bottom of the list. The nicest thing I can say about it reading this thread is that it isn't Rogue Warrior.

Well I do keep doing what I do. I actually have a fan base of a couple thousand, but the thing is I do this for leisure. As for production value, I still think it run fine. I don't understand how your getting these crayz framerate drops. I've noticed hardly any. Also I play almost every damn release on the 360. Check my acheivements list. (slasherjpc) You'll see. So don't go acting like I'm just pulling this stuff out of my ass and only play a select few games a year. Also for you to even bring up Rogue Warrior in the same statement is stupid. This game is leagues above that peice of shit.

i haven't played the console version outside a couple of goes on the demo, but is it really that bad? it ran very well on mid end PCs even with everything turned up full. smooth framerate... really detailed models and textures... great animation on the aliens espescially...

It runs fine, this guys has a stick up his pooper! I guess if you wanted a game where every character you kill has a different face, then this game wouldn't be for you.

 

[panda21]

:lol
This isn't conspiracy. It was a giant issue a couple years back when Kane and Lynch released and one of the core editors at Gamespot resigned/quit/fired because of this bullshit that happened.

http://www.destructoid.com/rumor-ga...e-eidos-w-r-hearst-rolls-in-grave-56683.phtml

except you have it backwards, eidos paid them a lot for adverts and were pissed when they (rightly) gave it a shitty score. so if anything its in their interest to score things higher than they should.

the idea that the k/l incident means that they have a secret motivation to rate games badly makes no sense, because thats exactly the opposite of what happened with that, and if you think the exact same shit doesnt happen with the sites giving it good scores.. (IGN? lol)

(before i get crucified i'm not passing judgement on the game, just the attitude towards the reviews)

 

[Pimpbaa]

Reviewers are just paid fanboys with a bias and an agenda (but only if they shit on your favorite things). Get with the times Gies.

Well their opinions are no better than yours, mine, or anyone else on gaf. The only difference is they get paid for their opinion. Sometimes they can be fanboys or have a bias, but not all (hopefully).

 

[luka]

The lighting in the first marine level is fantastic. Voice acting is meh, but we already knew that. Shame anti-aliasing is DX11 only.

EDIT: Wow, the first alien I fought after getting the pulse rifle killed me. On normal. I wasn't expecting them to do that much damage. I am shame.

 

[adamsapple]

Is this a game to have if i'm just intending to play through the story campaigns and not bother with the multiplayer at all ?

I absolutely loved AvP2's campaigns btw.

 

[MMaRsu]

Wow at the people with an agenda against this game. It's awesome.

 

[brain_stew]

The lighting in the first marine level is fantastic. Voice acting is meh, but we already knew that. Shame anti-aliasing is DX11 only.

Screens, now!!

Does the game not support hardware msaa on DX10 hardware under the DX11 codepath? There's nothing Remedy could do about hardware MSAA in DX9, the game uses MRT, so its incompatible with hardware MSAA under DX9 like a bunch of other titles. Does the final game not have the shader based AA that was in the demo?

 

[plagiarize]

The lighting in the first marine level is fantastic. Voice acting is meh, but we already knew that. Shame anti-aliasing is DX11 only.

EDIT: Wow, the first alien I fought after getting the pulse rifle killed me. On normal. I wasn't expecting them to do that much damage. I am shame.

man i'm itching to get this installed and do those comparisons.

it's days like this that let me know that i am a geek.

no, it's more than that.

i am geek.

i should play the game first, but i can't. the demo didn't let you mess about with settings or anything... and it didn't provide an easy arena in which to get screens and compare stuff etc.

it didn't give me DX11 and this is the game i wanted to have my pc upgraded to DX11 for... so i really want to see if it shows similar improvements to Dirt 2 (which I personally think looks a lot better in DX11 because of the full resolution shading and the water tesselation, but the flags and crowd are completely irrelevant).

i'm hoping the geometry tesselation will be more obvious since you'll be creeping down corridors... but at this point who knows? grargh.... ten more minutes till i get out of here...

 

[SlasherJPC]

EDIT: Wow, the first alien I fought after getting the pulse rifle killed me. On normal. I wasn't expecting them to do that much damage. I am shame.

Just wait till you have to hold out against a handful of em! :lol Boxers stained brown=confirmed!

 

[TheExodu5]

It does NOT have good production values. DOES NOT.

Personally I think it looks and runs really well on PC. This really does seem like a PC game, first and foremost. Maxing out the demo at 1680*1050, I averaged around 100-120fps and never dropped below 70fps. The game might not be the best in the animation department, but otherwise, I think it looks great. The game is incredibly atmospheric.

This game really appeals to me with its visuals. I'm one that hates bloom, and all the other IQ destroying techniques used in games today. This game sticks to the essentials and uses them very well. The only complain I might have is that shadowing is not prominent enough...the game could be made a little more atmospheric (Doom3'ish) with some heavier shadowing.

 

[plagiarize]

Screens, now!!

Does the game not support hardware msaa on DX10 hardware under the DX11 codepath? There's nothing Remedy could do about hardware MSAA in DX9, the game uses MRT, so its incompatible with hardware MSAA under DX9 like a bunch of other titles. Does the final game not have the shader based AA that was in the demo?

as far as i know the PC demo didn't have the shader based AA, just the 360 demo... it's just the FSAO and for the aliens at least, the line around the characters really took the edge off the jaggies. i took probably thousands of screens and didn't see a drop of AA wherever I looked.

i'll be doing IQ analysis ASAP!

 

[randomwab]

Wow at the people with an agenda against this game. It's awesome.

This thread is turning awesome. As you say, the people with an agenda against the game going head to head with the people defending the shit out of the game. This is the Gaming side of GAF that I love.

Oh, and got anyone outside of the US who preordered the game on Steam, you can preload the game right now. Some guys on the Steam forums figured out how. I've got it downloading in the background at the minute.

 

[plagiarize]

Personally I think it looks and runs really well on PC. This really does seem like a PC game, first and foremost. Maxing out the demo at 1680*1050, I averaged around 100-120fps and never dropped below 70fps. The game might not be the best in the animation department, but otherwise, I think it looks great. The game is incredibly atmospheric.

This game really appeals to me with its visuals. I'm one that hates bloom, and all the other IQ destroying techniques used in games today. This game sticks to the essentials and uses them very well. The only complain I might have is that shadowing is not prominent enough...the game could be made a little more atmospheric (Doom3'ish) with some heavier shadowing.

have you seen videos of the flares in use?

you're going to love the flares.

 

[TheExodu5]

as far as i know the PC demo didn't have the shader based AA, just the 360 demo... it's just the FSAO and for the aliens at least, the line around the characters really took the edge off the jaggies. i took probably thousands of screens and didn't see a drop of AA wherever I looked.

i'll be doing IQ analysis ASAP!

Hah, looking back on my screens, I'm surprised to see that you're right. There is no AA in the PC demo. What's so odd is that it's completely unnoticeable in motion. I cannot see the jaggies in game at all. I'm guessing it's probably due to the motion blur.

From the demo:

Definitely no AA in that shot.

have you seen videos of the flares in use?

you're going to love the flares.

 

[plagiarize]

ah screw it. whats the harm in leaving work two minutes early?

 

[Easy_D]

man i'm itching to get this installed and do those comparisons.

it's days like this that let me know that i am a geek.

no, it's more than that.

i am geek.

i should play the game first, but i can't. the demo didn't let you mess about with settings or anything... and it didn't provide an easy arena in which to get screens and compare stuff etc.

it didn't give me DX11 and this is the game i wanted to have my pc upgraded to DX11 for... so i really want to see if it shows similar improvements to Dirt 2 (which I personally think looks a lot better in DX11 because of the full resolution shading and the water tesselation, but the flags and crowd are completely irrelevant).

i'm hoping the geometry tesselation will be more obvious since you'll be creeping down corridors... but at this point who knows? grargh.... ten more minutes till i get out of here...

I thought the tesselation used in the game was just to add extra detail to the models, not the enviromnent?

 

[TheExodu5]

Here's my favorite shot from the demo.

Extremely nice character textures.

 

[luka]

Screens, now!!

Does the game not support hardware msaa on DX10 hardware under the DX11 codepath? There's nothing Remedy could do about hardware MSAA in DX9, the game uses MRT, so its incompatible with hardware MSAA under DX9 like a bunch of other titles. Does the final game not have the shader based AA that was in the demo?

No AA for DX10 at all. I haven't tried forcing it at a driver level yet.

I'm pretty pleased how tough aliens actually are. I was expecting this game to be a cakewalk compared to the original. They're tricky little bastards.

 

[Sullen]

Why are people painting this as a bad thing? That sounds just about the best news about the game I could hear, the controls in your average FPS have devolved considerably in recent years, going back to what actually worked well in the first place is cause for major celebration imo.

Something I've been saying for some time as well. That 'criticism' is what made me even more interested in the game.

 

[TheExodu5]

Nice shots luka. Game looks fan-friggin-tastic. Those lightmaps are hot shit. Very atmospheric.

Really would love to see some shots with AA. Hopefully it can be enabled with nHancer. Not that I would use it in game if it dropped my performance...like I said the jaggies really are not noticeable in gameplay (at least not in the demo level). Still...the game would look really nice in bullshot mode.

 

[luka]

A few more. Aliens are so quiet and can so easily sneak up on you without you noticing.

 

[Unicorn]

except you have it backwards, eidos paid them a lot for adverts and were pissed when they (rightly) gave it a shitty score. so if anything its in their interest to score things higher than they should.

the idea that the k/l incident means that they have a secret motivation to rate games badly makes no sense, because thats exactly the opposite of what happened with that, and if you think the exact same shit doesnt happen with the sites giving it good scores.. (IGN? lol)

(before i get crucified i'm not passing judgement on the game, just the attitude towards the reviews)

Not IGN.
As I said earlier, find reviewers you agree with a majority of the time, through the good and the bad. For me, Destructoid is spot on really fucking often, Giant Bomb is a nice back up, and Rock Paper Shotgun is great for previews and interviews. GAF is also a nice source of input, but not when it comes down to saying this game has low production values, when quite clearly it doesn't. Character models are phenomenal, even if it is just a dozen. I'll take a dozen well done models to a shitton of ugly ones. The lighting is fantastic. Flares are really cool. Gives Starbreeze a run for their lighting money (Chronicles of Riddick games). Gameplay is tight with a sorta steep learning curve for everyone but marines. And I like it like that. That's a lot of the replay value is finding new tricks to pull off as an Alien.


I've mentioned before, but i'll say it again. The people that want to play this game will get it and the ones on the fence or flat out have no interest will not get this game. It's got a small audience, but an audience that loves the source material and Rebellion has nailed it. I get the creepy vibe I had as a kid growing up with Predator when I play as them. The Thermal Vision is soooo well done, and the subtle sounds are fantastic. The elephant screech of the Aliens is a trigger to nostalgia as well, but it's the gameplay that ties it all together.

 

[plagiarize]

I thought the tesselation used in the game was just to add extra detail to the models, not the enviromnent?

the demonstration that was up on youtube had it adding detail into the organic alien hive stuff that you see a bunch of in the demo MP level.

and fuck the haters... beautiful PC screens show the graphics to be what they really are.

awesome.

 

[Neuromancer]

A failure to tread any new ground thematically or even current ground mechanically dooms Aliens vs. Predator to a place in the collections of only the most die-hard fans of the universe, who will play through the game once and relegate it to the same shelf of shame occupied by their AVP Requiem DVDs.

Ouch

I am still very interested in this game but am now thinking I'll wait for the price to drop a little as a result of the mixed reviews. (If I hadn't gotten Section 8 last week and wasn't still having such a good time with it, I'd have gotten this despite anyway.)

 

[Stitch]

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/5...dicated-Server-Available-In-The-Next-Few-Days

A beta version of Aliens vs. Predator's PC Dedicated Server Files will made available through Steam "in the next few days."

Rebellion are busy preparing the dedicated server for the Aliens vs. Predator community. We hope to have a beta release with reduced functionality out in the next few days and further updates to improve functionality and fix bugs over the next few weeks.

The files will be available to download from the “Tools” tab in the Steam client and will be a free download.

In the meantime, either blast through the single-player campaign, or put up with the atrocious peer-to-peer matchmaking.

Why isn't this shit already in the game?

 

[Unicorn]

the demonstration that was up on youtube had it adding detail into the organic alien hive stuff that you see a bunch of in the demo MP level.

Yeah. the Tessellation stuff is really intriguing.

For those not sure what it's all about, here's a pretty interesting collection of comparison shots (not AvP).

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/11/06/unigine_heaven_benchmark_dx11_tessellation/

Comparisons toward the bottom of the page.

 

[TheExodu5]

Really nice FAQ at the Steam forums. Should highlight most technical issues people might have with the game:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1148936

 

[plagiarize]

Ouch

and yet another review that completely disregards multiplayer it would seem.

 

[Unicorn]

Ouch

I am still very interested in this game but am now thinking I'll wait for the price to drop a little as a result of the mixed reviews. (If I hadn't gotten Section 8 last week and wasn't still having such a good time with it, I'd have gotten this despite anyway.)

Odd, because Section 8 had even more mixed reviews, and the lows were more often than the highs...

 

[Pimpbaa]

A failure to tread any new ground thematically or even current ground mechanically dooms Aliens vs. Predator to a place in the collections of only the most die-hard fans of the universe, who will play through the game once and relegate it to the same shelf of shame occupied by their AVP Requiem DVDs.

Don't tell me what I will do or won't do with a game. Don't tell me if it's worth the money. Just tell me what you like or don't like about a game. God damn I hate reviews like this, wording it like their opinion is fact.

 

[luka]

Last batch of screens for now:

Comparing this to the shitpile that is avp requiem..wow. :lol

I'm seeing a few AI failures here and there, an alien gets caught on a rail and can't figure out what to do until i shoot him off, and I saw an alien runs in place on the ceiling for a bit. Kind of annoying, but considering the complexity of movement it has to deal with it's not too bad.

 

[brain_stew]

Damn, those screenshots are hot sex. Definitely seems like a lot of effort has went into the PC version. Hows performance?

 

[plagiarize]

i know they reviewed the 360 version... but i just can't look at these graphics and think 'competent'.

 

[brain_stew]

i know they reviewed the 360 version... but i just can't look at these graphics and think 'competent'.

Same, as far as I'm concerned the demo was one of the most impressive looking games I've played in a long while and that was running in DX9 mode and ran smooth as butter.

 

[erpg]

Someone had a little bad taste left over after seeing Requiem, and decided to be sour.

 

[plagiarize]

Someone had a little bad taste left over after seeing Requiem, and decided to be sour.

Requiem was two hours of my life I want back. I think I played the demo for 15 hours as a minimum and had a blast.

Ho hum. not everyone has the same opinions.

 

[Pimpbaa]

Damn, those screenshots are hot sex. Definitely seems like a lot of effort has went into the PC version. Hows performance?

Them putting in a DX11 mode was the first sign of that. Definitely no half assed dx9 afterthought port that a lot of games get. I may have to double dip and get the pc version if I get a high end PC in the future.

 

[Truant]

Looks good to me, should be even better with some nHancer action. Any luck?

 

[plagiarize]

Them putting in a DX11 mode was the first sign of that. Definitely no half assed dx9 afterthought port that a lot of games get. I may have to double dip and get the pc version if I get a high end PC in the future.

the 15 gig install tells you a lot too. this isn't a mass effect 2 or bioshock 2 situation where they haven't done high res textures for the PC version.

 

[brain_stew]

You know, I'm really struggling to understand why SEGA are only handing out the 360 version for review when clearly the PC version is looking to be considerably better.

 

[Tokubetsu]

Fuck you guys, as a straight up action/gore-porn flick AVP:R is great ='(

I'm really torn between putting money down for this or the limited edition BC2 pre-order on steam.

 

[Jack Random]

I absolutely loved AvP2's campaigns btw.

AVP2 was a monolith game, and vastly better then anything rebellion's put out to date.