So I've been playing this game, and overall I like it. I'll probably do a more thorough review later, but take this as a minor review.
I played the marine single player first and completed the today. I then started playing the Alien. I enjoy the game... it's fun, but not insanely awesome or anything. Still, I have a total thing for the Aliens and Predator universe, so being able to run around and murder is always fun. I'll say that the marine is difficult at times...almost too much so. I played on normal (my usual)... I can't imagine what playing on nightmare would be like. As a marine, aliens are mean bastards... they're quick, they're slinky, and they run around on walls and ceilings like you would expect. Thankfully, face huggers aren't as dangerous in this game as they were in the original...in the original, they were instant-death unless you managed to get the drop on them.
However, with the slinkiness and the initial lack of ammo, I found myself expending all my rifle ammunition on a single alien without managing to kill it, due to the whole slinkiness factor. Like the original, you can blow off their legs and they're still crawl toward you, so shooting the head (off) is the safest bet. Eventually I got better... careful, controlled bursts are definitely the way to go, but the bastards are quick, so it's easy to get overwhelmed. Predators are also dangerous, but you don't actually have to deal with too many of those in the marine campaign. Fighting combat androids is fun, too. They're tough bastards... shooting them in the torso is a bad idea since they're so armored...instead you can pop their heads off, but they keep fighting, so it's a matter of removing limbs until they finally fall over and blow up.
I'm now playing an alien, as I mentioned, and man, it's fun doing finishing moves. I'm attaching a screenie. The graphics are pretty nice, even in dx9 mode. I'm looking forward to my next build so I can take advantage of dx11.. I'm sure it'll look even better. Screenshots, though, are lame... hitting screenshot only puts it on your clipboard, so you basically have to tab out and paste it... at which point you can't tab back in again as the game doesn't work any more. Negative. Also negative is the fact it's checkpoint based... no saves outside the checkpoints. That caused some...aggravation at times.
Still, I'm enjoying the game. The only coop is a survival mode against a never ending deluge of baddies. Haven't touched that or any other MP yet... definitely something I'll be hitting though. I think you can have up to 8 players, so if any of you guys are tempted with the SP, I'd definitely be up for some MP coop.
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The gameplay that was there was actually pretty good.. a marine moves slowly but packs significant firepower. The alien is fast and, once I switched on auto-translate, goes up walls, ceiling, and everywhere else like a dream. The predator I'm still having some issues with, but he's also fun. And the killing moves are pretty freakin' cool.
I'll wait for the reviews and see what they say. if they're around the 88-90% mark I might join you. If not, it'll probably have to venture into discount country first.