How Aliens versus Predator's Late Design Change Made It a Classic | War Stories | Ars Technica
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- Опубликовано: 20 окт 2024
- Tim Jones, lead artist and producer for the classic PC game "Aliens vs. Predator," talks about the risky development choices that ultimately led to the game's incredible success.
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How Aliens versus Predator's Late Design Change Made It a Classic | War Stories | Ars Technica
![Chino Pacas - Modo Capone (with Drake & Fuerza Regida) [Video Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zjv8TQ0gBkg/mqdefault.jpg)
Playing as a marine, to this day, is one of the most nerve wracking, terrifying gaming experience I've ever had.
Poo-pants level good times
Scariest gaming experience I've ever had.
DA ... i second that emotion! brown safety undies pre-equipped and ruuuuuuun :-D
Fear 1 was great too
So true!
The best part about this game is how the three campaigns are entirely different genres. The Marine is in a survival horror, the Predator is in a classic FPS, and the Alien is in a strategy/puzzle game.
I always hated the Alien campaign until after i played thief. Then it all just made sense
@@jackbaxter-williams8059 The Alien campaign was my favourite, while I disliked the Marine campaign.
Nah the Alien is like a parkour fighting game
Very true. Alien felt very… instinctive. You had to think simply like the bug you were, but take advantage of your advanced intelligence as an alien bug.
Predator was definitely the most action packed. I wish there was a bit more stealth for Predator though. The invisibility felt weak to me in AVP. But it worked! And you could pick targets off.
And the Marine was just… pure survival horror. Anything you had you valued and used as sparingly as you could.
Marine campaign is action horror, not survival horror
I remember playing this game back in the day and i come randomly accross this smal thing that completely blew my mind and i stil think about it to this day:
When you play as the Alien you will face off against Androids that have no fear (so they wont run away or panic) and they will keep shooting at you even if you dismemeber them. Well i happend to find out that if you dismember one of its arms he will acctulay have a uniqe animation that he performs when he reloads hes weapon.
With the pistol he would eject the mag. then place the pisol into hes mouth(!) then get a mag. from hes body and insert it into the gun and then pull the slider back into posision with hes teeth!
With the shotgun he hunker down a litle, like bend hes knees, then rest the shotgun on hes lap with and reload with 1 arm this way, he would also do the 1 arm pumping action between shoots. This hole thing blew my litle mind and it stil sits with me as a very special thing they did i think
That is sweet attention to detail by Rebellion :)
I remember this it was awesome.
One of my favorite bits of detail is if you run out of ammo with a pulse rifle, you swing it like a club.
Also aliens have varying death animations by where they are hit.
TO THIS DAY no aliens have has had such satisfying hit detection watching an alien literally crumble to pieces as you shoot it.
This needs a RUclips video so people can see.
Care to share a link to a news story stating that? And avp is on steam.
Playing this with friends at LANs was the bomb, way back in the day. They absolutely nailed AVP with this game.
LAAAAAANNNSSS!!! MHHHHMMMMM!!! No such luck these days. Lans and bongs
we still do that 😍
God yes, alien4lyfe
And on MPlayer!
Yes! I played AvP on MPlayer as well as Gamespy after that
As a younger guy working in game development this series is so valuable
Tim O'Connell as a dirty old man who is in the search for Bobs and vagena... It wasn't titillating as I wanted it to be...
How old are you and what work do you do?
@@gleenfales 30, VFX Artist, BBI... I was young when I wrote this :(
I agree I'm at full sail
I just found this series, and just started working on an overambitious indie game with my bud. I can certainly agree with you on that one
This game deserves a full remake with the love that went into the RE remakes.
The love from RE2’s Remake, not RE3s’.
I never beat it as a kid, I would love a remake.
Dude the remake's kind of suck, especially if the second scenario of REmake2 its just copy and paste enviroments and boss fights
If only.
And for gods sake don't let Sega near it again. I can't physically handle another "colonial Marines"
This game is hands down the best AvP ever made. All of the attention to detail the devs put into it really paid off. I remember before it was even released, the 3rd marine level was available as a playable demo. One of my friends and I were both trying to complete that level, exchanging emails about how far we'd got, sharing intel on where to go next. It was head and shoulders better than anything else at the time, and felt faster, slicker and more threatening than anything the later games in the series provided.
In LAN multiplayer it was a great success too, playing as a squad of marines against an endless horde of xenos was a seminal moment in my group's co-op play. One team member found his niche as our squad support gunner after a stellar performance with the minigun, where he somehow unerringly hosed the aliens without once hitting a teammate, even in the chaotic swirl of combat. Whatever we played after that, anything like ghost recon, delta force battlefield, it was a given that Barnes was our SAW gunner.
AvP2 is the better AvP game, but AvP 1 was good too. Compared to newer AvP games, the old ones are still leading the role.
@@OpenGL4ever nah, AvP from 1999 is far superior. AvP 2 was just closer to a classic FPS, hence it had greater success.
The video games, even the jaguar game that was a lot like this, succeeded wildly where the movies failed. The 2d Sprite arcade game was also a blast with different paths based on character choice
I've never heard of this game but I remember games from the era well enough to know that this level of detail is jaw dropping.
@@shanetaylor761 It's still available on steam, as Aliens vs Predator Classic 2000. And, being an old game, you get a complete experience, 3 full campaigns.
*I hope Rebellion gets to make the next AVP game for next gen and PC. No more mobile games. Bring back the full PC experience ✅🙂*
avp evolution me gusto pero si sacan un juego de mobil de avp hoy seguro seria una mierda interminable llena de transacciones por eso y por que me encantaria ver un avp nuevo para pc te doy la razon
@ZiMRAla verdad me gusta avp2 y avp3. pero aveces en los servers del avp2 aparecen restricciones :(
I hope not, since Sniper Elite series is a the worst of worst
@@filiplahoda248 Rebellion knows what works in an AVP game. Even if Sniper Elite is not a great game in your eyes.. Rebellion has showed twice that they can make a great AVP game.
@@AcidGlow Yeh, but do they still have the same team? Keep in mind that Rebellion is just a name. There might have been a key person who knew how to do it right. After trying the Zombie Army, I am outraged that such a company even survives.
Playing AVP2 as a marine, scared shitless at 16 years old with the lights off was one of the most terrifying gaming experiences I've ever had. Still the best gaming series I've ever played.
The actors had nightmares about the xenomorphs and predators and Tim Jones has nightmare about nodes and AI coding. So fitting. I love the dedication that these people had towards creating a great game. I loved this game back then, played it over and over and over again, just like it's sequel. Both Alien and Predator franchises are among my biggest favorites and I loved immersing myself in these early games too.
Still the best AVP game to this day. Thank you, Tim. You and the rest of the game's development team hit it out of the park. So when are we getting an HD remaster? :)
That would be so godamn awesome. It was one of the most terrifying game I ever played (well, with the marine).
Had a sound card that played half the sound though. Didn't play plot audio, but I thought it was just part of the game at the time.
Did you play Sierra’s AVP? If you’ve played that do you still think Rebellion made a better game? I’ve played Sierra’s but not Rebellion’s.
the best? no
2000
AVP2 was better.
Thank you for your passion in making this game. The pulse rifle sound and the motion tracker were a couple of the most memorable features as a marine. Playing as an alien for the first time, running up the walls, climbing through vents, that unique FOV, it was magical. And the Predator was like God-mode. Would love a hi-res re-release. I did buy the 2010 re-release.
It was one of the best fps of all time. Some times I started some game as the marine, heard one blip on the motion tracker while being in total darkness and just thought "nope i'm good" and exited.
One thing I don't understand is why the alien gameplay the best of the other two AVP games. Like some dude went "sir, the collisions" and the dev chief went "What is Collision, noclip is the law"
I cannot thank all the folks involved enough for all the excellent memories I have of playing this for hours on end with my friends at LAN parties. Absolutely nothing but love for this spectacular game.
if we are still here playing and it and talking about it, it shows how good the game was and that the job made by the devs was pretty good one
I simply loved this game back then! I played it to perfection in single player. But man, this game is hard! Death meant to start the whole level over again and especially on higher difficulties any mistake as Marine or Alien meant nearly instant death. The possibility to destroy any light source was unheard of until then and it took later games several years to implement this feature. Even AvP2 didn't have it. It was a let down on many levels anyway. And then the multiplayer! My favourite character was the Alien, and I was quite good at it after finishing the campaign on the hardest difficulty. Especially handling the 360° controls and orientation was quite a challenge. So once when playing against 3 friends via LAN, I was the worst opponent you can imagine in this game, running all over the place, walls, ceilings, with enormous speed, taking out lights one by one, jumping through light cones just, so they would see me for a split second to taunt them and also hissing here and there. so they could never know where I actually was. Needless to say, I totally freaked them out. :D So after they lost their focus I killed two of them by head bite and piercing through the other one’s chest. The last of them then just panicked and fired his gun and grenade all over the place just like in the movies. :D It was so much fun! Up to this day this is one of my favourite multiplayer games. It is a shame that they didn't continue the series, especially not in the way of the first game, which is a masterpiece in many ways and a hidden classic. So Kudos to the creators, your effort didn't go unnoticed! You created one of the best and most intense games in the FPS and multiplayer genre.
Playing as Marine or Alien..... honestly it kinda felt like a survival horror, particularly as marine. Alien is a bit closer to Splinter Cell lol. If the main character could outpace Usain Bolt anyway.... I would absolutely love a survival horror playing as a Marine during an Alien infestation.. The Aliens universe is just so damn ripe for it.
What a killer game. This story is hilarious. Good work. A top to bottom remaster would be amazing right!?
man I would love to see that happen!
this. i played sp so many times that i can basically do a "speedrun" of any species. to add to the experience, i purposedly turned off the music just to hear athe ambien sounds of vents, engines etc that really made up the atmosphere
@@Zontar82 I kind of did the opposite. I made my own MP3-playlist. For the Alien composed of atmospheric pieces like "libera me" from the interview with a vampire Soundtrack or "ironic" pieces like "dream a little dream of me" by the mamas and papas. :D
I like how he warms up as the interview continues, and his love for the game and the period shines through.
it may sound sad to some people but playing this game with my childhood friends in an internet cafe is one of the happiest memories i have from growing up
Hihi :) obczaj to ruclips.net/video/miHF0UIYHgk/видео.html
Not only was it technically good by having dynamic lighting, it also had volumetric explosions, might have just been a growing sphere that clipped through geometry, but I remember it as moving down corridors and travelling further in them and around corners.
Also had dynamic water geometry, which rippled when stood in it. Was super low poly, but was impressive compared to anything else at time, which just used a bunch of growing sprites.
Glad someone else also remembers the awesome explosions. I can't think of a modern game with replicates this effect?
+Lord Terra
*Which replicates
I remember the explosion physics, like firing grenades with the big grenade launcher down a huge vent shaft where the aliens are and having to seek shelter from the orange shockwave and spits of flame that would bounce around and light organic materials on fire
When games where designed with fun in mind and not microtransactions.
Made by passionate gamers for fellow passionate gamers. Today? Not so much.
Boomer begone
@Kisa Sparrow Kisa your a God damn tool to mention mobile games along a real game. It make the rest of what you said irrelevant. By design games with in app purchases are design to make you buy them like arcade games back in the day with quarters.
@Kisa Sparrow A real game is design to challenge the and provide entertainment for the user not designed to be grindy just to cause you to buy the micro-transactions.
@Kisa Sparrow Ok I can agree with that.
I avoided this game for about 7 years and finally gave it a shot on pc last year and i was blown away. 3 totally different campaigns- all fun, no filler.
Sure that wasn't the 2010 reboot? This video is about the 1999 game, both were made by Rebellion, the 2010 one was on consoles as well as PC and was a lot flashier but didn't have the same feel as the first one.
@@krashd 2010 one was the shallowest pos ever played
if the game been released in 2018:
Playing as Marine : Main Story
Playing as Predator : DLC
Playing as Alien : Preorder
and don't forget gender politics. We gotta have those.
@@thedungeondelver did you just assume that xenomorph's gender?!?!?
KIC Gaming The fact that the Predator & Alien experiences even seem like DLC worthy experiences instead of main game but still managed to pack those two campaigns together just goes to show how much effort developers put into games nowadays.
Predator voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith
@@thedungeondelver Something tells me that you've been mistaken for a man, before.
I do like the homemade videos better, the professional ones feel like something from a theme park ride. Both are cheesy, but I admire the passion the team had for their game.
I never saw those, I had a big bug that prevented me from seing the videos and playing any audio for the storyline. I just thought they were being creepy AF.
@@georges6580 was the bug that you had downloaded a poorly pirated copy? :)
Yeah theirs are way better. A lot of games around that time tried to do the video briefing shtick and that lil extra care went a looong way in selling the overall feel of the game.
They're cool in a way, but they're also proof that passion is no substitute for skill. If they had hired actual actors (who could do American accents) and shot them with their props, that would probably have been perfect.
What an absolute monster of a classic, my god. This was my first original game ever. There was something very bizarre about playing the Alien campaign on Christmas eve while everyone is feelin love and family and you shiver through your spine and got a heartattack every corner. Riva TNT2 brought this to real life later but neither the marine nor the predator campaign was ever finished to this day because of how frightening they were. After the Alien I said no way I go back there so I never even got to see the grappling hook or jetpack in action.. and the HIVE map in LAN was insane blast as well as the Skirmish mode with the Predator. Pistol, Disk, let's gooo!
Hook and jetpack are avaiable only in "bonus" maps (maps you already played in campaign for the other two species).
I adored the first Aliens vs Predator. I remember even when I first bought it.
I played the game so much that I actually *broke* the disc through playing it constantly.
My favorite thing to do in the game was to play on Alien Bonus Level 2 " _Invasion_ ", which was the same stage as the Marine Regular Level 3, and this was also the demo disc level, turn on god mode, and then spawn exactly: 1 Predator bot from where the Predator starts on that stage. Spawn *A Lot* Of Marine bots where the Marine starts on the stage. Head back to the Alien nest starting area, and spawn a dozen or more Alien bots and then wait five minutes or so.
- The Aliens would both run into the vent and down the ladder and would quickly jump into fans and drench anyone in the vicinity with acid blood, kill and maim stuff. The Marines would accidentally kill themselves and each other and those who survive would slowly be walking around and exploring with an incredibly high mortality rate. But the most impressive thing was that hte Predator would walk across THE ENTIRE STAGE hunting both for you, and anyone else he'd come across. I remember once opening a door wondering where the Predator bot was, and as the door opened, I saw the Predator killing one alien, turning around and decapitating another alien behind him with his spear before running towards me. Amazing!
As for the 'information terminals', I prefer the old classic ones. they felt a lot more in-universe to me compared to Rebellion's home-cooked stuff.
Haha ahh man I wish I knew how to spawn bots back in the day, would have given me another thousand hours of play time!
ahh so i wasn't the only one to toy with the bots spawner ;)
I wish this team was given the license again. This game was incredible
I had read so much development material on the original AvP game in almost every game magazine I could get my hands on before it came out. They advertised the unpredictability of Xenomorphs and their AI strongly.
The game was/is amazing.
Seeing the people behind these older games that I enjoyed so much makes me realize why I still enjoy those games more than most of todays crap from EA and the like.
EA should watch this and understand what is passion and not working for a car payment.
Nice joke. EA hasn't been about seriously funding passion in gaming since its founder Trip Hawkins left in '89.
Yep
AvP (2000) is and will always be my favorite game. I still play it to this day and playing as a Marine still gives me chills. You made an amazing game and after 20 years it's still being played. I wish all games could be as amazing as this game. Thank you for all your efforts and for the joy you've brought your fans.
This and Half Life are my favorite games of all time due to how much fun I had playing them as a 9 year old, got me hooked on PC games ever since. I had the Gold edition with manual that was put together with the same care and effort as the game. Everything about this was a better experience than is offered today.
his heart and soul went into the game and you can feel it. Loved the game, one of the best.
This game was so amazing. I loved playing as predator. Playing it on LAN was like the original zombie mode. last man standing with each dead marine turning into a new alien. Than backing yourself into a corner with a smart gun and holding out as long as you could.
If only the AvP movies had taken this approach. It's simple; Aliens vs Predator vs colonial space marines.
I still think about how badly that stupid movie series messed it up.
Why does it have to be in the present?!
@@crustypaladin Becaue it's just plain quicker and cheaper, sadly.
Now I can't stop picturing Aliens sonic booming all over the place.
Playing the survivor game type at LANs with a bunch of other people yelling at each other are some of the best multiplayer memories of my life. It was the game type that started with a bunch of people as maines but only a couple of aliens. Aliens had it really tough at the start and marines were running everywhere confident in numbers. Every marine that died though respawned as an alien.
Soon enough the marines were barricaded in a room or a long hallway screaming "THEY ARE ON THE ROOF" and madly shooting anything that moved.
I cant even remember the victory conditions, but being one of the surviving marines towards the end of the round was insane fun.
Even tho gaming has gone so far, 80's, 90's early 2000's were the real gaming days.
@It's Alright ok zoomer enjoy your dlc
true "they dont make em like they used to" ! (late 90's & early 2000's where great years for gaming!)
Yea.. late 90 was the peak for.music and movies..... mid 90 was the peak for games.
Now.. the games have been getting better the last years... the moves is mostly getting worse
indie content will hopefully save movies the way it's been saving games. all these OG titles are from back when even major game studios were basically independent devs, the tech was being invented as it was needed, dedicated graphics cards became a thing, with like 4mb of vram. GPUs are over 1000x as powerful these days, major studios blew up like record labels, and the industry became a money mill a lot like hollywood. fortunate the creative tools are more accessible than ever; a medium end user can make a game, or an album, it won't be long before it's easier to make professional level films (there's already industry standard editing software for free that even pros use for color correction, etc). here's to the new renaissance or something. hopefully. alas market saturation with pop crap made for money and cultural exploit seems to go with any creative medium, often at the expense of creativity. games became a huge industry because the weird experimental nerds making them created incredible things, not because anyone can make a mobile MOBA clone with microtransactions, that's just industry complacency. the good stuff will continue to come from weird experimental nerds like the ones who pioneered the medium.
This game looked great with my voodoo2 i loved the horde mode or whatever they called it
skirmish mode!
VooDoo 2 ftw
I think gearbox should watch this video.
Why? They don't have the rights to the franchise anymore and I doubt Sega will ever trust them again.
I think gearbox should disband.
I love how much joy he has when talking about making their own videos.
The predator claws worked well.
Used to play it in our schools IT labs, was such a fun game for LAN play. Hearing squeel from other side of room as marine player realises your hanging above them ready to bite their head off. Predator was a bit too OP though, good effort at trying to balance it though.
I coudn´t play this game when I was a child because I was too scared to play the marine campaign, so when I was 21 I finally got to fully play this masterpiece that never gets old, the 2010 version can´t even hold a candle to this version. This and his sequel are undoubtedly the best AVP products ever made.
One of the scariest games that I have ever played. The facehugger almost caused me a heart attack when I was a kid. Brilliant game! Good times.
You want a fun mode for Classic 2000,
I call it LIGHTS OUT
Last man standing, disallow powerful weapons (i.e. high explosives like the SADAR but keep the nade launher) and item respawns, allow 1-2 predators if you like.
Break all lights in the map with the option to turn off the lights. This works best on indoor maps.
The marines now need to choose between a motion tracker and night vision, stuck in the dark trying to survive 10 minutes from aliens, and every time a marine goes down he comes back an alien.
Optional rules include item respawns per X alien kills.
DO NOT allow infinite ammo pistols for maximum tension.
GOD I love the custom mode options on it.
Back when games were made by DEVELOPERS and not money hungry shareholders and corporate suits.
No, that was allways happening, even back then. The tactics just changed.
Thats why I enjoy indie games.
actually, that was at the start of one of the worse periods to be a developer with a vision
@@brandonnesfan Actually, you're only half correct: EA has been doing industry harmful practices since Trip Hawkins left in 1989, but the 90s publisher scene wasn't as bad as it is today. Most publishers back then were formed on the same premise that Hawkins formed EA; to fund cool games and get a foot in the market. Most publishers in the 90s were very entrepreneurial and thus took risks. Hell, developers worked with multiple publishers over time (becoming a subsidy of a publisher wasn't common for devs back then, with the exception of EA).
That said, EA did leave a bad influence over other publishers over time by making their means of financial success seem like the right path towards profit.
There is a new game company called Weyland-Yutani game corp, they made a virtual reality capsule you get in to that plays realistic games. its been out for a year now but I havent seen any reviews yet....
I do remember AvP fondly. It was a gem ahead of it's time.
The first level for the marine has 5 enemies. If you kill 4 of them with head-shots you enable one of the many ... mods. I think this one was the John Woo mode. It slowed the game speed down according to the threat that is to be expected. Something like a permanent bullet time 2 years prior to Max Payne.
And the PvP was fun too. As an alien you could score and as a marine or predator you had to kill the alien to become it.
He looks like one of the Alien 3 prisoners.
😂
He's the guy who almost started the "piston"...lol
Have you seen the new star wars movie?
Lmao, yeah he kinda does actually, I can't unsee it now. I don't know if it's the bald head or the British accent or the unshaven look, but he would blend right in on fury 131.
Marines campaign was without a doubt one of the most terrifying yet rewarding experiences ever. This game is THE BAR for all future Aliens or Predator video games.
This game (alongside Half Life) IS what made me love fps. Marine was my fav species even in MP. Loved the wide range of weapons available especially in gold édition. Love the Classic 2000 reboot too!
I used to play co-op 1 + 1 with my buddy over a modem. Just 2 guys vs endless hordes of aliens trying to break into our tiny bunker. Our only succor was slowly regenerating pickups. In desperate moments we'd use a burst of flame to save ourselves but that would often set us or each other on fire too, as the bugs kept chasing us in their death throes. When larger classes of aliens came, we'd have to evacuate and run in big circles around the bunker to put something between them and us.The aliens always won in the end, but those were some of the best videogaming experiences of my life.
I also played the hell out of CoD WaW's zombie mode, but the great thing about the AvP crash site was that the mechanics were all a consequence of the map, not forced on us by special abilities or environmental tools.
Greatest and most complete AvP game ever. The scary lighting + aliens scurrying in the dark is still effective today, graphics be damned.
I wish he told more on the first Alien mission Temple! That place is epic and kinda reminds me of old "Starbeast" Alien ideas.
I pull this game out and play it to this day every now and then. I never beat it, but the initial experience as each of the races always surprises me in how well its aged. The marine especially feels good and the clever lighting makes it look much better than it really does if you were to turn up the gamma or have a perfectly clear night vision. The alien gameplay has never been beaten as far as I know, the sense that it created when you had been on walls so long you no longer knew what was down and what was up was just amazing. You really felt like a powerful, dangerous alien with no remorse.
Rebellion really is one of the best studios around, they made 2 of my favourite games. AVP and Evil genius
Evil Genius was made by Elixir Studios. Rebellion bought them.
They also made the Sniper Elite franchise, which is really fun as well.
I love how he's constantly mentioning the word fun in this. how much fun it was to play (imagine devs making games that they themselves would want to play?) and how much fun they had making those short videos. This guy has his priorities straight.
Incredible game - though the Predator felt underpowered once you started just fighting aliens. His weapons had such limited ammo that you needed pinpoint accuracy, but the aliens were too fast for the plasma caster aiming reticle.
True, I used predator the least of all the species
what do you mean? just use claws through the whole campaign, i only used the speargun for dangerous humans with miniguns or grenade launchers and the stronger aliens. claws ftw
Ok, after playing through the pred campaign on director's cut, I got used to his playstyle. Quite fun
@@crustypaladin I played the game years ago but can't remember if I finished it, what version of the game would you reccomend buying?
It was 2009, I believe. I had a cardboard PC, a Broken leg and internet access. My first Steam Sale ever and the first Steam Sale game I got - Aliens versus Predator. Knowing this, I appreciate that game all the more.
I remember the guy that is interviewed was one of the guys on the screens. Weyland Yutani or marine folks.
Probably will comment this on every single one I watch... this series is great! Video game journalism usually leaves a lot to be desired but this is really what it's about. It's got a great blend of technical info, behind the scenes stories, and some of the drama and tension in the creative process. And the video is well produced. Kudos to Ars Technica, this is some high-brow video game content.
I would love to hear about Dungeon Keeper.
Whoever made that trick in AvP2 game with a pipe broaking exactly as you get near it, was a genius. THAT really played on our nerves, didn't it? XD
Man, what ever happened to _these_ kinds of developers? This is the kind of passion that's sorely missing from the triple A market today.
Because AAA titles producers aren't owned by people who have passion, but rather business men who see the bottomline more than quality control?
I remember when the game came out, one of my friends showed me. I had to go out to the villige next to ours to meet him. It was late night when we finished playing the game. I had to go back to my home town and I had to ride my byke because I traveled by it that time. It was a very frightening trip to home... I saw aliens in every corners...
Anyone else used to play AvP Gold on Gamespy Arcade?
Yup. I probably played AvP Gold online more than nearly any other game even to this day, no other game holds quite the same place in my heart. I can still remember so many games in Subway or Statue
@@Afaustianbargainbin Me too dude. I literally spent years on it on Gamespy before I moved over to TFC.
Welcome to gamespy
Playing as the alien was my jam.
@@aleistermeowley6817 TFC....the learning curve on that game was unreal. Miss the days of simple gaming ideas but unlimited replayability. Games these days are a bore
You have gotton everything right. So right, that that level of being true to the franchises in terms of originality and quality has never been reached again since. A timeless masterpiece.
Such an awesome game! ! ! One of the best shooters ever made!
I was 14 years old when AVP came out and it scared the crap out of me! I think the audio sounded exactly like the movies so congratulations on accuracy! You guys did an excellent job in replicating the movies utilizing the technology of the time!
Probably the only great thing that ever came out of AvP franchise. Did both of the saurce materials justice. Cant say the same for the awful AvP movies.
@SpyengoEen to each their own. I actually liked AVP2 better than the first.
Hahahaha right. They made a licensed game that spawned movies that didn't live up to it. Talk about flipping the script.
Dude, there are also comics that are excellent and they were where the franchise started.
The first avp movie was awesome.
@Ben Hill aware but didn't read them and therefore are ignorant. The introduction to the first AvP comic is so well written and executed.
Alongside with Unreal, Half-Life, Max Payne, AvP was part of the wave that took FPS genre from it's simplistic straightforward roots to much more immersive cinematic experiences
AvP Classic and AvP 2010 both are awesome games. It's just that the 2010 AvP marine movement is too slow it's irritating. AvP 2 is kinda meh, for me at least.
Happy to see one of the faces of the people responsible for bringing such defining experiences during our younger years. Kudos to Ars Technical for coming up with these series. Enjoying them immensely. Kudos to the AVP dev team, you guys gave me nightmare inducing experiences (that’s a compliment) good job.
Love you man you are a LEGEND !!!!!!!! one of the best game ever !!!!
My favorite game in my teens!! I was already a big fan of both Predator and Alien so being able to play as them was just mind blowing. The game did not hold your hand, jump scares were genuine and environments were top notch.
I still dont agree with their 12:30 changing the actors. The AVP 1999 classic had the US actors while Gold Edition had UK devs one.
Sounded so wrong hearing UK voices when you were playing as a USCM "United States Colonial Marine Corps", It would make sense if this was the "SAS" but not the "USCM".
I like to think that they're all British ex Patriots who joined the USMC.
@@teranokitty Or they put all the rookie marines on the same planet haha
The very best one. No other iteration went close, this is the masterpiece.
AVP2 Multiplayer - Alien Life Cycle: Enabled
It’s awesome listening to someone talk about their passion. He did a great job with this game, revolutionary
Sega or monolith needs to Remake AVP and AVP 2 also Primal Hunt expansion..
Thank you for doing these interviews! I love it.
Still the best AvP game. AvP2 and AvP 2010 don't even come close.
Graphically it hasnt aged well, but i still think the real water effects are impressive considering the age of the game and the dynamic explosions which shape differently pending on where they happen, I cant name a single other game with that kind of stuff even in this day and age. And the damage models and how the animations changed on the aliens pending on which part you shot off, shoot a leg and they crawl, shoot their arms off and they use the tail, shoot that off too and they use the mouth etc. had loads of fun with that just to see what they would do.
AvP 2, i always hated the Lithtech engine and its cartoon style it brought, that all Lithtech engine games had (Blood 2-the chosen, No one lives forever etc.) it didnt fit at all with the universe and has imo aged in a worse way than AvP (i thought it looked bad when the game was brand new), the lighting effects in the game were bad as well, it did have a few things that i liked though, such as the smartgun acting more like it should, the pulserifle was a letdown, with its squeeky sound instead of the movies and previous game more powerful sound (but most guns sucked).
And as you said the story sucked, wouldve been better if it was a simple rescue mission with a squad. It was just overall a bad experience.
AvP 2010, made for consoles, handled like it was made for consoles, sounded and looked like it was made for consoles.
I had high hopes for Rebellion who made the first game, to come back and show Monolith how an AvP game was made, but they blew it. I think AvP 2010 makes Colonial Marines look like a competently made game and that game was so average it hurt.
I've never even played the complete game, I only played the marine demo, I was 14, it, was late at night, alone in the house with the light shut and volume cranked up. It's the scariest gaming experience I've ever had.
"But we had a lot of fun with it" say no more fam.
Alien vs. Predator the PC game was definitely the first videogame to ever really scare me! I'll never forget starting the Marine campaign for the first time and having the motion tracker start beeping building the tension. Oh man they nailed the audio for that game! So iconic
A lot of people bought Jaguars just to get this game
Nooooooo... Completely different game. Jay game was terrible. Yes, I owned it :( Luckily Doom Jaguar came along to save the day entirely lol
DuckAlert Beats no man, it was awesome on the jaguar! Me and my mate played it, incessantly. It was so hard, and it really felt like you were on a space station. Ammo Wass care and so were new weapons.
DuckAlert Beats I remember me and some friends playing as colonial marines on a demo Jaguar system at a nearby video store that sold electronics. I guess they didn’t mind because it showed off the system and likely sold some units to clueless parents.
@@timothy790110 I know, I owned it! I did try to extract some fun from it but it was so slow and simplistic it just never clicked with me at all much as I tried :(
@ Yeah. They stepped up their game with the pc version though!
The most memorable thing, tech wise to me is just a detail, but one that I at least feel isn't widely used today, or in any way really, and thats the volumetric explosions -- my friend and I had so much fun playing together and it was amazing to us back then how the grenade explosions filled the corridors based on where they hit and the shape and volume of the space. That made them much more realistic and useful. Firing a grenade down a narrow corridor could fill a corridor of 10-15 metres for instance, but the same one fired in a wide room had a much small area effect as it could spread evenly across the space -- it just feels everyone is using just plain radiuses today as it's mostly just a visual effect. This game was, tech wise, made ages ago and when I remember it it baffles me that they've done it way back then and I don't think I've seen it done so well or even close again...
AVP2 monolith is the real classic
I think that the original game deserves it for the work that they did to make it all stand out, and lay the groundwork for AVP2 to really be the great game that it was. Endless hours of AVP2 multiplayer makes the sequel stand out more in my mind, but it's really hard to deny the original as being the one that did the most heavy lifting.
I prefer AVP1. It's MUCH scarier.
Being a xenomorph was never in my list of "you know what it would be cool?" back in the day, until I played this game.
Pitty the reboot was awful :( original game is just superb
I think my biggest problem with AvP 2010 was the "grab" system
Is that the pre-canned kill animations? put me off although I've heard it was an ok game, better than colonial at least haha. The chainsaw finisher in gears of war was ok but mainly as it wasn't too frequent unlike the xenomorph being entirely melee based.
It wasn't awful.
I'll never forget playing this game on LAN with my sister as a 14year old kid in our childhood home. It was amazing and I'll never forget it.
My cousin had his room in the attic. We played the game in turns and sometimes either one of us would sneak up the stairs and scare the s**t out of the other. It was that intense game as a marine. Thanks for the great memories :)
I remember playing this on my Compaq 350 MHz Pentium II with 17" monitor [huge for its time] and JBL speakers. It was incredibly terrifying playing that game. Lots of great memories with that game. The sound design was incredible. A certified classic, for sure.
The second one took things to a new level with the interconnecting plots. The best game ever!
Yeah, it was one of things it made it memorable. Maybe not as scary as first AvP, but still a lot of fun with protagonist who has some personality in Marine campaign, the story of hunt and revenge in Predator campaign, the miserable end of Dr Eisenberg in Alien story. The AvP2010 did not convince at all and i was bored with it.
When I played as the Marine I felt invincible when I had the smart gun and really vulnerable when it ran out of ammo! At LAN parties playing as the Predator there was map you could climb a tower and basically snipe anything that came near you. The only time you were vulnerable was when you were healing from a previous attack! I could never get my head around the Alien physics though...
Marine in AVP still remains the scariest gaming I've ever done. I still remember freezing for like 5 minutes straight on level 1, trying to figure out why my motion sensor was going off -- only to find out it was an elevator occasionally going up and down. My wife wouldn't let me play without headphones because even the sound scared her, and she didn't even watch me play it!
The memories of this game... the multiplayer alone! Such a large part of my life, back when we used to have weekend LAN parties!
I'd like to thank you for the endless fun I had with this game! Especially the human missions, as I remember, had the exact feeling as the movies. One of the few games that I can still play and enjoy.
They certainly were intense. The first and second missions were bad enough, but towards the end you were on some kind of space station and there was a single cyborg alien hybrid with a tracking laser that killed you in one second. Of course it was all very dark so you had th sneak around and try to get a few good shots in with your missile launcher.
Played this game when i was around 13. Boy was it an experience. Still stands out as one of the best produced game experiences i have ever had. Underrated pvp experience too. Kudos to the sound engineers on this particularly.
This will always be my favorite game. Nothing will ever match the feel of blazing down a hallway on the ceiling, landing behind that poor marine and snapping his head off in an instant. I am death made of speed and darkness.
This was the first game I joined a "clan" for, where we would actually practice, get coordinated, and go 4 v 1 against a predator, which was FRIGHTENING. I believe we used Sega's HEAT.net service for that, or perhaps it was Kali.net? MSN.zone?
I don't remember. So many game launchers/lobbies back then.
It's amazing how this game was incredibly tense and hard with every character.
This game aged beautifully! Top notch design, gameplay, sound everything!!
Great stuff 👍👍
I thank you sir for giving me so much joy during my teenage years with AVP!
3:58 Tim Jones has nightmares of vectors and linking nodes, while the rest of us just have nightmares of the Xenomorphs themselves.