Aliens - As the Xenomorphs you follow the story of "six" and find out that the humans have captured a queen and have been doing experiments on her. So of course you have to break free, help the queen break free and the story goes on from there. I won’t give you anymore details. Playing the game as this race requires totally different tactics. You can seamlessly transition from floor to wall to ceiling then drop down and attack. You’ve got mostly melee weapons but can also attack at a short distance with your tail. You regenerate health over time so when it’s getting low you just have to find a safe place to hang out for a bit. It takes some time to get used to looking at the world from the wall or ceiling but eventually you get the hang of it and can become the deadliest of foes.

The game is truly shaping up to be a shining example of the FPS genre and with such great properties and characters (Xenomorphs and Predators) it’s not at all surprising. Rebellion seems to be doing an awesome job. The graphics aren’t astounding but they’re quite good. The sound is extremely well done and helps build the tension, especially when playing the human marines.

The preview version I received didn’t have the 3-way online multiplayer in it which is a shame as that could be my new favorite online FPS multiplayer. However, I can see that they will have some problems balancing the game so that someone wants to play the humans. I could see a ranking system being incorporated that placed you in a race based on your skill level in relation to the other players with weaker players getting more powerful characters in a deathmatch version of play. But that’s just my opinion on how to make the game fun for everyone and not destroy the tension of the power differences.

I am certainly looking forward to the final version of this when it’s ready to see how well they polish it up for final release. I imagine there will be more cut-scenes to explain the story, the audio logs will help give an insight into what’s going on and the 3-way multiplayer seems to be extremely promising. I hope the recently announced restructuring at Rebellion doesn’t affect the game’s launch as I think it will be a high point for early 2010.

Aliens vs. Predator is set for release 19 February on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The rating, based on the violence and blood I’ve seen should be M for Mature.