Aliens versus Predator 2

About Aliens versus Predator 2

Like its predecessor, Aliens Versus Predator 2 allows the player to choose one of three characters: an Alien, Predator, or human Colonial Marine. Each character has different objectives, abilities and weapons at their disposal. The single-player campaigns present the player with a conventional series of levels that are designed around the abilities of each species.

As an Alien the player can explore most of the game's environments freely, even climbing across walls and ceilings. However, the Alien has no weapons and must use its claws, tail, and jaws to attack enemies. The player can detect pheromones to discern human or Predator enemies. The Alien can drop from any height without injury and is the fastest of the three player characters.

When playing as the Predator, the player uses a variety of weapons from the Predator films such as wrist blades, a throwing disc, and shoulder-mounted energy weapons. The Predator is more durable than the human or the Alien and can survive falls from greater heights than the human. It can use a cloaking device to become invisible and several different modes of vision to help in the detection of enemies, including infrared vision and a mode sensitive to electrical systems. Unlike in the previous game, the Predator in Aliens Versus Predator 2 recharges its energy supply using a personal item.

The story of Aliens Versus Predator 2 largely takes place in the year 2231, approximately 52 years after the events of both Aliens and Alien 3. Humanity has established an outpost on the planet LV-1201. The research colony consisted of two major installations: the Primary Operations Complex (POC), designed with the same "shake and bake" architecture seen at Hadley's Hope in Aliens; and the Forward Observation Pods, a set of four (originally five) scientific research facilities suspended over a canyon by a network of trellises, with an internal design style reminiscent of the Nostromo from Alien. A garrison of corporate mercenaries known as the Iron Bears, led by the mercenary general Vassili Rykov, provides security while Dr. Eisenberg runs the science division.

The plot revolves around "The Incident", an event which occurred shortly after 5:18 AM, on November 25, 2230, in which a fight between a Xenomorph (the player character in the game's Alien storyline) and a Predator resulted in the Predator activating its self-destruct device, causing massive damage to the Primary Operations Complex and allowing it to be overrun with Xenomorphs. Since the POC was the communications link between the Forward Observation Pods and the rest of the galaxy, this leaves the survivors at the Pods stranded and unable to call for help. Six weeks later, the Colonial Marines are sent to investigate what happened. Different parts of each campaign take place anywhere from 1 day and 7 hours before The Incident to more than six weeks after.

It is later established in the expansion pack Primal Hunt that LV-1201 was also once the location of a Predator hunting ground, where the Predators hunt Xenomorphs for sport. In Primal Hunt, a lone Predator survivor from a previous botched hunt unwittingly caused a Xenomorph outbreak in Pod 5 while trying to alert other members of its kind to its location. The Iron Bears were forced to destroy Pod 5, while a lone Predator ship intercepted the call. The Alien storyline, which is the earliest point in the main game, picks up about five weeks after this catastrophe occurred.