Aliens Versus Predator 2
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with List of Alien and Predator games and Talk:Aliens versus Predator 2#Merger proposal. (Discuss) Proposed since March 2008. |
Aliens versus Predator 2 is a video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Sierra Entertainment, which was released through Fox Interactive in 2001. The game is a sequel to Aliens versus Predator, which is based loosely on the comics of the Alien and Predator series.
Similarly to the previous game, it is a first person shooter (FPS) that uniquely gives the player a choice of three characters/species, each with their own distinct set of weapons and abilities. These factions include the The Alien, The Predator, or Colonial Marines. The storyline features a fourth non-playable side called the Iron Bears or "Corporates", human mercenaries with Marine weaponry who provide security for the Weyland Yutani Corporation; the Corporates are the playable fourth choice in multiplayer.
Sierra released an expansion to the game titled Aliens versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt in 2002.
MacPlay ported Alien versus Predator 2 to Mac OS X on June 30, 2003. Initially it did not support online multiplayer for Macs running Mac OS 10.3 or newer, however an unofficial patch was released which fixes the problem.[1]. The game does not work with Leopard (10.5).
Gameplay
The gameplay remains similar to the prequel however there have been a few changes made to each species:
The Predator now has the ability to recharge his own energy.
The Alien can now destroy things.
The Marine has gained a few new weapons, along with the ability to don an exo-suit ("Alice") for one level.
Setting
Almost half a century after the events of Aliens and Alien³, the Weyland Yutani Corporation followed the flight telemetry of the derelict spacecraft found on LV-426 and discovered a world full of life and dotted with the ruins of an extraterrestrial civilization—and infested with Xenomorphs. This planet would become known as LV-1201.
The Company establishes a long-term research facility under Dr. Eisenberg to study the planet, the ruins, and the aliens. The facility consists of a Primary Operations Complex and a network of five massive Forward Observation Pods suspended over a canyon.
Characters
Player characters
- Corporal Andrew "Frosty" Harrison is the main human character in the game. A USCM Marine, he is not given much background, but is characterized by a refusal to abandon his fellow marines. Other than combat, Harrison specializes in electronics and is also qualified to pilot an elite "Exo-Suit". It is also mentioned in the game by other marines that Harrison is nicknamed 'Frosty' for being 'cool' in very hot engagements (e.g. attempting a solo rescue while being chased by a large swarm of Xenomorphs). It is also suggested that Frosty has had poor luck with women, characterized when trying to hit on Dunya and Tomiko.
- A Predator is the primary Predator character in the game. 19 years before, he and his clan attacked a Weyland-Yutani outpost, where he chased and downed a Colonial Marine known as Rykov. Now, knowing Rykov is still alive, the Predator has come to LV-1201 to finish the job. It is implied he is a high-ranking hunter (speculated by Rykov to be a Prince) by the conversations of human scientists studying his mask after he is captured.
- An Alien drone is the central Xenomorph character in the game. A both intelligent and aggressive drone, it caused the Incident in attempting to escape from the Primary Operations Complex back to the hive. It also rescued the queen, captured Eisenberg, saved the hive from being destroyed, and killed multiple Predators (3 necessary, 1 optional).
Major characters
- Dr. Eisenberg is the head researcher in charge of the LV-1201 facility. He was the only survivor of a disastrous first expedition; when a massive storm cut off his outpost's security systems and communications, he was forced to kill and eat his colleagues. He suffered severe acid burns during a rescue attempt; as the game progresses, it is revealed that he only "survived" because his father, a major figure in the synthetic human research industry, was able to port his consciousness into an identical android body. Because of that event, Eisenberg harbors a deep hatred—and a paralyzing fear—of Xenomorphs. He is captured by the playable alien character.
- General Vasili Rykov is the head of the Iron Bears or "Corporates", a group of mercenaries hired by Weyland-Yutani to assist operations on LV-1201. Years ago, he was a colonial marine stationed at a Weyland-Yutani bio-weapons facility on the planet Korari when it was attacked by the same Predator whom the player controls. Rykov was severely injured; he was paralyzed until he underwent an experimental procedure which replaced his spinal column with its synthetic equivalent. The treatment was only partially successful; Rykov must take powerful black-market narcotics in order to function. Rykov has since become obsessed with wiping out the Predator race. In an exo-suit, he fights the playable predator character but ultimately dies. Rykov has a strong Russian accent.
- The Empress is the name given to the primary Xenomorph Queen by Eisenberg. He wants to capture and control her.
- Major McCain is the commanding officer of the Marines dispatched to LV-1201 under Weyland-Yutani's request. He is a fine leader, but is oblivious to what Rykov and Eisenberg have in store for him and his men.
Supporting Characters
- Duke is a marine (seemingly of Latino descent) under the command of Major McCain. Both sarcastic and relatively cowardly, he is considered an annoyance by the other marines (easily comparable to Hudson from Aliens). He is Corporal Harrison's friend.
- Johnson is the premier dropship pilot aboard the Verloc. She carries out the marines' dropship missions, and rescues Harrison towards the end of the Marine campaign. She has a strong British accent and a strong-willed personality, as shown in her response to Major McCain's question, "Where the hell did you learn to fly?"; "Flight school! The same place that taught me not to fly blind in hurricane winds!"
- Decker is a marine private in Sergeant Hall's team. He is badly burnt in an alien ambush and is put in an APC to heal. He heals quickly, however, and is later seen guarding McCain and the APCs. He is killed by the Alien Queen as Harrison enters their lair.
- Jones is an African-American marine under the command of Major McCain. A heavy weapons specialist.
- Sergeant Hall is a female African-American marine. She is second-in-command to Major McCain. During the raid on the POC, her squad is ambushed and she is captured and impregnated by the Xenomorphs. She dies when Harrison finds her, a chestburster exiting her stomach.
- Sergeant Blackwell is a marine under the command of Major McCain. He is head of Harrison's squad until they were separated. He and Shugi retreat back to McCain and guard him for the rest of the game. His survival varies: Sometimes, you can find his and Shugi's corpses in the Alien Queen's lair.
- Shugi is a marine under the command of Major McCain. He is part of Harrison's squad until they were separated. He and Blackwell retreat to Major McCain and stay in a marine APC or Dropship for the majority of the game. His survival varies: Sometimes, you can find his and Blackwell's corpses in the Alien Queen's lair.
- Tomiko is said to be an assemblyman's daughter who signed up for an internship on LV-1201 to find out what had happened to her brother, Kenji, who she suspects was murdered. She blackmails Harrison into finding a disk with evidence on it and later helps him out. She willingly sacrifices her life at the end of the Marine campaign to ensure the total destruction of the site and, with it, the genetic experimentation and research that the corporation had been conducting. However, the cryptic end message (see "Final Cutscene" below) suggests that her story might actually be bogus, and that she and her brother are in fact real corporate spies.
- Captain Richter is the captain of the cargo vessel Aurora and often ferries questionable objects (such as Alien eggs) with no questions asked for Weyland Yutani, though he often scans them to get an idea of what Weyland Yutani is doing. Presumably for such meddling, he is escorted by a security guard named Lloyd to Eisenberg, who has him tortured. Richter is killed when Tomiko destroys the Pods.
- Sergeant Cisco is a temperamental guard Sergeant. He gets angry at soldiers easily and has no friends in the Pods. He is killed when the Alien player facehugs him, and then bursts from his chest.
- Lloyd is the security guard who escorts Richter to Eisenberg. He is later seen complaining about being chewed out by Cisco and mentioning that "he has no friends".
- Stiles is a technician who assists Harrison while he is in the Pods (before Dunya betrays him). He is easily recognized because of his goatee. He is probably killed when Tomiko causes a meltdown in the Pods.
- Major Dunya is a Russian member of the Iron Bears. When Corporal Harrison disabled the security network in the tunnels connecting the POC to the Pods, he inadvertently disabled the security at the Pods themselves as well. Dunya's fiancé Dimitri was killed when Harrison shut off the security grid that was connecting the POC to the Pods and the Xenomorphs swarmed in and attacked. As a result, Dunya blamed Harrison for his death.
- Ivan is General Rykov's right hand man, who sees to it that all of the general's orders are followed. He is killed by Andrew Harrison while trying to prevent Harrison from escaping the Pods.
Note: Strangely, Ivan is encountered in Alien campaign at a point when he's supposed to be already dead. It is believed that the designers simply re-used Ivan's skin for another Iron Bear just as they did with Dimitri's. - Chekov is one of General Rykov's henchmen. While returning from escorting his superior to the Hive, he is killed by The Alien.
- Popov is another henchman. He is killed by Aliens while escorting a Predator Artifact through the Pods.
- Serge is a Russian Iron Bear. He is killed by Aliens while retrieving the Artifact.
- Pamela is a doctor working in the pods. She is found by a rogue Predalien.
- Decker is an Iron Bear who has the same name as the marine, though there is no relation. A Texan, he does not agree with some of Rykov's tactics. He is killed by Aliens when retrieving the Artifact.
- Dimitri is a Russian foot soldier in the Iron Bears and is Dunya's fiancé. He is killed when out guarding a scientist outside the pod when Harrison shuts off the security grid. He makes his appearance in the Alien single-player campaign when he's guarding a technician who is fixing a generator powering an electrical laser fence, and getting swarmed by a bunch of Xenomorphs, which leads to his horrible death. He's also a playable character for the Corporate team in multiplayer.
Plot
Marine Plot
The human story begins aboard the Conestoga-class USS Verloc, carrying a small contingent of U.S. Colonial Marines to planet LV-1201. The Weyland-Yutani facility there has not been heard from in six weeks, and the marines are to rescue survivors and secure the facility until the 6th Battalion arrives.
Two dropships are deployed to the Primary Operations Complex (POC), but they are separated by hurricane winds and one is damaged. It falls to Harrison to restore power and activate the landing beacon. When he tries to restore the local security grid, he awakens the xenomorphs which had lain dormant following their conquest of the POC. Most of the marines are able to evacuate, but Sergeant Hall is captured by the aliens. Harrison tracks her to a part of the POC which has been converted to an alien hive, but he finds that Hall has been impregnated with an alien. She dies as Harrison finds her.
The marines then attempt to reach the Pods via the tunnel network connecting them to the POC. Harrison is sent ahead to deactivate tunnel security so the marines' APCs can proceed through. In the process, he cuts the security to the Pods themselves.
When the marines reach the Pods, Eisenberg and Rykov inform them of the security breach and claim that three archaeological teams have been stranded within a massive nearby hive. The marines volunteer to rescue the teams—but the "rescue mission" is actually part of an elaborate plot by Rykov and Eisenberg to kill the marines themselves.
As Harrison tries to establish a communication link with the POC and the Verloc, Major Dunya knocks him out and throws him in a prison cell within the Pods, used to hold convict laborers. The marines are told that Harrison was killed in a confrontation with an escaped convict. Harrison escapes, and during his flight he kills an escaped predator-alien hybrid and unknowingly releases a captive Predator. Later, Harrison is contacted by a mysterious person using a voice scrambler. This person instructs him to pick up a data disk hidden in one of the labs in exchange for help returning to his team. He reluctantly complies.
As Harrison reaches the Pod's lowest levels, he sees the Predator he'd freed escape rather dramatically. Harrisons pick up new gear and kills Rykov's right hand man Ivan and 2 Iron Bears, before taking out another mercenary in an "Exosuit," a bipedal armored combat vehicle, before escaping the Pods.
As Harrison returns to the POC to find White Team, who had been stationed behind, he learns that the mysterious person who contacted him is Tomiko, an assemblyman's daughter who signed up for an internship on LV-1201 to find out what had happened to her brother, who she suspects was murdered. The data disk contains records of all the illegal activities taking place on the planet, which Tomiko wants to present to her father in an attempt to hold Weyland Yutani accountable for its crimes.
Harrison finds several members of White Team, but they are all killed by aliens and Predators before Harrison can activate the landing beacon for an incoming dropship. Harrison manages to kill a predator himself before reaching the dropship. Tomiko transmits the coordinates of an old entry site to the hive, and Harrison, now in his own Exosuit, proceeds after his fellow marines whom Rykov has stranded. Along the way, he must clear an infestation from some ancient extraterrestrial technology. His exosuit is damaged during a fall, and he must proceed the rest of the way on foot. He locates his team, subdues an alien queen, and manages to evacuate via dropship. The queen, which apparently survived, follows him, but she is killed by a barrage of missiles from the dropship.
As the dropship puts distance between itself and the hive, Tomiko overloads the fusion reactors in the Pods, destroying them and (apparently) killing herself. When the marines return to the Verloc, Major McCain recommends abandoning any further rescue or salvage attempts on LV-1201.
Predator Plot
The Predator arrives on LV-1201 with two clan members for a 'hunt'. It is gradually revealed that your Predator is a high ranking clan member, possibly a prince, with better armor, helmet and weapons than your clan mates. After a quick human slaughter and a meeting with some of your other clan mates, who provide you with new weaponry, the Predator discovers his two clan mates have been captured by the Iron Bears. Pursuing the mercenaries into the facility, the Predator eventually succumbs to experimental elctro-magnetic pulse grenades which render his equipment useless and result in his capture.
Rykov, with his hatred for the Predators, places the third and final Predator in a lab where it remains in stasis for over six weeks. It is revealed that this Predator is responsible for Rykov's injuries and his burning desire for revenge. Saved from being implanted by the alien and inadvertently released by Corporal Harrison, the Predator, despite being infected with several diseases, powers through a horde of humans, reclaims his equipment and sets off in pursuit of General Rykov.
After a dramatic escape aboard a dropship, the Predator fights through the alien infested caves and tunnels beneath the pods and eventually manages to signal his clan using human technology. The Predator clan promptly arrive and re-arm the Predator, who then sets off to finish Rykov, the man who escaped his wrist blades twenty years ago.
Following Rykov, now encased in an 'Alice' exosuit, deep into the Alien Hive, the Predator fights his way into the heart of the Hive for a climatic battle with General Rykov. Overcoming his enemy, the Predator claims Rykov's synthetic spine as his trophy after twenty years of chase.
In a final cut scene, the USS Verloc is seen departing LV-1201 with the US Colonial Marines. As it heads into deep space, the Predators can be seen stalking the ship in their own sleek battleship, chasing their next 'hunt'.
Alien Plot
In an introductory flashback, we learn that Dr. Eisenberg is the only survivor of one of the first expeditions on LV-1201. It's heavily implied that he ate his colleagues to survive.
Cutting back to the timeframe of the game itself, Dr. Eisenberg is discussing some of the facility's problems with a Company auditor. Those problems include the loss of Pod 5, missing artifacts, and unauthorized research, and the oversight committee is getting worried. Eisenberg will have none of it.
Meanwhile, Major Dunya delivers a large container to Captain Richter, operator of the cargo vessel Aurora. He has apparently been smuggling artifacts stolen by the Iron Bears, but this crate is larger than normal. He attempts to scan it, but the container is shielded against scanning. Richter is called away to a meeting with Rykov by a security guard, Lloyd, shortly before liftoff. The crate is knocked over and opened when the ship is bumped during the refueling process, revealing the egg within. The egg opens and the player-controlled facehugger emerges. The facehugger leaves the ship through umbilical ductwork and begins to track an irritable guard through the POC. When the guard retires to his quarters for a nap, the facehugger springs on him and infects him.
In due time, a player-controlled chestburster hatches, killing the guard. It flees through an open window and proceeds through the POC until it finds nourishment—cats apparently kept for research purposes. It molts, and when it is next seen, it is a full-grown drone.
The drone fights its way through the POC, releasing other xenomorphs being kept as test subjects along the way. It reaches the lower levels, finally encountering a Predator that has been stalking it, probably believing it would make a suitable challenge. It fatally wounds the Predator, which activates its self-destruct mechanism, thus blasting a hole into the POC's drainage system and allowing the alien to escape. Incidentally, the hole also allows thousands of xenomorphs into the POC, thus causing the Incident to which the marines respond.
Six weeks later, the alien infiltrates the Pods during a brief security failure caused by Corporal Harrison. It takes the opportunity to wreak havoc, killing dozens of guards and scientists, releasing a Predator-alien hybrid, and finally liberating an entire artificial hive within the Pod. Along the way, it kills scientists who are about to infect another Predator with an alien chestburster.
Eisenberg has taken advantage of the marines' arrival to initiate the Large Mass Specimen Extraction, a project to capture the alien empress. As part of the plan, combat synthetics have wired explosive charges throughout the tunnels of the hive. After leaving the Pods and armed with this information, the alien must disable these explosives as it tracks the empress.
The empress is successfully captured, but the alien pursues her captors, including Eisenberg himself. It tracks them through an archaeological site, killing guards, civilians and Iron Bears, to a dropship landing pad. It kills two Predators and sabotages the pad's support machinery, causing the dropship to crash. Furious, Eisenberg attacks the drone directly. When the alien incapacitates him, the game ends. A cutscene reveals that Eisenberg (in his current incarnation) is an android, and he has been cocooned within the empress' chamber. His limbs have been removed and his screams echo through the hive, as the empress and her rescuer gloat.
Final Cutscene
In a final cut scene (which is accessible after completing all three campaigns in no specific order), the USS Verloc is seen departing LV-1201 with the US Colonial Marines. As it heads into deep space, the Predators can be seen stalking the ship in their own sleek battleship, appearing to chase their next 'hunt'.
After completing all three campaigns, a cryptic message is displayed during the credits:
Remote transmission acquired. Boosting for outgoing dispatch. Routing now. ... ... ...
The mule has been acquired. Package is en route.
...
ETA: Unknown ...
Mission Complete.
Extraction required. Priority status.
It is implied that the "mule" was the data disk that Harrison took in the USCM plot.
Multiplayer
Aliens versus Predator 2 also allows online and LAN (Local Area Network) multiplayer games. One can choose to either host a game or find and join another server. A player can choose to be on the Alien, Predator, Marine, or Corporate teams. Each team has specific abilities. The Aliens can wallwalk (besides the Praetorian) and use only melee based attacks. Predators can cloak and use a variety of the weapons seen in the Predator movies. Humans (Marines and Corporates) have the most weapons. There are 4 different types of characters for each team. Each character has their own specialty. Although, a character's class is only put into effect if the server has the setting on (Class weapon sets: ON). If the setting is off then the player can use any form of technology from that player's race. An additional option is "Alien life-cycle" mode, where Alien players must start as Facehuggers and impregnate a player from any other team. The class spawned is dependent on the host, although Corporates spawn Runners for gameplay purposes.
There are 6 game modes. The game modes are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Hunt, Survivor, Overrun, and Evac.
Deathmatch is a free for all match. In Deathmatch, one can be any race within the server settings. As a player in deathmatch, one must try to cumulate the highest amount of frags. Deathmatch maps are idenitfied mostly by "dm_" before the name, i.e. dm_sanctum, dm_industry, dm_backstreets, dm_bouvetoya, dm_deadlock, dm_tarbaby, dm_hive2, dm_reservoir.
Team Deathmatch is a deathmatch among teams. The teams are fixed as the three races of AVP2. Therefore one can choose between four teams, one for each race. Each race competes against each other to get the highest amount of frags or score. Team deathmatch maps are played on deathmatch maps but some maps have been released for team deathmatch only, i.e. tdm_vendetta_v1-2, tdm_morlock, tdm_dropshipdown, tdm_hellsgate, tdm_backstreets _vendetta. Some maps like crystalcrash and tdm_hellsgate are designed for only two teams. For example, tdm_hellsgate only allows the marine and alien team to play in the map.
Hunt is another game type. In hunt there are 2 teams, the hunters and the prey. Each player is competing against one another. The object is to get the most frags. Frags can only be attained by a hunter. The prey are the only players that can be fragged in order to gain a point. But the prey have to frag a hunter in order to take that player's place on the hunter team. A ratio of hunters to prey determines how many hunters can play. The server determines the ratio and chooses a player to mutate if the ratio becomes uneven. The hunt game type is played on deathmatch maps.
Survivor, another game type, has the same goal as any other game. The object is to stay alive as the defender race. A player gets a point for every second the player is alive as a defender. If a player on the mutant race (the race that is against all the survivors) kills a survivor then their score goes up by 10 for each frag. Every player starts as a defender at the beginning of a round. The round starts in Tag mode, where a defenders frag another defender so the game can begin. A defender is spawned into a mutant when fraged unless fraged by another defender in survive mode. Survivor maps are played on deathmatch maps.
Overrun can be between only 2 teams. It is akin to survivor, however players can choose which team they want to play on. The teams are selected by the host. There is a survivor race and a mutant race. The survivor race must survive and frag the other team. The mutant race must destroy the opposite team in order to win. In this mode players get lives, when they die, they go into free-fly. If either one of the teams has no representers alive then the other team wins the round. Also if one team has no representer for a round the match will automatically end and go to the next map. Points are made by the amount of players alive at the end of the round. This is true for either mutants or survives. Overrun must be done on overrun maps because of the placement of spawn points (players need to spawn with their team). Overrun maps are commonly signified with "over_" i.e. over_compound, over_cyb_moor, over_terraform, over_stronghold.
Evacuation has 2 teams which are selected by the host. Evacuation involves an attacker race and a defender race. These races determine the teams. The attacker race must find and stay alive inside the map's evacuation point. An attacker must survive in the area for 10 seconds. The defending team tries to stop the attackers from reaching this point. Each team has a specified amount of lives. The server selects the number of lives for the teams. If all the players of either one of the teams are dead, then the other team wins the round. Rounds are timed, and if time runs out, the defending race wins. In most cases, only one evacuating player needs to reach the evac point to start the countdown, but some modified servers require all alive evacuating players to reach and hold the evac point. Attacker players also have a designating arrow on their HUD. This arrow points to the evacuation zone. Players that have no lives left or are waiting for the next round go into free fly (observe mode). Evacuation maps can contain a lot of sub-missons. I.e. evac_alley requires players to find a hostage before they can start evacuation in the dropship. Evacuation maps are marked by "evac_" before their name, i.e. evac_verloc, evac_castaway, evac_gauntlet, evac_industry, and evac_stranded.
Development
Dedit
Dedit, a level-creating program for Aliens vs. Predator 2, allows one to create levels to be used on the lithtech engine for AVP2. This program is used by many AVP2 fans. It made it possible for AVP2 to have over 500 player-made maps to be released into the public online community. Maps in Dedit are designed in the texture mapping method. Some problems from using the Dedit improperly have been known to cause copies of AVP2 to become unplayable.
Gold Edition
The Gold Edition of Aliens versus Predator 2 was released over a year after the original game. It combines the original game with the Primal Hunt expansion pack.
Reception
This game was awarded a 8.7 score on GameSpot's PC review. Their opinion of the game is thus: "It's better than the original Aliens vs. Predator, and it's one of the best action games released so far this year.". They go on to say "Aliens vs. Predator 2 takes everything that was good about the first iteration and expands on it. It's more complex, it's scarier, it's funnier, it's more action-packed--it's quite simply more all over. Another year, another great shooter by Monolith.".
The game also featured on the 'BestSellers' PC range.
External links
- Dedicated sites
- AvP2 Files
- AvP Unknown Mods for AVP2
- AVP2 Custom Maps
- PlanetAVP
- AvPGalaxy
- Absolute AvP
- Model Workshop - Custom Skins for AVP2
- Miscellaneous
