Full Review

27 December 2007 - Your chance to live out your Alien vs Predator fantasies have come true once again, this time on the PlayStation Portable, but it is worth the bother or is this one franchise where no one will hear your screams of disappointment? We get gaming to find out.

Aliens vs. Predator Requiem is a third-person action game from the creators of the award-winning original Aliens vs. Predator for PC.

However rather than allow you to play Marine, Alien or Predator, as previously allowed you play as just the Predator charged with eradicating all traces of the alien menace, and some humans along the way, in a sleepy town in Colorado.

At your disposal is the usual plethora of weapons befitting a Predator and you'll also get three different visual modes; alien, tech and thermal, so you can have the unfair advantage on your prey.

If that wasn't enough, you'll also get a cloaking option, although like the movies it's not perfect, a laser gun and those dangerously sharp blades attached to your arms for slicing and dicing.

Of course this being a video game there is no fun in just sticking with the same weapons and so you can upgrade as you go along.

The upgrade rules are simple, the more you kill, the more points you score, and the more kit you can buy in the shop at the end of the level.

To help you score even more points beyond the usual amount of carnage, there is the tagging mode, by which you tag your next victim before killing them. It's a bit like calling the next pocket in Pool, however here it's all rather tedious, just kill them already.

Controls are interesting to say the least and do take some time to get used to. The analogue stick to the left of the screen is for movement, while the right and left paddles at the top of the console control the camera.

Without the second analogue stick it will take some getting used to, and practice does eventually make perfect, but in our gaming we still found it easier than the other option of turning the four buttons; square, cross, circle and triangle into the camera movement controls instead.

When it comes to gamplay, the levels vary between killing aliens, humans or both and both races have good AI, although we couldn't determine whether they had different attacking qualities. Landscapes vary from countryside to cemeteries to city missions and most involve more stealth than out and out gung ho tactics, after all there is only one of you and plenty of marines or aliens out to stop you.

Realising that you'll probably want more than just the single player missions there is a four-player WLAN mode as well, but unlike previous Alien vs Predator titles you can only play the Predator and no other character. Multiplayer options consist of the usual deathmatch and the such like.

As for graphics and sound, both given the limitations of the console are good, although the handheld experience isn't anywhere near as scary as the original on the PC even with the lights turned off.

VERDICT
If you are a fan of the AVP franchise and have yet to be disillusioned by the movies then this gives you another title to play and master. However, Alien vs Predator Requiem doesn't come close in bringing the visceral carnage and scariness of the first offering on the PC over 10 years ago.