For me the original AVP from 1999 was the first game I have ever played in my life and it scared the living hell out of me, I recently bought the improved version from Steam and loved it with all my heart. I pre-ordered the new AVP, and when I started playing it I instantly realized that the new AVP is ALOT harder than the old one, the old one I could do on the hardest setting with 2 hands behind my back and without blinking but the new one I instantly had the problem of never being able to tell when an alien is actually dead instead of just knocked over. A few tries later and I had figured it out and I found the marine campaign to be quite scary, the predator campaign is good in the beginning and gets great once you get the spear. Cause I like doing what the predator did in the movies e.g. staying up high and cloaked while picking off enemies one by one with your weapons. Unfortunately that didn't really work in the early part of the game cause I could get off 2 fully charged plasmacaster shots before having to recharge which is i.m.o. horrible gameplay design, the same goes for the mines and the disc is simply really hard to use. The spear is a joy to use which made the game really fun. Then with the alien campaign.. ugh the alien campaign, whoever designed that transition system should be suspended 20000 feet up in the air. Seriously, I can't jump to my enemies, I can't jump from roof to roof, instead I have to jump onto something horizontal then climb or jump down to the actual roof. Getting off of a roof is even more fun, instead of just jumping and reaching ground you have to climb your way down which leaves you quite vulnerable. The thing I did like however was creeping along the ceiling in the shadows picking off enemies one by one, which as you might have guessed is a pain in the ass. Even something as simple as walking through an open door becomes a challenge when the alien starts latching onto walls and climbing up instead of walking through. And heavy attacks on the alien feel really really crap, you have to wait 2 seconds or something before it actually attacks, which is really quite shit on a character that's supposed to be feared for its speed. So basically, the marine campaign is the best, predator campaign gets epic once you get the spear (which is awfully late) and the alien campaign is frustrating as hell and I really recommend playing it on easy just for the story and the feel but not on normal or higher cause that will cause you to commit suicide. So conclusion: AvP is not an epic fail, the alien just is.
Though looking at Twitter right now makes me wince...so...much...tweeting...
