Wraith: I'm actually wondering how much input Fox Interactive had in the development process. It's their license, and I'm sure they were at least partially dictating some things to every developer involved in the series.
Let's be honest though, no Aliens game has ever been a slam dunk. It's a niche series for fans. Most are fondly remembered but they weren't spectacular when they came out. Diehard fans of the series typically enjoy them but they get passed over by most. Dropping 60 million was basically a 60 million dollar fan service game, anyone who talked to Randy Pitchford at length about the series should have known that.
misfire200: Well actually the 1999 Aliens vs Predator was pretty much a damn good game and was popular and received fairly good reviews throughout its lifespan. Heck, people still play it and it even was modded to have slightly better graphics later in its life. It was also able to be modded to have more accurate sounds and what not. It is the main reason that all the follow up AvP games and now ACM are hit hard because fans have played a great version of the series and just want that same great gameplay with very nice graphics.
The marines were intense and scary to play as whether it was in SP or MP, the Predator was just a badass, and the aliens were menacing and very good at being stealthy.
The bigger mystery is how Rebellion did such a great job in 1999 and then screwed it up in 2010 when they took another shot at it.
Considering the style of game and the time period, the 99 AvP could be considered about as close to a slam dunk as you can get for this style of game and the M rating it had. AvP 2 was not half bad at least for multiplayer, the 2010 version was ok, but ACM is a huge let down compared to the rest and had a budget probably 10x the others combined...no matter what Gearbox screwed up big time on this. It is not a hard franchise to turn into a great game. Rebellion did it once, god just hand the franchise over to someone who can actually give what is promised.
I'll have to agree with this. The 1999 game was probably one of my most played titles in that era. I think I still have the original box stored away somewhere. I finished the Alien and Predator campaigns on Director's Cut together with all of the bonus missions and the Marine campaign on Realistic. And this was before the Gold edition came out that introduced saving. The original game had no save function. I also finished most of the challenges in that game - if you remember you could get really nifty effects e.g. levels flipping over at random, etc. Good fun. Some of them were pretty tricky though, but immense fun nevertheless.
I didn't like the sequel as much. The Predator missions were pretty nifty, but I disliked what they had done with the aliens. They were too large, too slow and too meaty. In the original you had to plan your approach extremely carefully because if they got a good shot at you, bam you die. You had to use your speed and the walls to perfectly plan your approach and then execute. When you got a hang of the alien mechanics, they were immense fun. The sequel harmonised the classes to some extent and did away with this aspect.
I picked up AvP 2010 for $5 about a year ago or so. Nah. Just doesn't deliver.
Anyway, I made a thread about this guy a while ago, I wonder what he thinks about the game:
http://www.gog.com/forum/general/avp_bonanza Oh and Wraith, I'm not particularly interested in what Randy Pitchford has to say (more like Randy Pitchfork soon hyuk hyuk) considering how little he had to do with the development of the game. Not taking any sides here regarding the quality of the game. I've witnessed the feedback and decided that it's not worth 50 euros right now, considering that I don't have much time to play in general. But considering that almost the entire SP campaign was outsourced so that they could focus on Borderlands, I don't think that Randy is in a position to talk about fan service.
