With the sequel to 2004's AvP film adaptation, Aliens vs Predator: Requiem, hitting cinemas around the country, it's only fitting that a game would follow suit. Movie tie-ins tend to have a long running stigma in the games industry for being under cooked, unoriginal and damn near unplayable. The original Aliens vs Predator titles for PC on the other hand were nothing short of excellent, varied, suitably atmospheric and any fanboy's wet dream, so I had high hopes going into Requiem. Having formerly developed the PC and Jaguar originals, Rebellion has returned on the scene with this PSP exclusive title, so it was hard not to be excited once again... but what a mistake that turned out to be.

Requiem ditches the multi-race action, in favour of a strictly Predator-based campaign - and this is by no means a bad thing, as the Predator was always the race of choice. Picking up where the first movie left off, the Predator's clan ship has crash-landed on Earth, bringing with it an infestation of Facehuggers to impregnate the townspeople of Gunnison, Colorado. With the clan all but wiped out in the crash, you are faced with the task of wiping out the Aliens and clearing any trace of the encounter. You're like the Men in Black, except with fewer men and less black.


Any 'cleaner' needs a few tools of the trade, for those stubborn stains (of course) and Predator is no exception. The Predator has all his kit available, from active camo to plasma cannons and no less than three types of vision mode to complete his task and keep things varied, although the usefulness of the inventory feels overlooked in the game structure. Active camo only manages to fool humans. The projectile weapons are all largely the same in power and none of the vision modes seemed overly useful, let alone essential, except in a few forced sections. Instead of stalking your prey, you merely proceed from one linear path to the next, to uncover new enemies who stick out in the middle of the open. There's never anyone hiding as such, and certainly no one burying themselves in mud to knock you off their scent. Maybe the AI just isn't as smart as the Governator.

Combat on the whole is a fairly monotonous affair. You have up to two projectile weapons for attacking at distance and your wrist blades for when things get personal, but the variety is severely lacking in melee combat and becomes time consuming, so you are best just holding down L & R to lock on to your target and keep mashing the fire button. More powerful, quicker kills and none of the Aliens have projectile attacks, but it's also more repetitive.

Through all the conflict, the Predator must still obey an honour system, only attacking those attacking him and not being a dirty rogue. You are rewarded for tagging your target from afar and planning your attack, but you also lose points by not helping humans under attack. It's a system that whilst interesting, would work far better if the Aliens weren't into such insta-kill-death. If you stand any chance of saving defenceless humans you have to run in guns blazing.

Most disappointing in Requiem, is that you only seem to encounter one main type of Alien, the traditional Xenomorph. This one main Alien type may come in a few different skins, but they ultimately act in the same way; running, attacking and getting stuck on the scenery. The new Predalien, set to play a pivotal role in the film, is nowhere to be found.


Unfortunately, there's not a lot to keep you going outside of unlockable weapons and alternate level paths. The game seemingly lacks any story what-so-ever outside of its original opening premise. Beginning to end is merely traversing different areas of the city, taking care of Xenomorph scum. Atmosphere played a pivotal role in the appeal of the original games, so it comes as a major disappointment then that Requiem is atmospherically dull. Enemies chose to run straight toward you rather than sneaking around. In cases where they might be hiding around corners, it's spoiled by their location being plotted on your map. When you reach the end of the game, which you will do very early in, you can't help but question "is that it?'. There's no big finale, no stupidly over powered final boss and no final FMV of betrayal and intrigue.

To pad out the single player experience, a skirmish mode is included. A timed 'kill all the aliens' type mode, it's more of a passing distraction than a mode you will return to time and time again. Multiplayer is present, but if you were hoping for some more of that classic, interracial Alien vs Predator vs Marine gameplay, you'll be entirely disappointed. This time around, multiplayer is simply skirmish mode except, well, multiplayer. Whether fighting solo or with a friend, it doesn't mask how dull the mode (let alone the combat in general) really is.

It's got the licence, it's got the arsenal and it's got the right development time, but it just doesn't gel. It's disappointing that even the original developers couldn't save this title from being another movie tie-in stinker. If you're after some brainless shooter action, it'll keep you occupied but only for so long. Hopefully the movie will turn out better.