Aliens and Predators

Well, guess it's about time I post anything new, isn't it? Sorry for being away for so long, but nothing special happened lately, so I really didn't have anything to post about. Also I'm feeling a little depressed this week. Don't know exactly why, to be honest. Guess it's just me, I get like this from time to time.


Anyway, since I saw Alien vs Predator (great movie, I don't care what people say) last weekend I already played two distinct games in order to extend the experience of the film. The first was not a game per se, but an expansion pack for a game. I'm talking about Alien vs Predator 2 Primal Hunt. Although I've played AvP2 some years ago, I never played the expansion, maybe because of the bad score it got from a Portuguese mag back in the time. Well, now, with the movie still fresh in my mind, I decided it was about time!


So, now that I've played it to the end with all 3 races, I have to admit, that review was right about some things. The whole expansion feels like just a poor extension of the main game. There's barely anything new, the level designs are far from great, and it all ends too quickly. But is it worthy for a fan of the original game?


Hell yeah! The opportunity to play with a Predator once again is great. There's nothing like turning your cloak on, sneaking behind a prey and ripping it apart with the Wirst Blades. Or just snipe at them from afar with the Spear Gun, with the bonus of the heads being ripped off the body and getting stuck in the walls behind. In the end, as always, you can also collect the heads of your enemies and take them as trophies. There's no actual reward for that, but it's cool to hear your Yautja screaming while you take the head off.


And, for the first time, you can also play with a Predalien, that cool mix between and Alien and Predator. The gameplay is exactly the same as with the Alien of AvP2, but it's just cooler to play with this new guy.


After beating this expansion I also tried to play the original AvP, but unfortunately it didn't run on my PC. Guess my machine is too good for that game, which is a first, since I was only used to it being too bad for games.

Anyway, while I was thinking about getting Predator: Concrete Jungle for the PS2 (which I didn't get yet, waiting for this "predator fever" to cool off and then reappear by the time the second movie hits the cinemas), I decided to try some arcade action. You know, that Model 2 emulator I talked about in the Saturn Junkyard is not the only "board-specific" arcade emulator out there. While searching for more arcade goodness I stumbled upon Modeler, a lovely Model 1 and System 32 emulator.


The Model 1 emulation is still in a early stage, though, so you can forget Star Wars Arcade for the time being, but the System 32 emulation is pretty good. And what could possibly be the best game to try the emulator with? That's right, Alien 3: The Gun! An amazing shooter this game is, and since the emulator has mouse support, aiming could only be better with a light-gun.


Taking control of a marine armed with an awesome machine-gun with infinite ammunitions (no little pistol for you!), you blast your way through 6 levels full of almost every alien you can think of, from face-huggers, to chest-busters and many variations of an adult xenomorph. What I find really amazing are the animations of the aliens, so fluid that you just want to shoot them to see them move! Ok, that sounds weird, but if you play this game you'll see what I mean.

You can get both the emulator and some roms here.

As always, great posts demand great soundtracks, so once again I listened to a whole cd:

Slayer - Christ Illusion (strong cover, guess that's why it has been censored)

Here's the first single of the album, and my favourite track - Eyes of the Insane