Alien vs. Predator (franchise)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: Lance Henriksen. Bishop in Aliens, Charles Bishop Weyland in the 2004 AvP movie, and Karl Bishop Weyland in the 2010 AvP game.
    • For fans of the comics, the announcement that the "Three World War" mini-series would be a return to the original series and star Machiko Noguchi.
  • Base Breaker: The two groups split more or less on these issues:
    • Those who like the movie like it for it's action scenes, increased gore, badass Predator and horror elements.
    • Those who hate the movie hate it for the needless gore, the poor lighting, the Aliens non-sensical behaviour and violation of pretty much everything we've ever learned about them, them getting slaughtered by a single Predator and the glee the movie seems to take in averting Infant Immortality.
  • Broken Base: Quite a few fans of the video games dislike the fact that the movies are set on present Earth instead of the Aliens time frame of the games and most comics.
    • There are plenty of people that enjoyed the first one though(and some for the second).
    • Most of the fans of the older PC games are already declaring the series Ruined FOREVER by the new one.
  • Demonic Spiders: Facehuggers in the first two PC games are a very literal version of this trope; they kill you in 1 hit and are small and difficult to spot, especially in the game's dark environments. They do make a distinct scuttling noise that's supposed to alert you to their presence, though.
    • In the 2010 game Facehuggers are still small, fast, and annoying, but no longer kill you in 1 hit as your character is badass enough to automatically deflect them out of midair (although they do knock off an entire lifebar every time they jump you).
    • They are also - arguably - the most terrifying enemies in the entire game for what should be obvious reasons.
    • Though 2 does have a bit of Nightmare Retardant in the Marine campaign since they can have severe problems actually attaching to NPCs outside scripted events, leading to the comical sight of a bunch of Facehuggers leaping aimlessly around and bumping into people. The 2010 game's Alien campaign has similar results when you realise Six must be being followed around by some kind of Facehugger conga line.
    • Alien Facehuggers, Predator Stalkers, and Marine Snipers in the RTS. The first will 1-hit kill the first unit they hit if it doesn't have some sort of resistance to it, the second will sap your units' health while slowing them to a crawl, and the third just shoots them so hard there's a 20 foot blood splatter opposite the point of entry.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: The alien nicknamed "Grid" (because of the grid pattern on its head caused by a predator's net) has become very popular among people who have seen the 2004 AvP film because it seems to be an exceptionally intelligent and formidable alien warrior. In its very first appearance, Grid singlehandedly kills two Predators, immediately establishing itself as a Badass. Even people who didn't like the film admit to liking Grid.
  • Freud Was Right: Giger's rather suggestive Alien designs are in full swing.
  • First Installment Wins: The first PC game is pretty universally regarded to be the best. AVP 2 does have some people who consider it the best of the PC titles, but also a lot of people who consider it the worst, while the third game generally tends to be thought of as So Okay It's Average.
  • Game Breaker: In the first PC game, the Predator's speargun was absolutely broken. It was a one-hit-kill, hitscan sniper-rifle-style weapon, which would have been remotely okay if it didn't have a fire rate of two a second, a no-reload magazine and more than its fair share of shots.
    • The Smartgun in the second game. The gun aimed for you, all that was left was to pull the trigger. It could even detect cloaked Predators, negating their prime advantage over the Marines. No wonder the majority of multiplayer servers disabled it.
      • Partially averted in the 2010 game- the Smartgun takes up both primary weapon slots and prevents the Marine from running unless they have their pistol out instead. The tracking is a bit slower and can be outmanuevered by an agile Xeno player, and only covered a certain field of view in front of the player, although it does outline cloaked Predators and hard-to-see Xenos- still less unbalanced than before, since it only shows up in exposed, easy-to-cover spots.
        • The 2010 game has its own problems in the form of the predator smart-disc. It's a 1 hit kill, and bypasses the melee system that was implemented by simply being unblockable. Combine that with the fact that there is no downside to using it at point blank range. Even if you miss, it will likely kill your target on the return trip if your enemy continues to fight you in melee.
    • Linn Kurosawa's jumping downward stab/air throw in the Beat'Em Up. The stab can hit downed enemies off the ground, and can be done repeatedly while she's still in the air. The Air throw of course knocks enemies down and lifts her a little higher in the air. See a pattern there? A skilled player can jump once, and kill some bosses without her feet touching the ground.
    • In the first game the flamethrower is... well, more of a terror-breaker than a game-breaker, because once you get it facehuggers - the single most terrifying enemy in the game, due to their extremely small size, fast speed and ability to kill you instantly - become much less of a threat. Simply fire off a burst of flame at the ground and watch as the damned things start running around randomly and burning to death.
  • Good Bad Bugs: In AVP 2, if you can get out of a Chestburster's sight area while it's emerging, it'll just drop out and sit there staring straight ahead, as if thinking "Ok, now what?"
    • In the RTS, it's possible (through spamming the "move" button) for Predator Hunters to fire on the move... and they have excellent range. You can kite most enemies to death this way.
  • Narm: In the first Aliens vs Predator game for the PC, the video messages were originally done by actual actors. The gold edition, and by extension the Classic 2000 modern re-release, replaced them with performances by the Rebellion dev team staff. Although the production values on the Rebellion vids are higher (with actual props being used), the Rebellion staff are clearly not actors, and turn in some really Narmtastic performances.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Well considering the franchises involved, it's hard to avoid.
    • Also, just TRY to play the Marine's campaign at night.
    • In AvP 2's Alien campaign, the first level has you control a facehugger in search of a host. The second level starts in the host's torso.
    • And that second level ends in an If You're So Evil Eat This Kitten moment... literally. And no, you cannot Take a Third Option.
    • The first game, as noted, was more focused on causing terror in the player, and it shows - near pitch black constantly, none of that cinematic music, more intense gore/death screams, a slower-refreshing motion tracker for the Marines, and immense single-player difficulty, especially as the Predator once you pass the first few levels[1].
    • The first level of the Marine campaign in AvP 2 is probably the most notable for inspiring paranoia and fear. You don't even fight anything until at least three-quarters of the way through the ridiculously long level--but you see and hear a lot of survivors getting picked off around you by Predators; one time, a boot falls between the pipes running along the ceiling and lands in front of you, accompanied by a lot of blood. All the while, you find Apocalyptic Logs about how the station got so messed up and what the survivors have been going through since.
  • That One Boss: Goddamn you, Power Loader.
  • Lowered Monster Difficulty: Depends on how you came to find the works.
    • If you came through Predator, then you'll find the general mookishness of the Aliens natural.
    • If you came through Alien, you'll probably consider Aliens as Elite Mooks from a narrative point of view, and therefore be disappointed by how easy Predators tend to tear through them.
      • This difference makes the general community for the franchise a massive Broken Base, with each side constantly debating the state of affairs.
  • Missed Moment of Awesome: In Requiem we cut to the hospital while the Predator prepares to battle several aliens in a store. The entire fight is offscreen and we don't even see the aftermath.
  • Paranoia Fuel: Know why the AVP 2 player character is called "Harrison?" It's so they could have every door in the entire game sound like it was whispering your name.
  • Special Effects Failure: Actually, more of a Lighting Failure. The suits for AVP: Requiem are fantastic... unfortunately, the film is so darkly lit that you can't see them.
  • So Bad It's Good: The films, for those who don't simply hate them.
  • Squick: What the Predalien does to it's victims in the second movie - especially that pregnant woman.
  1. ↑ Granted, the Predator can take more damage and has a medicomp to heal himself while the Marine's health drains so quickly that he's practically a One-Hit-Point Wonder, but you couldn't restore your energy manually, and the Aliens just kept respawning on some levels.
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