Capcom's Alien vs. Predator Continues Aging Nicely

We're almost halfway into the 2020 decade and games have gotten more intense, but there are still old-school arcade titles that age like fine wine. One of those arcade titles is Alien vs. Predator, developed and published by Capcom, which was released in 1994. The game is an adaptation of 20th Century Fox's (the company is currently owned by the Walt Disney Company) franchise of the same name which pits its Aliens and Predator franchises against each other.

The game's story is based on an early draft of the movie adaptation which got scrapped for a completely different story used in 2004 that was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (the guy who directed the live-action film adaptations of Capcom's Resident Evil franchise). Though the original draft for the film was thrown out, Capcom had already finished making Alien vs. Predator.

This game's story takes place in the 22nd century in which the fictional California city of San Drad suffers a xenomorph outbreak.

The city is overrun by xenomorphs in a matter of days and the cyborg heroes, Major Dutch Schaefer (whose appearance is based on the same Dutch who was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Predator) and Lieutenant Linn Kurosawa (an original character made for the game), are outnumbered by the horde of xenomorphs marching in their direction.

They are saved by a plasma blast that obliterates all of the xenomorphs in that area.

Three of the Predators deactivate their camouflage and reveal themselves to the two, where they band together to thwart the xenomorph threat. I did find it surprising because the Predators generally hunt humans, too, if they're able to provide a challenging hunt.

Once they discover the hive and seemingly kill the Queen, they discover that the outbreak was orchestrated by General Bush, a renegade military officer under the employment of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. The heroes' battle continues as they must raid the Weyland-Yutani compound in order to put a stop to Bush's plans.

The final battle takes them to outer space as they confront Bush who is quickly killed by the Queen who was thought to have been killed.

It's one of those games that you can finish within an hour.

The four playable characters are Dutch, Linn, Predator Warrior, and Predator Hunter. Each character has its set of strengths and weaknesses. Dutch is the typical slow-moving but devastating powerhouse, Linn is the quick and agile martial artist, the Predator Warrior is the well-balanced fighter, and the Predator Hunter is an aerial specialist.

Each character, except Dutch (because he has a robotic arm), is armed with a unique melee weapon.

Assorted weapons (including the famous Pulse Rifle and Smart Gun) are available throughout the game though ammo or usage amount is limited which isn't different from beat 'em up titles like Final Fight, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, or Streets of Rage. One feature of the game, which is reminiscent of Capcom's Armored Warriors, is the use of specialized ranged weapons.

The two Predators are armed with their trademark shoulder-mounted energy cannons, Dutch is armed with a smart gun that's built into his cybernetic arm, and Linn is armed with a rapid-fire pistol. The Predators and Dutch can replenish their ranged weapons meter when they stop using them but Linn has to completely empty out her meter in order to reload.

If the Predators and Dutch used their ranged weapons too much, they overheat.

There are special magazines (talking about the ammo clips) that can be grabbed which allow you unlimited use of those ranged weapons for up to nine seconds.

Since this is Alien vs. Predators, the most common enemy you'll come across is the xenomorph. You will come across infected humans known as “Infectoids” who stagger around like zombies before the chest bursters pop out from their bodies. Xenomorph eggs are in the game, too, and must be destroyed before the face-huggers hatch from them.

Once you get halfway through the game, you'll come across human enemies in the form of Weyland-Yutani's soldiers who are usually armed with either Pulse Rifles or Smart Guns. I learned that is best to collect Pulse Rifles if I'm already armed with one or vice-versa because you'll have more ammo at your disposal.

This is one of those games that I can play repeatedly without getting bored.

The game left behind a legacy, especially with Linn who made cameo appearances in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter III: The New Generation.

Simone, an original character made for Capcom's Cannon Spike, was based on Linn's appearance.

Sylphie from Capcom's Forgotten Worlds would transform into Linn as part of her special attack in Namco X Capcom.

The game is available to play on the Capcom Home Arcade console, which includes 15 other titles, or you can download the game ROM and play it on an emulator.