14 DAY TRIAL // SEGA and Rebellion are announcing that Aliens vs. Predator will be arriving in stores sometime in February 2010, competing with a number of other games set to come in late 2009 but were pushed back, like Singularity and Dark Void. The game will be released at the same time for the Xbox 360 from Microsoft, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the PC.
The story is pretty much standard stuff for the Aliens vs. Predator universe. There's an isolated planet, called BG-386, which is getting mined by a small group of colonist. In typical fashion, they hit upon a pyramid containing a nest of long dormant alien xenomorphs that become awake and are eager for a confrontation. Both the Marines and the Predators send in troops in order to contain the possible outbreak.
The good news is that the fresh Aliens vs. Predator videogame is developed by pretty much the same team as the one that worked on the original game in the series, which arrived in 1998. They seem to be aiming for a similar yet upgraded experience, capturing the elements that make each of the title’s three races unique in themselves.
The Marine will again be the fleshy, vulnerable human who has the firepower to take out his enemies while also living with the horror of those dots picked up by the motion tracker. The Alien will be built to show off stealth and quick movement, while the Predator will once again rely on his exotic weaponry and his powerful close quarter combat moves. The big difference is the addition of outdoor environments, which change the way the three races move around and fight.
SEGA and Rebellion are promising new multiplayer modes, which are built around a three-way fight involving the characters. As long as the environments are dark and spooky and the tracking ping is loud and metallic, Aliens vs. Predator will be one of the most exciting titles of early 2010.