Aliens Versus Predator: Extinction

Aliens Versus Predator: Extinction
Developer(s)	Zono Incorporated
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Distributor(s)	Fox Interactive
Series	Alien vs. Predator
Platforms	PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Aliens versus Predator: Extinction is a video game released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is a real-time strategy game in which an Alien hive, a clan of Predators and an elite squad of Colonial Marines fight each other in 21 single-player missions, 7 for each race. Each race has its own characteristics, abilities, weapons, and vehicles. It is the first game in either franchise to be rated Teen.

Gameplay

Unlike as in the most other real-time strategy games in Aliens versus Predator: Extinction the player(s) do not have to do any building and base construction. The game is strictly focused on unit management and combat. Each race has a distinct method of obtaining new troops.

Marine

The Colonial Marines gain credits by killing enemies and repairing atmosphere processors, and these credits can be put toward upgrading troop abilities and calling in new units via dropships that stop at nearby landing beacons. There are a diverse number of marine combat units, including pulse rifle-equipped infantry, flamethrower troopers, and smartgunners. The Marines also have three support units, one for healing and a synthetic which can deploy gun turrets and has a motion detector for picking up offscreen movement, the third unit, the commtech is the basic support unit, whose job it is to call for extra troops and repair atmosphere processors.

Predator

The Predators have a straightforward resource model that's effectively based on honor. As the player kill enemies, he can rip the skulls from their corpses in honor of the hunt. The more honor the player has, naturally, the more Predators will want to join the clan. They can be called in at any time and simply land on the planet from space. The Predator units are all combat-oriented, able to use a number of special abilities including cloaking and self-healing at the cost of slowly regenerating energy points. The Predator's Base Unit is a mechanical, slow moving Shrine equipped with multiple extremely weak lasers. Bringing predator units near the shrine greatly increases the rate of energy regeneration. It is possible to possess multiple shrines but due to their high population cost and predator's low population limit this is not a common scenario.

Alien

The Aliens' method of building revolves around a Queen, which can deliver attacks and also remains in the hive to lay eggs. The eggs hatch into facehuggers who can latch onto other creatures and impregnate them with an egg that will eventually become a fully grown alien. There are two kinds of facehuggers that correspond to two kinds of purebreeds and transbreeds. The purebreeds include the Queen and a couple of other powerful aliens, while the transbreeds are spawned from regular facehuggers, and the kind of Alien the player get depends on what kind of host was impregnated. Cattle-like oswocs will yield a Drone, which is the worker of the Alien hive, while Warrior Alien will be birthed from a human, a Runner Alien will emerge from kerns or krillitics and a PredAlien will spawn from an impregnated Predator.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (Xbox) 65.45% (PS2) 63.80% Metacritic (PS2) 66/100 (Xbox) 64/100 Review score Publication Score GameSpot 7.2/10

Aliens Versus Predator: Extinction received mixed reviews. Aggregating review website GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox version 65.45% based on 30 reviews and 64/100 based on 19 reviews and the PlayStation 2 version 63.80% based on 28 reviews and 66/100 based on 17 reviews. GameSpot wrote "Extinction does a good job of translating Aliens versus Predator to an RTS, but it could have benefited from a few more months in development" and rated it a 7.2/10.