When I think of Aliens vs. Predator, I think of a battle between two alien species who are on completely different sides of the spectrum.  On one hand, you have the Aliens, with their unmatched superiority in numbers, speed, and ferocity.  On the other hand, Predators are the perfect assassin.  They can camouflage themselves while using various vision modes in order to pick out their opponent from its surroundings.  It seems like no matter what, they always seem to be pitted against one another, and it usually makes for an entertaining experience.

Aliens vs Predator allows you to play as one of three species: Marines, Aliens, or Predators.  Each species’ single-player campaign revolves around the same story, but told through a different perspective with each species having their own mission to complete.  The 3 species have their pros and cons in terms of how they control, their abilities, and their mobility through the game world.  Marines rely heavily on different arms that can be picked up throughout their campaign and sonar to track movement in dark areas, Aliens use the darkness to their advantage to sneak up on unsuspecting enemies, and Predators have the ability to use camouflage and a variety of lethal weapons.

Each species definitely has their shortcomings as well, such as the Marine’s flashlight being too weak when navigating through dark spaces, or how easily disoriented the player can become when navigating across walls and ceilings as an Alien, and this is where the game’s single-player campaign can get hard to handle when playing each campaign separately.  I understand their shortcomings were necessary to keep each species balanced, but continually trying to adapt to each species can be frustrating.  Upon finishing a chapter, Aliens Vs. Predator allows you to change to another species’ campaign, but I found this feature made the overall story harder to keep track of.

Both the Marines & Predator campaigns offered a good variety of missions and delivered a story I’m sure Aliens vs Predator faithfuls would understand, but the Aliens campaign felt like a complete waste of time.  Its mission structure was, for the most part, go to point ‘x’, kill everyone in point ‘x’, rinse, repeat.  Granted, the Aliens campaign is shorter than the other two, but going through 6 chapters of this same kind of mission structure can get old very quick.

To be fair, there are some good moments during Aliens vs Predator. The brutality of the Aliens & Predator kills are some of the most gruesome I’ve seen in a game.  Heads are ripped off, bodies impaled, and spines removed all with very little effort and remorse.  What made it more brutal was seeing your enemy’s face up-close during these gruesome acts.  Needless to say, they didn’t look too happy during these moments.  Graphically, Aliens vs. Predator doesn’t disappoint either as character models are very well detailed and its dark environments keeps players on their toes, especially during the Marine campaign as their vision is greatly limited in comparison to the Aliens’ & Predators’.

Aliens vs Predator’s multiplayer seems to make more sense than what I experienced in the single-player campaign.  In fact, it almost feels like the only real reason a single-player mode was even included was to help players learn the intricacies of each species in order to compete online.  The multiplayer mode allows you to play as either of the 3 species in multiple deathmatch modes, which makes things interesting due to neither one of the 3 species were more powerful than the other.  Things get more interesting when it’s a team based multiplayer mode as having a team of at least one of the 3 species working together can make things quite challenging for the opposing team.

FINAL THOUGHT: Aliens vs. Predator will not satisfy fans of the FPS genre.  The single-player campaign does not tell an engaging story and each species’ shortcomings doesn’t make this game particularly enjoyable to play through. The multiplayer has some fun moments, especially when the 3 species are working together, but it isn’t enough to deem this a title I would recommend.

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Earlier this month, SEGA revealed they are working on another Sonic game, this time focusing on Sonic’s classic gameplay elements that we all grew up loving.  Even though it seems this will be the definitive Sonic game fans have been waiting years for, Sonic fans still can’t help but feel caution given how promising previous Sonic games looked, only to not live up to expectations.

It seems we could all breathe a little sigh of relief as the SEGA Community Manager ‘RubyEclipse’ revealed on the official SEGA forums the original Senior Level Designer for Sonic 3 is working on Sonic 4.

So, is it just Dimps? Just Sonic Team? The answer is a bit of both: Yes, Dimps is working on the game. But there’s actually more to it than just that: at the same time, we also have members of Sonic Team, including the original senior level designer from Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the SEGA Genesis working alongside them. It is most definitely a partnership, and the result of this teamwork is something many of us are excited for.

So it seems SEGA is putting all of their efforts into Sonic 4, which hopefully will be something beneficial for the gaming community as we’ve all become extremely jaded when it comes to new Sonic games.  Although, it looks like Sonic 4 could finally break the streak of bad Sonic games if all goes according to plan.

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The Japanese sure love their karaoke. And Yakuza being a Japanese game will show you how they do it. Obnoxiously carrying a tune while at the same time heating up the women, Kazuma Kiryu entertains us all!

And for those whoa aren’t familiar with Yakuza 3, a demo is now up on the PlayStation store. Banzai! Don’t know why, but I must finish all my Japanese posts with that closure. Banzai!!!

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SEGA officially announced the next sequel in the Sonic the Hedgehog series with Sonic the Hedgehog 4.  The first trailer for the game was revealed on GameSpot last night and it’s very telling.  Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is dropping the 2D sprite graphics for a more HD-friendly 3D look, but it looks like it will keep the gameplay elements that we all know and love.

The title is set to be released this summer on the Xbox LIVE Arcade, Playstation Network, and WiiWare as a downloadable title.  ’Episode 1′ in the title leads us to believe SEGA has future DLC plans for Sonic the Hedgehog 4 for future episodes in the series.

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For those of you fortunate enough to play Yakuza, whether it was an import or PS2 title, you know just how good Yakuza plays. While many say it’s a Japanese GTA, or Shenmue done PS3, everyone says Yakuza 3 coming to the US after only being a Japanese title is huge news. Release date of March 2010 is what I have it penciled in for. Anyway here are the screenshots, where you’ll see the Japan crime family in action. You can thank Sega for this…

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SEGA announced today they’ll be bringing Yakuza 3 to North America this March.  Yakuza 3 was released in Japan in Feb. 2009 to much praise by reviewers, so I’m excited to hear it will be heading our way soon!  Let’s just hope SEGA decides to keep the Japanese audio and offer subs as there can be a lot lost in translation since the game has such a heavy Japanese setting.

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A rare sighting of the mayo fairy

Well, what do we have here?  It looks like 100 more demo codes for SEGA’s upcoming hack-n-slash Bayonetta.  Instead of filling up a kiddie pool with these codes to swim in, we decided to give these away to you, the reader.

If you were unable to snag a demo code from us yesterday, then here’s your last chance to get a code for the Bayonetta demo.

1. Leave a relevant Caption for the picture above.

2. Try to make it funny!

3. One entry per user, per email

Also, please retweet the contest to your friends by clicking on the badge below since we have more than enough codes to give out.  We’ll be emailing the codes out to the first 100 commenters throughout the day.

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Thanksgiving Dinner? No, this is my Triple Fat Motorgoose!

We’ve got some great news for all of our PerezStart.com readers out there and just in time for Thanksgiving. With special thanks to SEGA, we’re coordinating a Bayonetta Code giveaway for our Xbox 360 fans. That’s right, the first 100 Caption Comments on the site will win an Xbox 360 downloadable code for the Bayonetta Demo. Our Caption Contest rules are simple, and anyone with a 360 can enter to win.

1. Leave a relevant Caption for the picture above.

2. Try to make it funny!

3. One entry per user, per email

That’s it.  Retweet this post to spread the word –>

Codes will be mailed out when 100 eligible captions are made. If you missed out, you may want to check back with us tomorrow.  I’m just saying

Like Caption Contests? Be sure to check out our God of War Demo voucher ending tomorrow.

[UPDATE] All of our 100 codes have been emailed to the caption owners below. BUT Wait! We have 100 more codes available in this post.

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Teaser Site Alert!, Sega has dropped a new site found here, teasing us with balls.  From the pic above, you can see it’s a number dispensing machine.  Yet, when you click on the handle, all you get are the same numbers over and over. “042020″ in a color scheme of “purple, green, red, blue, purple, yellow”, does this in any way spell Sonic.

Could it be news of a new Dreamcast console?  Could it be Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker 2?  Sonic Lotto?  These are pure speculations but something is going on over there, and we’re watching you’re every move Sega!

In a message from a Sega spokesperson: “What it is, we’re not saying”

We reached out for further comments.  We’ll let you know if we get some clues…  In the meantime, drop a comment letting us know what you think it is.

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If you’re a fan of party games, Let’s Tap for the Wii is a bit space consuming but an original concept nonetheless.  You’ll need a box or an object that will allow sound to travel through to get started.  So get those tissue boxes, cereal boxes and tupper ware containers handy.  Just make sure to get 4 of them for your friends and family but don’t Tap that Box too hard, she’ll break you know!

A quick tutorial guides you how to place your Wii controller upside down “A” button side down.  Yo then are shown how to navigate through a couple of menu’s using the single tap and how to select an option with the double tap.  And if you can’t master the menu by tapping pick up the Wii-mote and using the d-pad or sensor bar navigate that way as well. That’s the gist of it, so let’s get a Tap’n.

The games included with Let’s Tap remind me of the good old NES days of World Class Track Meet and the use of the Power Pad.  You may be thinking the Power Pad was made for the feet and Let’s Tap for the hands, but the idea is the same and if you cheated in World Class Track Meet *cough* then using your hands will ring a bell.  The games vary from Tap Runner to a Visualizer that allows you to splash paint onto a virtual canvas.

Tap to the finish line. In this party game called Tap Runner, you tap your way through obstacles including hurdles and trampolines.  I found the tapping to be a bit on the sensitive side.  For example, I found using my fingers lightly was better than my hand ie. playing the Bongos.  The hurdles inserted are a minor challenge and to jump over them you have to tap the box a bit harder than your finger taps.

Rhythm Fingers DDR. If you enjoy Dance Dance Revolution, this mini-game will be most fitting.  The onscreen DDR-like appearance to this mini-game is the most fun.  You’ll notice that different colored circles flash across a line which represent the firmness of your tap.  Blue circles are light taps, green are medium and orange represent firm hits.  Don’t get to carried away as you’ll be promptly reminded to keep the hits softer on the box.  To add, I found myself re-positioning the Wii-mote several times due to the tupper ware I used.   You’ll then have to tap the icon looking for a “perfect” timed hit.  Miss a beat, and you’ll ruin your streak.  Similar to DDR dance patterns.  Getting the timing can take you a couple of beats, but shortly after you should be hitting the beat with a “good” and “perfect” within no time.  The songs are very “Techno-Japanese”, so expect fast paced songs.  Very fun, best mini-game bundled in Let’s Tap.

Silent Jenga? In the mini-game Silent Blocks, you have what looks like a stack of pancakes but with a star on top rather than whip cream.  Your objective is sort of like the wood puzzle game “Jenga”.  You’ll need to select a block and tap of the pieces without knocking over the star.  Careful, cause if you tap too hard the stack of blocks will come tumbling down.  Although it’s quick to learn and a bit repetitive, I found this game fun to play with a large crowd since whoever knocked the stack over was Tar’d and Feather’d!

Tap side-scroller and visual-tap. Since “Let’s Tap” was created by Sonic the Hedgehog creator Yuji Naka, there’s no surprise that a Sonic-like character would be used in one of the mini-games. In Bubble Voyager you can play the level Endless Voyage in solo mode or Battlefield with a friend. Your objective is to tap the character across a side-scrolling board filled with mines trying to collect stars with km traveled as your main goal. The further you get, the higher the score. I found this game to be very sensitive to tapping since the more you tapped, it only caused your character to fly upwards. So timed taps helps you avoid the bombs and avoid you losing your health. I’ve never been a fan of any visualizers so I will try to be curt with you. It’s the 5th mini-game and it’s kinda boring after 5 minutes or as long as you want to tap. You can create combo firework displays, tap a beat of your choice and you’ll unlock a firework. Or bounce balls into the air trying to get them into clear cups. wooo hoo. Finally make ripples in the water, I can easily do that with the bubbles in my shorts.

Pros
Rhythm Tap, DDR like with cool Japanese tracks
Innovative controls
Play with friends
Under $30

Cons
Lack of peripherals to play, yes even a box (In US version)
Low quantity of mini-games
Visualizer

The Wii is known for their innovative gameplay and Let’s Tap does a pretty good job at fulfilling that quality. If you’re having some friends over and everyone has runny noses, Let’s Tap and a 5 pack of Kleenex’s should hold you for an hour.

7/10

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