Aliens Versus Predator: Extinction - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Aliens versus Predator: Extinction is a video game released in 2003 for the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

and Xbox

Xbox

The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

. It is a real-time strategy

Real-time strategy

Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....

game in which an Alien hive, a clan of Predators

Predator (alien)

The Predator is a fictional extraterrestrial species featured in the Predator science-fiction franchise, characterised by its trophy hunting of other dangerous species for sport, including humans and its fictional counterparts, Aliens....

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.

Gameplay

Unlike as in the most other real-time strategy

Real-time strategy

Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....

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.

Differences between the PS2 and Xbox versions

The Xbox version has a higher framerate and less aliasing

Aliasing

In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing refers to an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable when sampled...

Reception

The game received mixed but overall positive 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 out of 10.

Gameplay

Marine

Predator

Alien

Differences between the PS2 and Xbox versions

Reception

See also

PS2 version

Xbox version