Aliens Vs Predator demo on Steam

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

To be fair, we did get into quite a lot of melee fights and I was as surprised as you how much I dominated them. In melee they should be about equal there. Usually in melee against xenos I fail completely.

You should block more.

Or focus leap/attack.

I was happy with my accidental suicide/kill with one of the mines though. Felt very "Predator" that.

[Doc ock rokc]

Originally Posted by Hawk

To be fair, we did get into quite a lot of melee fights and I was as surprised as you how much I dominated them. In melee they should be about equal there. Usually in melee against xenos I fail completely.

You should block more.

Or focus leap/attack.

I was happy with my accidental suicide/kill with one of the mines though. Felt very "Predator" that.

every time i blocked you just struck me right through it. Then their was times I was turned by your punches allowing for the trophy kill also you where always in the wide open area so I couldn't get close to you with the Leap attack
also I think i was laging cause You jittered more then once

[Arcanum]

Okay so I got this on both my 360 and PS3 and I've been playing the crap out of it over the weekend -- on my 360, I played one match on my PS3 to see the controls, but the messed up matchmaking led me back to the 360. I prefer the PS3 controls, because R1 and L1 are much better than the bumpers for melee attacking, but I'm pretty much used to the bumpers after an entire weekend of playing. Anyway I kind of just glazed over this thread so here's my thoughts on the demo.

Once you get used to the intricacies of each species, everything feels really balanced. I noticed a few complaints about the melee combat between preds and aliens, but once you figure out how the melee system works it's just a matter of skill/luck. For those who haven't figured it out, block only works on light attacks, light attacks interrupt heavy attacks, and heavy attacks break through blocks. Lunge attacks are also considered light attacks, so they can be blocked. Basically the combat boils down to a fast-paced game of rock-paper-scissor.

Anyway, most of the time I'm finishing in the top 2, if not then top 4, with some pretty heated matches. The best times I've had were when I was playing with a friend and we both managed to be Predators, and the other 4 players were Aliens.

Oh and I also think I noticed a comment about why there's only 2 predators. It's actually because the demo has Species Balancing turned on, with the Species Ratio set to 1 Pred, 2 Aliens, 2 Marines. (press Y on 360 (and I assume triangle on PS3) to see the match settings when in the lobby). Which is why in an eight-person lobby you can only have 2 preds, and a max of 4 aliens or marines. One can also assume that in the full game the host will have control over the balance toggle, as well as the ratio.

Oh and Hawk, let me know the next time you plan on playing on the PS3 and I'll switch over and play with you.


edit -- oh and if this post seems a little "all over the place", it's because it's 3:30am and I'm about to go to sleep.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

Originally Posted by Doc ock rokc

every time i blocked you just struck me right through it. Then their was times I was turned by your punches allowing for the trophy kill also you where always in the wide open area so I couldn't get close to you with the Leap attack
also I think i was laging cause You jittered more then once

That was the heavy attack breaking through, which also stuns allowing for trophy kills. But I think I was more often using light attack, like when we ran into each other in one of the small rooms downstairs, that was all light attack spam. Only time I remember using heavy was when we were fighting near the ramps and you backed off, so I figured I had time to start the animation and ran at you while he wound up the strike.

You were good at avoiding the caster though, almost never got a shot off at you.

Arcanum, I may be on at any point today. It's sunday, I have no plans.

EDIT; Oh and Doc, did you have auto transition turned on or off? It may or may not help, I still need to try xeno with auto transition on myself because I suck as xeno.

[Arcanum]

Originally Posted by Hawk

That was the heavy attack breaking through, which also stuns allowing for trophy kills.

.......

Arcanum, I may be on at any point today. It's sunday, I have no plans.

EDIT; Oh and Doc, did you have auto transition turned on or off? It may or may not help, I still need to try xeno with auto transition on myself because I suck as xeno.

One thing I noticed about the heavy-attack-stun-then-grab-for-insto-kill is that sometimes Aliens or Predators can break free from the grab. I have no idea how it's done, if you need to push a certain button at the right time, mash the living shit out of the buttons, or if it's reliant on your current health when grabbed; but a lot of the times when I tried this my grab has been broken out of, and I've also managed it a few times but I still don't know how.

Also sounds good, I'll check in on PSN every now and then today.

Also also, how exactly does the auto transition work? Does pushing RT/R2 act as a toggle for it? The only time I would push RT/R2 would be when I was on the ceiling and I wanted to drop to the floor.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

You break out of trophy animations automatically if your health is above a certain level. Stealth kills from behind are unavoidable though. Strangely I don't think I've ever broken free of a TK, either I keep getting stealth killed or only get TKed after sustaining serious injury.


Auto transition just removes the need to ever have to press r2 to move onto a wall/ceiling. You still press r2 to drop and revert to right side up view, but if you want to run up a wall then you only have to run up to it. On the downside it means if you accidentally move too close to a crate or wall you'll instantly start moving up it, so you have to be a bit more aware of objects near you. Still I found it easier on, because I don't have to hold r2 indefinately.

[Mirai Gen]

Originally Posted by Hawk

Auto transition just removes the need to ever have to press r2 to move onto a wall/ceiling. You still press r2 to drop and revert to right side up view, but if you want to run up a wall then you only have to run up to it. On the downside it means if you accidentally move too close to a crate or wall you'll instantly start moving up it, so you have to be a bit more aware of objects near you. Still I found it easier on, because I don't have to hold r2 indefinately.

I kind of like manual control actually, because on PC holding M3 is cakewalk if you ever want to make a wall transition.

What I'm trying to get used to is pouncing - xenos while sprinting have a crazy leap distance. It totally kicks ass but I'm trying to aim it right and predict distances. This is why the xenos are the best class.