Aliens vs. Predator is, more than anything else, a game for fans.

And, as a fan, I had a lot of fun with it.

I almost feel as though this review could be titled ‘In Defense Of Aliens vs. Predator.’

For some reason AVP (this is the third AVP game, but it seems to serve as a reboot for the franchise) has created serious levels of anger and derision amongst gamers. There are people out there who don’t merely dislike the game, they hate it.

Really, there are folks online who’ve dedicated a lot of time to getting angry about this game.

The main point of contention seems to be something along the lines of ‘It didn’t live up to my expectations.’ I can understand that to a certain extent, but it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad game.

Maybe people are peeved because it’s not Modern Warfare … AVP makes no bones about what it is: a game where you rip people’s friggin spines out and sometimes eat their head. AVP is grindhouse horror, and that might be why I like it so much..

There are three campaigns: the Marine (akin to first-person survival horror), the Predator (stealth action, more emphasis on action) and Alien (also stealth action, more emphais on stealth, because you’re real damn easy to kill).

There’s also a good smattering of multiplayer modes, and that’s where the real fun is.

But, before I get ahead of myself: the single player.

The Marine, being a walking bag of meat, is the most tense because a) it’s always dark b) you’ve never got enough ammo c) every damn thing wants to kill you d) you are a puny human. Unfortunately, some of this tension is a bit cheap (you have a fallback pistol that is so woefully underpowered that you’re better off bludgeoning the monsters — also, yeah, why am I engaging in fisticuffs with a friggin ALIEN?), but otherwise the Marine campaign is a good ride.

The Predator campaign is the opposite (almost). You’re supposed to feel like a crazy tough super monster (instead of a scared puny human) and you do … sometimes. Cloaking, jumping high into a tree and pouncing on your prey is wickedly fun. Turning humans into clouds of blood with my shoulder cannon? FUN.

But I still felt weak.

Obviously, if a player didn’t have to struggle to survive, there wouldn’t be anything to the game (it’d be a movie), but I still wished there were more moments of ‘Bwahahaha! Who do you think you’re messing with?’

The Alien campaign is like the Predator campaign, but on speed. You spend more time in the dark, and you eat people’s heads while following the Queen’s orders.

Simple. Straightforward. Fun.

Run. Hide. Murder.

The worst thing about the game is the repitition of the Marines’ voices. (I’m crouched, hidden where the humans can’t see me, and I’m listening to ‘Don’t let your guard down just yet, Marines’ for the ninth time in two minutes. I started speed-killing the Marines just to that I didn’t have to hear them anymore).

The game’s AI is … pretty dumb.

Ah, but the multiplayer, complete wonderful insanity.

The game has its own Horde Mode where you’re fending off wave after wave of beasts as a Marine with three friends – awesome.

As for Death Match: get three races of creatures together, throw them in an arena, go nuts. There are Aliens crawling on the ceiling while a Predator is blasting away with his shoulder cannon and I’m trying to make sure neither of them see me so that I can torch them with a flamethrower.

Even when I died, I laughed. The fact that I could react to being killed with a sort of ‘Haha, damn, that disc chopped my friggin head right off’ speaks volumes about AVP.

Namely: this game is fun. No, it’s not redefining first person shooters. But it is a game where you can go crazy and eat people’s heads.

Final Grade: B

Aliens Vs. Predator is rated M for Mature. It is available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.