Alien vs. Predator (SNES)

Hit it or Quit it?

Year: 1993 -- Developer: Activision -- Publisher: Activision

First impression:
Like the last review, I know nothing about this movie except that most people seem to think I should have seen it.  Intro storyboard screens.  Aliens attacked humans, humans called for help, the call fell upon the predator.  I'm guessing platformer again, like Alien 3.

WHOOOOA, beat 'em up.  Really?? WTF.  Looks cheesy as hell, but it's definitely a beat 'em up.  Looks look sticky controls and repetition.  Not expecting much, but maybe it will surprise me.. like an alien popping out of a chest.. or something.

Also, the music is super annoying.  I can't tell if it's supposed to be the movie music, but it's just shrill, and when it's not shrill, it's repetitive.

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Fooled around for: 10 minutes
For the Predator supposedly being such a badass, in this game, he just sucks ass.  The game starts as soon as you press start, no lead-in, just a sampling of the three power-ups you can get.  One is a projectile blade thing, one is generic meat-on-bone and the other third might be the worst power-up I've ever seen.  So the predator is supposed to be awesome and go stealth, right?  Well, that's the power up, except all it does is make it so you can't even see your own sprite to fight with.  WTF!  It's more like a power down.

What a great idea!  

The controls are even worse than I anticipated.  If you are button mashing, as you tend to in games like this, you can't even turn around until you seriously just stop pressing the button for a second.  The combos are clunky, the other pick-up weapons suck.  You can start a grab by either pressing X or just standing next to them, so right as you think you are going to hit that sweet combo, you just stop and grab them and stare at them.

I tried the Continue method of Always Be Jump-kicking, and it definitely doesn't work in this game.  In a startling turn of events, the CPU enemies actually know this tactic and use it relentlessly.  And they have a longer reach than you, so they can hit you before you even get to them.

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Hit it or Quit it?
I already don't like beat 'em ups that much, unless it's really breaking the standard mold somehow, but this one not only makes me like them less, but I also don't want to see the movie.  Quit it with stealth on so it doesn't see me leaving in the morning.