I'm a little conflicted on this one. It could have been amazing. The graphics are nice and clean. The feedback on the weapons feels good as well. On top of all that, it succeeds in capturing the oppressive atmosphere of the Alien films. Played with headphones, it can actually be kinda scary at times.
The problem is everything else. Every floor is a literal maze with no rhyme or reason. Everything looks exactly the same, with no guideposts to speak of. Opening the map tanks the frame rate. You are given absolutely no direction, and with levels this size, that's a problem. Changing floors also resets the map, meaning you have to fill it in again. It would have been all right in the days of Wolfenstein 3D, but Doom 2 was already out by the time this game's release.
So the game has no level design to speak of, and even then, you can be punished for making a wrong move. When an Alien dies, they leave a pool of acid that doesn't go away. That means you take damage when you step in it. Normally that isn't a problem, just go around the acid. But in certain areas, particularly in the air vents, you can't just go around, so you wind up taking unavoidable damage. You also have no recourse if you run out of ammo. You have no melee attack as the marine. This is absolutely inexcusable. Wolfenstein gave you a knife, Doom gave you a knuckleduster. Some people have argued that if you play it like a survival horror it makes sense. These people are wrong. System Shock also came out in 1994, and you could pick up melee weapons lying about. Resident Evil 1 started you with a knife. Even the progenitor of survival horror, Alone in the Dark, let you punch and kick enemies if you had no other recourse.
All in all, it's a great concept let down by numerous fundamental design flaws. Unavoidable damage, crappy level design, and blatantly unfair gameplay make this a relic best left in the past. Critics at the time loved it, and some people like it still. This is all cope for the fact that they purchased an Atari Jaguar. Fortunately, Rebellion Entertainment had another shot with the franchise, learned from their mistakes, and made a much better Aliens vs. Predator game on PC in 1999. Play that instead of this dinosaur of a game.
The problem is everything else. Every floor is a literal maze with no rhyme or reason. Everything looks exactly the same, with no guideposts to speak of. Opening the map tanks the frame rate. You are given absolutely no direction, and with levels this size, that's a problem. Changing floors also resets the map, meaning you have to fill it in again. It would have been all right in the days of Wolfenstein 3D, but Doom 2 was already out by the time this game's release.
So the game has no level design to speak of, and even then, you can be punished for making a wrong move. When an Alien dies, they leave a pool of acid that doesn't go away. That means you take damage when you step in it. Normally that isn't a problem, just go around the acid. But in certain areas, particularly in the air vents, you can't just go around, so you wind up taking unavoidable damage. You also have no recourse if you run out of ammo. You have no melee attack as the marine. This is absolutely inexcusable. Wolfenstein gave you a knife, Doom gave you a knuckleduster. Some people have argued that if you play it like a survival horror it makes sense. These people are wrong. System Shock also came out in 1994, and you could pick up melee weapons lying about. Resident Evil 1 started you with a knife. Even the progenitor of survival horror, Alone in the Dark, let you punch and kick enemies if you had no other recourse.
All in all, it's a great concept let down by numerous fundamental design flaws. Unavoidable damage, crappy level design, and blatantly unfair gameplay make this a relic best left in the past. Critics at the time loved it, and some people like it still. This is all cope for the fact that they purchased an Atari Jaguar. Fortunately, Rebellion Entertainment had another shot with the franchise, learned from their mistakes, and made a much better Aliens vs. Predator game on PC in 1999. Play that instead of this dinosaur of a game.