Aliens vs. Predator

Gore Galore

In spite of all the Predator’s toys, it was the up-close wristblade combat that provided the biggest surprise of the day. You see, in the films, Predators have a tendency to keep the skulls of their slain prey, and in AvP the Predator has an animated “trophy kill” that is genuinely one of the most spectacularly violent sequences we’ve ever seen in a game — and we’ve played a lot of games.

As the kill was initiated, a terrified Marine was hauled up into the middle of the screen by his throat. The unfortunate victim’s struggling lasted a half-second or so before the Predator’s scaly hands twisted his neck, accompanied by a crunch like that of raw celery, popping his head off like the lid of a Pringles tube. Naturally, a sizeable portion of the hapless grunt’s spine followed, and, as the Predator drew the head back down to inspect it, we realized that the Marine was still rolling his eyes and gasping his last, with nothing but bloodied, glistening vertebrae beneath his chin. Cue an intake of breath from us that was clearly audible even above Rebellion’s weapons-grade sound system.

Now, we’re not tremendously squeamish when it comes to virtual viscera, but this was several measures more graphic than anything we’ve seen recently — so much so that we’d wager it’ll be cut from the final game to avoid an Adults Only rating in the U.S. “The trophy kills are a big debate,” Kingsley tells us. “This game is obviously based on R-rated movies, and we want to make sure it’s very clearly a Mature-rated game. “Some games are for kids, but we’re not making this game for anyone other than adults. That’s very clear, and within that context, I think the violence is part of the character and the world — we’re talking about a fantasy world here and fantasy creatures, and about trying to build up a mythos. I remember the first time I saw one of the particular Predator kills, everybody went, ‘Oooh’ — but it’s what the Predator does in the movies.” Extreme, but accurate.

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