Thoughts on possible gameplay for Alien
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The alien campaign starts right in the middle of the Marine’s and right before the pred’s. You are a single (or “a pack of” if played in multiplayer) alien warrior that was capture from the taboo ruins by the Wayland Yutani about thirty years ago. Ever since that time, you’ve been kept in an isolated tank and experimented upon. When the hive woke and ravaged the outpost facility, your cell was forgotten, and you have been kept in stasis, uncounscious, in the secret lab. That is until a group of coporate troopers (the so-called “reinforcements” called in by the marine character) decided to show up and recover you. Of course it didn’t work quite the way they expected and you broke free. Now you have to escape the laboratory while liberating all of your fellow aliens, and restore the hive destroyed by the marine.
Sample missions:
· Capture hosts: This objective is always on as a secondary objective. Simply go out there and get some live stock for the new generation. Use the “grab” ability to carry them (you might need to weaken them beforehand) back to your lair. Watch out though, if you get greedy and capture too much, someone is bound to track you back to your hive and call in reinforcements.
· Defend the hive: When any of your lairs are found, your utmost priority is to protect them. Kick the intruders out, or better yet, turn them into hosts. Be wary, the more attacks you repel, the stronger they will get.
· Break out: Go ahead, make some chaos! Try to rip open your brethren’s cages, let them run loose. Then, find the exits to the lab and clear out the opposition. This is more strategic than it might look at first, as you will have to creat a great many diversions to get corporate troops out of your way.
· Expand the hive: Break all the containement doors that surround your lairs to let the drones expand the hive. You can also find secret passageways or dig through weak rock to find new spots to infiltrate.
· Hunt the hunters: Those mingling preds have been playing bully with your specie, now is payback time. Proove them who is really the galaxy’s most efficient killer.
· The queen is dead, long live the queen: Now that you have found your way to the center of the taboo ruins you find that something is wrong: the place is in shambles and the Queen has been killed by that pesky marine! You need to find a new, strong host to carry the new queen embryo, but first you must protect the royal egg!
Stats and stat modification:
The alien has four stats that can be augmented through level up. Whenever you start a new character (at the beginning of the game or in VS matches) you will be given 20 points to spend on those stats. You must at least have a score of 1 in each stat.
Each level gives you one extra point to spend on any of those stats. The maximum for each stat is 30. In VS matches, since there is no experience, you can pre-set the level, and thus the number of points, each player will have to generate his or her character.
Here are the four stats for alien:
· Body: each point add the equivalent of 4 marine health points to your health. Also, it allows you to get a better grip on captured prey and lessens the movement penality for carrying hosts. If you intend to be the head a strong hive, this is the stat for you.
· Agility: each point adds a little to your running and climbing speed. It also affects the rate of attack of your primary weapons. It also improves your dodging. A favourite of “runner aliens” fans.
· Keen: each point adds a little to your close combat damage. It also reduces the time needed to “lock-on” for a head bite. Perfect for quick and efficient killers.
· Resilience: each point adds 1% damage reduction to your carapace. Note that this reduction doesn’t apply to environemental damage (such as fire). It also adds a little to damage from auxiliary attacks like Ramming or acid spit. For those who prefer the “praetorian” type…
Alien Abilities:
The alien doesn’t handle weapons, it grows them. So instead of primary and secondary weapons, what you basically have are abilities, some are activated by the “attack button”, other by the “item button” and others by the “use button”. Usually, you “learn” those abilities telepathically, upon encountering some of your fellow warriors which are scattered along the map. There are some abilities, however, that you acquire automatically upon reaching a certain stat score. Here’s the list.
Attack button abilities:Claws: Your basic form of attack, not all that powerfull at the start, but faster than the tail. Keep pressing the B button to create a veritable strom of slices. After a while, your claws can get upgraded to produce a “tear attack” that rips ennemies apart. You will also be able to use them to dig through weaker rock walls. You can use this to get to some areas as well as burying you in the ground for surprise attacks.
Requirements: You have it at the beginning.
Tear attack: Agility 13, Keen 8
Digging: You find it. Key ability
Tail: If you hold the B button down and go to defensive stance, moving the D-pad will attack with your tail. The tail is a lot more powerful than the claws, but it doesn’t attack as quickly (although Building up your agilty will modify that). You can upgrade it into stunning your oponent (preventing him from getting away). You can also use it as a secondary weapon. This function will impale your ennemy delivering massive damage. However, in order to do this, you must perform a “lock-on” similar to the headbite (which is also affected by your Keen).
Requirements: You have it at the beginning.
Neuro-toxin: Body 12, Keen 12
Impaling strike: Keen 10, Resilience 14
Instant head bite: You gain this after a while. It doesn’t actually add an attack in your combo, but rather it changes the killing blow for a quick headbite. This headbite only comes as a coup de grace when your oponent is about to die. It doesn’t deal anymore damage but it does replenish your health, meaning that it will be easier for you to sustain combat against many enemies.
Requirements: Agility 8, Keen 15
Ramming: An indispensable ability needed to bring down those puny human doors and barricades. Just press B while running at top speed to RAMMM! Into the closest object. If that object happens to be a living target…. Well just too bad.
Requirements: You find it. Key ability
Pounce: After you’ve acquired the ramming ability, your alien will be able to do this. The pounce can be considered an “Aerial Ram” as it is basically that. When moving at top speed, jump and hit the B button at the same type to launch into the nearest foe or wall. A special feature of the pounce brings an extra twist to this. Upon impacting a surface (or an ennemy) if you press the B button right on time, you will poounce in the opposite direction. Indeed this can be used to perform a “wall-kick jump” found in many platformers, or attack ennemies coming from both sides.
Requirements: have the Ramming ability
Multi-pounce: Body10, Agility 16
Alien Item button abilities :
(note that you must still select them in the “item menu” or via the “quick item button” [select button])
Headbite: The alien’s signature move. As in the PC avp, a successful headbite means the instant death of your ennemy and a whole lot of health for ye. The twist here however, is that in order to do a succesfull headbit you need to “lock-on” to your prey (by pressing and holding the R button, and then releasing to let the bit fly). This process takes only a second or two, but as foes increase in speed, you will find that it is increasingly difficult to accomplish. Plus you won’t be able to attack while attempting to “lock-on”. Increaseing your Keen will decrease the time needed to lock on, but the best strategy is still to sneak up undetected on your prey.
Requirements: you have is at the beginning
Feeding frenzy: This is one of the most powerful abilities available to the alien, however it has a few limitations. First the alien must have already headbitten or instant headbitten an ennemy in order to make hit’s health “higher than its normal limit”. As in the PC game, superfluous health earned that way will slowly decrease. So why not use this extra-health to make you the biggest badass around? Just Activate the feeding frenzy while having extra health and for the whole time it decreases, you will double in speed and power and send your ennemies flying! You cannot use other “item button abilities” while in that mode though, as unequiping it will terminate the frenzy.
Requirements: Find it (good luck!)
Acid drewl: Not really a means of attack, but people lying under the acid won’t find it pleasant. It is primarily used to dig through metal floors and walls, allowing you access to the areas on the other side. You have unlimited acid.
Requirement: You have to find it. Key Ability.
Acid spit: An offensive extension of the acid drewl ability. Once again you have to lock-on to spit the acid (time reduced by Keen) but a successful hit will cause progressive damage to your ennemy (influenced by Resilience) as well as disable it for a couple of seconds. In multiplayer, successfully spitting at another player will blur out his or her screen.
Requirements: Acid drewl, Resilience 11
Horror: A telepathic shriek that just blows the morale right of the human opposition. You don’t have to lock on to use the horror, however you must spend a little of your health. It will make almost every human being in the room (except thougher ones) run away in panic. Predator seem unphased by the horror. If anything it seems to render them even more aggressive!
Requirements: Keen 22
Control face hugger: You get this once you find the royal egg (you can’t use it on it however). Just stand next to an egg and press the R button to take control of the face hugger, press it again to regain control over your alien. While a face hugger, you can crawl through extremely small spaces and get into areas the alien can’t. And you can try to hug a civilian or two in the process (making instant hosts).
Requirements: Find the royal egg. Key Ability.
Secrete resin: Not a weapon, just a way to help build the hive. You can only use this ability once at a time. What it does is it creates a smaller lair where you can bring hosts and connect with the hive (see below). Be wise in where you place it though, as a flame thrower is all that is needed to make you loose all your hosts.
Requirements: Body 18, Resilience 13
Regeneration: After a while, your alien will be able to regain health even if it has not headbitten a victim. In order for the regeneration to work, you must keep the R button pressed (prevents you from attacking). You regain 1 health unit per second (resilience accelrates the process).
Requirements: Body 25
Summon alien: This ability will turn you into a force of many! Just keep the R Button pressed to call the nearest aliens to your aid (this may take a while if they are far away). It is wise to keep a small force of xenomorph near you just in case. There are two upgrades to this ability: one that will make the summoned aliens deadlier, the other will summon even more of them!
Requirements: Body 20, Resilience 15
Increase alien efficiency: Keen 19
Summon alien swarm: Resilience 20
Other alien abilities (equipables and use button):Acid blood: (instantaneous) The alien’s tradmark blood can be quite damaging upon contact. Everytime you get shot or damage, your ennemy risks being exposed to your corrosiv lifestream.
Requirements: You have it at the beginning
Long range squirt: Resilience 8
Grab: (Use button): This is the alien’s main function assoctiated with the use button. Pressing it, the alien will make a grabing attempt at any nearby foe (provided it’s a living foe). If it connects, the alien will capture it’s prey. It’s not over though because once you have acquired a host, you must carry it back to the lair. And neither your victim or it’s friends agree with that. Your prey will try to shake you of (it’s better to weaken him beforehand) and his friends will attempt to bring you down. Plus you will be slowed down by your load.
Requirements: You have it at the beginning.
Neuro-stun (prevents victim from escaping): Agility15
Connect with hive: You need this in order to have the large scale picture. When you have this ability, simply enter any hive surface and go to the menu. You will now have access to the “map” section of the menu. Also, you will be able to “communicate” with the hive, convincing it to open some passageways.
Requirement: You have to find it. Key ability.
Hive regeneration: Once you have this ability, you simply need to be in contact with a resinous surface to regenerate your health. You regenerate 1 health point per second (modified by Resilience). This can be used in pair with the “regeneration” item ability to double it’s efficiency.
Requirement: Body 16
Hive Camouflage: The hive is the alien’s natural environement, it is at an advantag there. When in the hive, this ability makes you harder to see to your foes.
Requirements: 5 Agility
Cameleonic camouflage: The hive is great, but it’s even cooler to be able to fit into any environement. With this ability, stop moving in any non-exterior environement to blend in witht the wall (becoming all but invisible). The predator’s mask function and the Marine’s IR eyepiece will still be able to pick you up.
Requirement: 21 Agility
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