That's the type of fear Aliens vs. Predator's creators must thrive on, because that's the type of fear this game instills in just about anyone who plays it. You'll feel foolish after you jump at a sudden perceived movement on the screen, or when the soundtrack suddenly crescendos. Your breathing will be short and ragged, and your eyes will be locked on the screen, straining to make out movement in the flashing lights and dancing shadows.

It's powerful.

Since the FPS genre has literally been done to death on the PC, publishers really need an angle when they bring a new one to market. Fox and Rebellion have a great one. Not only do they have two of the coolest movie monsters ever created starring in their own game, but Rebellion has managed to create three completely unique playing experiences too. Mastering this game as the Marine will in no way help you through the Predator's or the Alien's levels, which is exactly as it should be.

I love the completely different personality of each game character. Playing as the Alien is almost primordial. All you have to rely on are your claws, tail and speed. The Alien has no health powerups, no weapons or ammo to worry about, and no armour. What it does have is blazing speed, the ability to climb on walls, and incredible jumping power. In fact, the Alien is so fast that the tracking devices used on Marine and Predator weapons can't keep up with him at top speed. The only way to refill its health, though, is to do a "headbite" on a live or dead creature or to slash at their dead bodies.

The Alien can also see "halos" around its enemies. So in a dark corridor it has a definite advantage. It's possible to enhance its vision, "hunt mode," but the halos will not appear if you use that function.

Conversely, the Colonial Marine is the consummate "Bad Ass." Hi tech firepower is the name of the game here. Pulse rifles, grenade launchers, smart guns, basically you're playing a game based closely on the Aliens movie. Marines pack a lot of firepower and can find extra ammo, health bonuses and armour, but they're slow, can't handle long falls, can't jump all that far and can be destroyed very easily.

Playing as the Marine is easily the scariest experience is AvP. You can always hear the Aliens moving around, and the gut wrenching feeling you'll get when your motion tracker beeps for the first time is worth the price of admission itself. Expect to freak out and fire wildly at nothing more than a few times.

Finally we come to the otherworldly hunter known only as "The Predator." This creature lives to hunt, which is conveyed perfectly in the game. The Predator has the coolest and most effective weaponry, in my opinion. The only thing holding this killing machine back is the hunting code it must live by. All it really means is that certain weapons can't be used while "camouflaged." Outside of the camouflaging abilities, the Predator has various view options, all of which enhance its ability to see certain enemies. It's also heavily armoured and has a very powerful jump.

The catch is that the Predator uses up energy by doing just about anything. In order to heal itself it uses energy; in order to fire most weapons it uses energy, etc. Standing still for a while will replenish its energy reserves, but the constant stream of adversaries usually makes that kind of hard to do.

The reason I've gone into so much explanation is just that Rebellion has done such an excellent job on the different play aspects of each character. Now imagine if you will, taking these three characters into a deathmatch. The experience is just as unique as the game itself.

Now, the graphic engine. The technical aspects of AvP aren't anything overly impressive, considering how robust most 3D engines are nowadays. The thing that makes AvP look so good is the special effects. When you play as the Alien you get this sort of "fish-eye" view of everything. It can be disorienting, but it's very, very cool. Likewise, the Predator's different views look like they come directly out of the film, even to the point of the infamous triangular targeting system homing in on prey. The Predator even sees things differently when he's camouflaged, just like in the movie!

Otherwise the feel of the Aliens movie is recreated through a lot of flashing lights, damaged hardware and blind turns, especially in the Colonial Marine levels.

When I first started playing Aliens vs. Predator I never bothered putting in the music CD that comes with it. Most of the time games like this are better without music anyway, right? Not in this case. The music included with this game is absolutely stunning. Again, making reference to the movie Aliens, the music in AvP resembles some of the best James Cameron action films. It's quiet most of the time, just barely audible, but then it'll just crescendo sharply, literally scaring the hell out of you. Since the game creates a lot of nervous tension in the player anyway, music like this adds to the overall effect immeasurably.

Even with the music off, though, AvP is an aural treat. The Alien and Predator sound just like their movie counterparts, and the Marine constantly hears updates from his sergeant during his missions. The sound effects for the Marine and Predator's weapons are also authentic and very, very cool.

Now that I've heaped so much praise on Aliens vs. Predator you knew there had to be a catch, right? Well, here it is. Aliens vs. Predator is one of the most challenging games I've ever played, even on training level. Although it's tough, the sheer coolness factor of the title would have kept me playing, except for one thing: you can only save your game at the end of each level. And these levels are fairly large.

That's right, if you actually survive a level for and hour and then do something stupid like get crushed by an elevator or a long fall, you need to play that whole level over again. Likewise, if there's a particularly tough section deep into a level, then consider yourself screwed.

Now, couple this with the fact that the only way to finish the entire game is by playing it on the hardest difficulty level. I've heard of challenge, but that's just ridiculous. There's no way anyone will have the patience to play each level over again in its entirety after dying over and over again in one spot.