Aliens versus Predator: Extinction

Aliens versus Predator: Extinction was the first Alien vs. Predator game released for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Extinction is a real time strategy that can be played from the viewpoint of the Aliens, Predators or Marines. The object of the game is to progress each of these groups, building a bigger hive, taking over territory as marines and winning hunts as the predators. The game was a departure from the PC versions which had all been first person shooters.

Story
The storyline of the game involves humans arriving on a newly colonised world and discover an alien (xenomorph) colony. Initially, they attempt to study the creatures unaware that a hunting party of Predators are also present on the planet attempting to stalk their favoured species, the 'hard meat' (Xenomorphs). At first, only minor skirmishes occur between the humans and the Predators which escalates to a war between the two sides. While this is happening, the colony of Aliens attempts to escape and maintain its dominance over the two factions.

Gameplay
Resources and style are maintained differently between the three different races.

Humans gain credits by repairing atmospheric generators with their engineers. These generators produce a steady run of credits until they finally break down. They also gain credits by killing their enemies. The Comm Officer is the leader in charge and can call in additional reinforcements into beacon sites on the map, these are deployed from a dropship.

Predators must hunt their prey and take their heads as trophies to gain more points. They are the more expensive faction to maintain and possess a large number of upgrades including cloaks and better vision modes. The predator shrine is their HQ unit which is mobile and contains heat beams for defense. They also allow the summoning of new predator units are which deployed by drop-pods anywhere visible though cannot be dropped into caves for obvious reasons.

The aliens are the more different in managements for they gain infestation points for every enemy unit that is implanted by a face hugger. The face hugger themselves are created by the Alien Queen which constantly produces eggs. As such, the Queen is vital to the survival of the colony and is a powerhouse in combat. The queen has to remain stationary to create an ovipostory which creates the eggs and in this state are vulnerable to attack.

Unlike strategy games, Extinction has no concept of infrastructure as everything is mobile. There is a population cap that only allows a set number of units in the game and the only form of 'fixed' structures can be moved or are defensive. These include human sentry guns, alien hive nodes and predator mobile guns. The units also make heavy use of upgrades and special abilities to further enhance the units in battle.

Predator plot
The Predator campaign initially involves encountering humans and aliens but also involves fights with computer controlled predators. The story premise is that the Ancients, who are the oldest and the leaders of the predators, are determining which is the best hunting tribe. The victor then is awarded the right to use the military predators who are far more powerful. After five skull hunts, the sixth mission assigned is to terminate a predator who willingly surrendered to the humans and to capture a human researcher involved. In the end, the predators find out that the humans have been attempting to create their own version of the aliens called the 'K-Series' - a 'yellow' breed that eventually escapes. The head researcher also was capable of mixing the genetic material of predators and aliens creating a Predalien Queen. The predators' final task is to destroy this hive, then use a thermonuclear device set by one of the Ancients (the mission fails if he dies before the task is complete).

Alien plot
The Alien campaign involves the alien colony awakening from its hibernation within a cave complex which has humans invading it. The colony infects the human trespassers and escapes the caves which are then targeted by the marines, destroying it. The Queen then escapes to a tropical environment, where the hive encounters Predators. While this is happening, the human scientists capture some of the aliens and attempt to breed their own species, creating a new 'yellow' alien faction called the 'K-Series'. Testing of this new species involves its destruction by the 'pure breed' aliens who do not tolerate genetic changes. This splinter colony of the pure breed aliens is eventually set free when a predator strike team attacks the human installation and escape with the head researcher. The final mission involves the aliens fighting not only the predators but humans and the 'yellow' alien faction which has managed to survive.

Marine plot
The Marine campaign involves a squad of elite marines to wipe out all threats to the local human population. The marines then come across an unidentified object that attacks them. The marines win, but learn of two more devices that were made to cloak a predator base on the planet. The marines are also assigned to assist Dr. Kidinsky's alien project by retrieving two alien eggs and a praetorian in a royal cocoon. Once the cloaking devices have been destroyed, five predator anti aircraft turrets must be destroyed before assaulting the predator base. Along the way, hostile humans try to stop and kill the marines (they are thought to be bounty hunters) throughout certain levels. The final mission involves finding Dr. Kidinsky in the predator base, who is dead, destroying an entire alien hive, and using an enhanced synthetic to place a powerful bomb.

Alien units
Created by the Queen, these eggs contain either facehuggers or praetorian facehuggers.
 * Egg/Praetorian Egg

Upgrade: Hyperfertility produces giant swollen eggs that contain up to four facehuggers.


 * Facehugger/Praetorian Facehugger

Impregnates host life-forms with a chestburster. It is very vulnerable if not on hivespace webbing or a carrier.

Upgrade: chestburster splits into twins when producing simpler Aliens such as the Drone and the Runner.

Very vulnerable alien unit that emerges from an infected hosts mid-section and quickly transforms into an alien cocoon.
 * Chestburster

Stationary alien unit which creates hivespace and can detects cloaked predators. All aliens heal quickly when on hivespace.
 * Hive Node

The weakest of the full-sized Aliens. This worker unit is lightly armored. Drones are produced by Oswocs and have the special ability to lay down Hive Nodes for the cost of Infestation points.
 * Drone/Cystic Drone

Upgrade: Spits a cyst-filled acidic froth on potential hosts. Aliens grown from these cystic hosts are tougher.

An average fighter with exceptional speed, the Runner attacks by biting its opponents. Runners have an alternate pounce attack, which increases the damage of its opening assault. It also explodes violently if destroyed by fire. It is able to detect Predator cloaking and track enimies.
 * Runner/Cystic Runner

Upgrade: Capacity to infect enemies turning their vital fluids black, making them sick and vulnerable.

The Warrior is an excellent all-around fighter produced by humans.
 * Warrior/Cystic Warrior

Upgrade: Ability to return to hive with partial health to regenerate when heavily wounded. Violently spews pursureized acid when injured.

The Predalien is a heavily armored, yet relatively slow, Alien unit. It has an advanced metabolism and a vampyric bite, both of which allow it to regenerate quickly. This tough Alien is produced by Predators and can withstand a significant number of hit points.
 * PredAlien/Cystic PredAlien

Upgrade: Growth hormones secreted during battle allows Predaliens to gain 50 hit points for every enemy killed. Predaliens who survive multiple battles can become unstoppable juggernauts.

One step below the Alien Queen, the Praetorians are fast and can inflict devastating amounts of damage on their opponents. A Praetorian can become Queen if the current Queen on the map is killed.Is able to detect Predator cloaking.
 * Praetorian

Upgrade: Cabability to morph into either a Carrier or a Ravager at a cost of infestation points.

An Alien unit that is morphed from an upgraded Praetorian. Carrier units can carry up to six Facehuggers on their backs. Feeds exadrenaline to facehuggers allowing them to surrvive longer when not on hive space.
 * Carrier

Upgrade: Power to carry up to 12 facehuggers. Explosivly sprays acid (and facehuggers) when killed.

Morphed from a Praetorian, the Ravager is the most devastating Alien fighter. Any unit killed by a Ravager dies instantly, which excludes it from being used as a viable host.
 * Ravager

Upgrade: Ravager regenerates to 1/2 its max hp when killed, rendering practically immortal when on Hive web. It can be killed by enemies with a high attack rate.Fire prevents regieniss.

The largest and most formidable Alien unit, only one Queen can exist at any time. The Queen produces Eggs by excreting an eggsack, but while on the eggsack, she cannot move or attack.
 * Queen (HQ unit)

Upgrade: Secretes pheremone that drives transbreed (Drone, Warrior, Runner, PredAlien castes) into a frenzy, increasing their attack rate and the damage done.

Predator units
The Brawler possesses average skills in melee combat, but this Predator’s effective range is very short.Makes a very good scout.
 * Brawler

Upgrade: Once upgraded, the Brawler inflicts double damage and can decapitate enemies with a powerful strike.

The Hunter is a ranged Predator armed with a Plasmacaster. The Shoulder Cannon is capable of a fair amount of damage and has good range. It fires "burst plasma", which explodes into shrapnal once it hits its target.
 * Hunter

Upgrade: Plasma caster can fire "burst plasma", "fire plasma" (which ignites targets), and "dark plasma" (which deals continuous damage).

The Spearmaster Predator attacks with a Spear weapon (Combi Stick), which is capable of hitting all targets surrounding him at once.Can parry melee attackers and facehugger.
 * Spearmaster

Upgrade: Upgrading this unit introduces the Plasma Spear, which adds plasma damage to the raw spear damage.

A sniper unit with very long range, the Stalker Predator brandishes deadly spears that do damage over time.
 * Stalker

Upgrade: Turns ordinary spears into harpoons which deal extended damage, slow the enemy down, and allow Predators to see enemy line of sight.

This Predator wields 3 Disc weapons that deal large amounts of damage to multipul enimies. The Diskmaster must wait for the Disc to return to him before he can attack again.
 * Disc Master

Upgrades: The Predator gains 9 chainsaw edged disks that stick into tougher enemies and deal extended damage.

Heavily armoured predator that can kill any enemy within four hits of its plasma sythe.
 * Vanguard

Upgrades: Upgrade carries a "killscreen generator" which shoots down enemy bullets (Can be overwhelmed).

Stationary Predator turret that can heal itself when not under attack.
 * Predgun

Armed with the Blazer, this military Predator wields a fiery laser beam that sweeps and burns multiple enemies in one burst. Although this unit cannot Cloak, it is heavily armored and has the ability to Medicomp.
 * Military Blazer

Upgrades: This unit, when upgraded, comes equipped with dual Blazer cannons.

This military Predator is armed with the Hydra, which fires electrical missles at multiple targets, and will automatically acquire a target if left to its own devices. When manually targeted, the Hydra concentrates all of its fire on a single enemy. If surrounded will fire multiple missiles at all targets within range.
 * Military Hydra

Upgrade: The missles scan to see how many enemies are nearby and split to attack all enemies at once. Devastating when combined with the Missle Barrage.

The only predator unit that can order troops, upgrades, and vision modes. It is Mobile, tough, and well armed with a multi-beam heat gun that can fire flame lasers while moving and targets multiple enemys. It is self healing when not under attack and recharges the energy of nearby predators.
 * Shrine (HQ unit)

Heavy predator unit which carries a purifying nuclear device.
 * Ancient NukeCarrier (Only in Predator level 7)

Human units
Basic Marine unit armed with the powerful Pulse Rifle machinegun.
 * Infantry

Upgrade: Grenade Launcher attachment and Acid armor.

Marine unit armed with a Smartgun, which inflicts a massive amount of damage to lightly armoured units.
 * Smartgunner

Upgrade: Radioactive shells that exponentially increase standard Smartgun damage and stop Alien roaming regeneration.

Scout Marine armed with Motion Tracker and Pistol. The pistol does only a small amount of damage, but its Motion Tracker uncovers cloaked or hidden enemy units. Because it is an artificial human, the Synthetic does not set off Alien Eggs.
 * Synthetic

Upgrade: Combat Mods that evolve the Synthetic into a better attacking unit.

Healing Marine unit with ability to heal friendly Marine units. Medic heals any nearby wounded units, or you can order Medic to heal specific units.
 * Medic

Upgrade: Ability to heal permanent damage and other negative effects.

Flamethrower Marine with Alien Protection Environmental Suit. Suit provides increased resistance to Alien acid and prevents wearer from being face-hugged while alive.
 * Flamethrower

Upgrade: Enhanced Radioactive Flamethrower that causes longer lasting burns and stop Alien roaming regeneration.

Marine armed with deadly accurate Sniper Rifle. Rifle has long range and does a large amount of damage. Downside is its long cool time.
 * Sniper

Upgrade: Sledgehammer upgrade, which improves Sniper Rifle performance.

Marine with SADAR Rocket Launcher which deals a lot of damage at the point of impact and a smaller amount of damage in the area surrounding its target. The SADAR is limited by a long cool time and a minimum firing range.
 * SADAR Unit

Upgrade: Enhance the SADAR with 4 barrled Rocket Launcher that deals flame damage.

Well-armoured, heavy firing auto cannon that withstands more damage than any human. Its sensors defeat predator cloaking and allow nearby marines to "see" invisible enemys.
 * Sentry Gun

Upgrade: Heavier damage and longer range.

Heavily armoured and well-armed for assault in different environments. High rate of fire
 * Exosuit

Upgrade: Carries Twin M103 miniguns that fire simultaneously with an"Extreme" rate of fire.

The Comm Tech is where the Marine commander requests new units and equipment to be delivered by the Dropship. Additionally, he has the ability to detect and uncover cloaked or hidden units.
 * Comm Tech (HQ unit)

Upgrade: Adds the ability to call in Air Strikes (satalite directed laser beam that incinerates targets.

Unplayable units
When facehugged these cattle-like creatures spawn drones.
 * Oswoc

When facehugged these dog-like creatures spawn runners.
 * Kurn

When facehugged these crab-like creatures also spawn runners.
 * Kriltic

Not much is known about this Predator version of the Alien Queen, except that she is stronger, is four meters bigger than a normal Queen, and that she also uses an egg-sac to produce xenomorph eggs. She looks like an Alien Queen with the appearance of a PredAlien. She is eventually destroyed by a group of Predators.
 * PredAlien Queen (PredQueen)

A large creature that has ravaged many predator hunts.
 * Gro'Tye

Elder predator that has survived many hunts.
 * Predator Ancient