Eleven years ago, Rebellion Developments released Aliens Vs. Predator for the PC. Since then there has been countless horrible movies but no actual gaming product. It’s now 2010 and Rebellion themselves are releasing a new Aliens Vs. Predator game. So how is it? We talk about the demo after the jump.

Having interesting gameplay is what sets you apart in the first-person shooter genre, and that’s where Aliens Vs. Predator excels. In the demo, we’re allowed to play only a simple Deathmatch, but this game mode honestly lets you learn a lot about the game and how it works.

The demo level is frustrating but I can definitely see why they chose it. The dark, cavernous maze of tunnels is a near balanced map for all three species you can play as. Oddly, I found the map to be biased towards the humans. I went into the demo expecting to like the humans least of the three playable species but I actually performed best with them, although i’m not sure whether or not this is just the standard shooter fan inside me. The cramped spaces made the available shotgun absolutely devastating, able to one shot kill most foes if you were fast enough. Speed is key.

When playing as the Aliens I found it particularly frustrating. The only time I managed to get clean kills was when I spied a Predator from a distance. The Predator’s camouflage is disabled against the Aliens, so it’s extremely easy to sneak up and bite or claw them. The Aliens ability to walk on all surfaces is unique but not particularly helpful in this level. The humans seems to flash their lights on you easily, so to actually get a kill you need to be very, very good at their somewhat complicated controls. Aliens are melee only, so you need to be quick and sly to get up close and personal.

The Predator is almost a medium between the humans and Aliens. The humans are easy to control but have no interesting abilities while the Aliens almost seem too unusual. The Predator’s mix of camouflage, melee hits and heavy weapons is a balanced creature. While it’s easy to stick on your camo and run through the humans clawing all their faces off, you become easy picking for the Aliens. However, being defensive and using a balance of weapons and physical combat makes you quick the powerhouse. Unfortunately, your health isn’t fantastic and a human with decent aim can take you down very quickly. The Predator’s jumping action is a good addition, but it simply isn’t useful in the demo level at all. No point in jumping around tunnels unless you simply want to get killed.

The demo itself didn’t feature any visible bugs or glitching, although I can say that it takes quite awhile to actually get in a game. I’m sure the final product will correct that though and i’m sure the demo will become more populated over the week as yesterday was it’s first day available for download. Check out Aliens Vs. Predator’s demo for yourself, available now on Xbox Live.