The Retro Critic

Predator 2

You know how some movie sequels split audiences into two halves? With one half claiming the follow-up film is an underrated gem and the other just not going for it at all?

For example, I really enjoy the likes of Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom and Ghostbusters II but they’re not for everyone. When it comes to Predator 2, however, that’s one I just didn’t get back in the day…

Like, how did we get from Arnie “getting to the choppa,” having his pals get picked out one after the other in the jungle to a weird Danny Glover flick about voodoo practitioners and drug lords in the city?

Whatever, I’m not here to talk about the movie. Need to re-watch it anyway, if only for Gary Busey. No, I’m here to talk about the game!

Predator 2 on the Master System is a weird one, mostly because of what we’ve come to expect from that type of game. First-person shooters are the norm now with games like Aliens VS Predator (see Jason’s top notch review of that one HERE) using their Doom-style genre to scare the pants off you, as horror games should.

With Predator 2, though, you don’t have time to be scared: you’re far too busy kicking butt!

REALLY slowly.

You’re given a Double Dragon-style side-scrolling action set up to work with where you’re Lt. Michael Harrigan going around shooting at other dudes and saving hostages. You’re slightly faster than everyone else but you still move ridiculously slowly. This means that most of the time you’re outrunning the screen while re-enacting a slow-mo version of that Benny Hill ending to the sound of what is most certainly not the Predator theme.

Already I don’t get this game: where are the Predators?

I like how you don’t even need to kill your enemies for the game to continue, you could literally just keep moving around, not get killed and the game would go on regardless. Oh there’s all sorts of stuff going on while you’re running: people coming out of manhole covers, helicopters, random killers behind windows.

Think RoboCop vs The Terminator as designed by the Looney Tunes.

And not awesome.

At the end of each level you face a boss, ranging from a taxi cab…

… to a truck.

Until, of course, you leave the streets and rooftops for the alien ship. Sadly though, the ship isn’t quite as amazing as you’d expect. Basically you’re doing exactly the same thing you were doing before except the floor is completely dark so you can barely see the dudes you’re shooting at. On the plus side, the boss IS a Predator, or Predators rather, who attack you while standing still like Madame Tussauds wax statues. It’s pretty easy and really underwhelming. Overall, this Predator 2 is one repetitive, bland-looking effort and frankly a poor excuse for a Predator game.

There’s far worse out there but it’s just not really worth it.

Predator 2 on the Sega Genesis goes for an angled top-down isometric view, ups the speed of all characters, polishes the controls, adds badass sound effects and improves its graphics to create a game that far outdoes its Master System equivalent. Everything looks much more detailed and the levels don’t feel like they last forever this time, mostly because it’s fun to shoot and destroy things. The levels are the same but, again, fare much better. For one thing, the Predator shows up way earlier and way more often!

Which, in a game called PREDATOR 2 is only fair, I think.

The alien ship also looks way better in that… you can see it! Hilariously, however, the final Predators you battle just tap-dance up and down the screen, then a bunch of them show up, you run away and the ship leaves. Occasionally you’ll then be told off for not having saved enough hostages but otherwise yeah, that’s the end. Honestly, apart from some dodgy Labyrinth-style rooftop design…

… and that so-so ending, I’ve got no real problem with this Genesis effort. It took the Master System game and just kinda fixed it to create a genuinely entertaining, fair-looking, fast-paced game which does the movie far more justice. It’s bloody, action-packed, its controls are much more fluid, it’s got a funky soundtrack and it does try to vary its levels a bit despite the fact you’re still going around shooting at things and saving hostages who say: “YEAH!”

All in all, Predator 2 may not be everybody’s favourite Predator flick but the Genesis game is worth a shot. It’s far from perfect and there are countless better Genesis games out there but for what it is, it’s not bad. You might want to keep your Master System aside for this one, though, as well as your Commodore 64 because…

Yeah…

*gets to the choppa*