Action Vault has conducted a new interview on Aliens Vs. Predator 2, the three-class first-person shooter sequel being hatched at Monolith. Lead designer William Westwater is cross-examined about the game's setting in the two popular sci-fi franchises, the particular attributes of the three species, the single-player missions and multi-player game modes, what makes the game stand out from other first-person shooters, and more. Here is an excerpt:

Action Vault: Which aspects of development would you consider the most challenging up to this point?

William Westwater: The whole project has been extremely challenging. The Aliens can walk on the walls. We have three species to balance, and each has at least two vision modes - the Predator has four. Because we're using lightmaps instead of Gouraud shading, like the original game, implementing these vision modes required a lot of experimentation. On top of all this, we've included over two dozen weapons. From an engineering standpoint, we had to code three games and squeeze them into one box. From a level design standpoint, we had to design three styles of play, three sets of AI, three intertwined stories, three interfaces … you get the idea.

Action Vault: What's the current status of the project, and what remains to be done?

William Westwater: We're optimizing and polishing the game. The last couple of months are always the most crucial to a project like this. It's usually when a game goes from good to great.