Rock, Paper, Shotgun

EaterOfCheese says:

Re: Insta-kil conga lines / daisy chains: this is exactly what I experienced in 2 hrs of play.

Must fix!

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mcnostril says:

Copy pasted from elsewhere I explained this:
Totally awesome basic gameplay guide:

Predator:
R cloaks you. However, aliens can see you at all times, and if you run, your cloak flickers a lot (way more than in the previous games). If you use ctrl to walk around while cloaked though, you’re practically invisible unless they’re very close. Note that when you leap, your cloak will flicker for a second, and there will be a dust cloud where you land.
Walking (also goes for aliens and marines) still sets off the motion detector.

Left shift highlights items and targets, and also makes the leaping cursor appear. Move that around, and when you see the vertical circles, it means you can leap there. If it highlights a target, it will make you leap really close to them. The red icons that show up are the different weapons; you spawn with none.

All the weapons that you pick up are considered alt weapons and are fired with mouse 3. You can cycle through them with the number keys.
The plasmacaster requires you to be in the appropriate vision mode to target things (cycle with F), and then hold down middle mouse to lock on to the target closest to your reticle. The lock is slower than in previous avp games, and it’s a bit more visible to other players than before (the targeting laser is really hard to miss now). It usually kills marines in one shot (although I’ve had some variable results), and takes two or three to kill aliens – it will however knock them down.
It seems you are also able to lock on without vision modes, but every time I tried this it had disastrous results.

The same goes for the disc. At the moment, this is the predator’s uber weapon. It’s a one hit kill, has some pretty good range, and you can guide it quite a bit. It can also be pretty much rapid fired. Anything coming at a predator head on will get absolutely murdered by this weapon.

The spears you just ready with mouse 3, and chuck on release. I didn’t notice much arc to them, and they’re quite fast and deadly.

Note that all attacks will disable your cloak.

To heal, you use up energy with H. Your energy is the bar on the left (and not the right like I thought initially). You can recharge at the blue station thingies. I don’t recall if cloak used energy in the previous games, but it doesn’t any more, so there’s really no reason not to be cloaked at all times.

Alien:
If you haven’t looked at the options, the alien has a transition key (default mouse 3). Basically, you press it when you reach two surfaces that meet, and it will switch you (there’s an option to wall walk constantly); it’s also the button you want to press if you just want to drop down from wherever you are as opposed to pouncing with the spacebar (or in cases where the game won’t let you pounce because you’re too far). It takes about a second to register which seems sluggish at first, but then you get used to it and you’re spiralling down corridors like a maniac. Note that when you drop down from ceilings/walls, you will automatically stick to any geometry popping out.
Pouncing is done when the reticle shows three spikes; this means you will jump to whatever surface you’re pointing at. If they don’t appear, you’ll just do a pitiful hop.

Left shift lets you lock on to a target; when you see the reticle appear, it means you can pounce attack them with the spacebar. This usually staggers the target, but not always.

You can destroy lights with your secondary attack, and it’s also possible to use quick tail swipes when you’re wallwalking instead of the heavy attack (you can actually headshot people walking under you with the tail). Note that you are quite the shiny little bugger, and as such people can sometimes see you when you’re in darkness.

Also important to note if you like hiding, the marine flashlight does NOT accurately show what they’re looking at.

Marine:
The pulse rifle is a pretty good weapon. You can kill aliens/preds with one burst if you get a headshot (much easier to do on preds); otherwise it’s going to take a while.
Pulse grenades will knockdown if they hit close enough, and they have a lot of arc. Aiming high is necessary for anything other than short range. They don’t have that much splash damage though.

The smartgun in the demo has practically no ammo, and I haven’t lived long enough to find any reloads. The tracking is much slower than before, and it doesn’t do all that much damage, but it’s effective enough unless the alien is already in your face. Alt fire toggles the tracking.
Also the sound is horrible.

The flamethrower is broken, don’t bother with it. I have been on the receiving end several times, and the only way it’s going to kill you is if you let it. I basically had to stand still for 15 seconds before it could kill me. It doesn’t even set people on fire, but it does make a nice flashlight.

You can heal by using stimpacks with H. You can have up to three at any time.

Marine blocking is done by holding mouse 3. Tapping does a melee attack.

Now is probably a good time to explain the melee mechanics.
Left mouse is light attack, right mouse is heavy attack, and left + right is block. In the case of the marine you just use mouse 3 like I said above.
Light attack will interrupt heavy attacks, heavy attack will break through blocks (and does massive damage), and blocking will stagger anyone who light attacks you. It’s pretty simple, but also quick.
Generally, the first light attack will stagger someone if it lands.
Blocking will stagger the person being blocked for a second. This is usually enough for a pred or alien to get another swipe or two in, however marines absolutely have to follow up immediately with a melee attack – the stagger is not long enough to kill a full health enemy with gunfire before he can swipe again and kill you. Meleeing a predator or alien causes them damage, and can sometimes even knock them down (it’s incredibly satisfying) – this can also be done with the shotgun’s alt-fire which fires two rounds at once and staggers/knocks down the target.
Be aware that you can’t really dodge melee attacks by sidestepping due to the game’s aim assist. You can back up to avoid attacks, but keep in mind heavy attacks have a lot of range (and the aim assist seems to close the distance some). The aim assist does not seem to work every single time, but you should assume it will.

Trophy kills can be done on someone being staggered from the front. The timing is a bit unclear at this point, but you can counter these by blocking at the right time (I just mash block when the animation starts and it seems to work most of the time). These animations are quite long, so it’s not a terribly good idea to do it around people. There’s no way to counter instant kills from the back.

There, I think I’ve explained all the bits that are not obvious.
Whew, that was long.

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