In the face: Aliens VS Predator (2010) PC/360

It was late in the last century when I stood over a friend’s shoulder and peered into a world of terror. Pre-fab corridors drifted off into the darkest of shadows, with red emergency lighting pricking at the black. He carried a pulse rifle, with an over/under grenade launcher and some flares. The environment throbbed with ambient noise but his motion tracker was a metronome of peace.

As he picked his way through the empty halls, tossing flares to light the way ahead, the tracker would blip, until, with a not-far-enough-away familiar shriek, movement would explode towards him. They came, black serpentine creatures with razor claws and faces of teeth. The pulse rifle spat at them, the grenades tossed them back but they kept coming, until he had no choice but to run.

The first time I watched Aliens VS Predator (1999) played on a PC I was so immediately riveted and overwhelmed with tension I actually asked him to pause the game.