Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan presents a tight side-scrolling action experience that emphasizes both brute force and calculated stealth. Players guide the lone Predator through a series of interconnected corridors, cavernous chambers, and alien-infested outposts. Each level is cleverly designed with branching paths and hidden alcoves, rewarding exploration with weapon pickups, ammunition caches, and special power-ups. The game strikes a solid balance between platforming elements—such as timed jumps and environmental hazards—and combat encounters that require quick reflexes and strategic thinking.

Combat revolves around a diverse arsenal that captures the Predator’s iconic toolkit. Wrist blades serve as the default close-quarters weapon, delivering swift melee strikes against facehuggers and chestbursters alike. For ranged engagements, players can find ammunition for the shoulder cannon, circular cutting disks, and high-explosive bombs. These bombs double as keys to unlock certain barriers, creating satisfying environmental puzzles. Selecting the right weapon for each situation is crucial, especially when you face swarms of Xenomorphs or need to conserve energy for your cloaking device.

Stealth plays an equally important role in the gameplay loop. The Predator’s invisibility system allows for silent traversal and surprise attacks, but it consumes energy at a steady rate. Energy power-ups scattered through the levels provide limited opportunities to recharge the cloaking ability, forcing you to decide when to engage enemies head-on or bypass them altogether. A small radar map in the HUD further aids navigation, showing environmental layouts and nearby threats. This combination of exploration, resource management, and tactical choice keeps each mission fresh and engaging.

Graphics

On the visual front, Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan boasts detailed sprite work and atmospheric backdrops that capture the eerie, hostile vibe of Alpha Centauri 3. The game’s color palette leans heavily on muted greens and metallic grays, punctuated by the bioluminescent glow of Alien eggs and the fiery blasts of plasma cannons. Despite hardware constraints, the animations are fluid—Hunter scans, stalking strides, and energy cloak flickers are all faithfully depicted, enhancing immersion.

The environmental design does an excellent job of conveying a claustrophobic, maze-like hive structure. Corridors are lined with pulsating eggs and dripping acid, while larger chambers brim with nesting Aliens and decaying human equipment. Subtle visual cues—such as flickering lights or distant Alien silhouettes—ramp up tension before combat even begins. Particle effects for explosions and plasma bolts are crisp, and enemy animations scale appropriately from scuttling facehuggers to towering adult Xenomorph warriors.

Character sprites themselves are impressively detailed, with the Predator’s armor plating, dreadlock tendrils, and bio-mask intricately rendered despite the small resolution. Aliens, too, feel menacing at every stage of their life cycle, from the rapid movements of chestbursters to the hulking intimidation of mature foes. While the game doesn’t push graphical boundaries compared to console counterparts, its art direction and technical execution make for a visually cohesive and memorable sci-fi horror experience.

Story

The narrative of The Last of His Clan unfolds against a dire backdrop: in the year 2593 on Alpha Centauri 3, Predators have seeded Alien eggs to create a grand hunting ground. However, the experiment spirals out of control when the newly hatched Xenomorphs decimate both the human colonists and the Predator hunters themselves. Only one Predator survives this catastrophe, convinced that a hidden Queen is responsible for spawning the massive horde. His mission is clear—eliminate the Queen, restore honor to his clan, and escape the planet alive.

Storytelling is primarily delivered through atmospheric level design and occasional briefing screens that outline objectives. Though cutscenes are sparse, the urgency of the Predator’s quest is palpable at every turn. As you delve deeper into the hive’s heart, discovered audio logs and environmental storytelling elements flesh out the fate of the human settlers and hint at the nightmarish scale of the Xenomorph infestation. These narrative breadcrumbs keep players invested and drive them onward to confront the Queen.

While the plot doesn’t branch into complex moral dilemmas or character arcs—after all, Predators are iconic hunters rather than verbose heroes—what it lacks in depth it makes up for in intensity. The sense of being the last survivor of a proud warrior race gives the campaign a personal stake, and successive boss battles against ever-larger Alien forms create escalating dramatic tension. In the end, the story effectively serves its purpose: it provides a straightforward, revenge-driven motivation that aligns perfectly with the game’s action-horror focus.

Overall Experience

Alien vs Predator: The Last of His Clan delivers a compelling blend of action, exploration, and suspense. The side-scrolling format might feel familiar to retro enthusiasts, but the title distinguishes itself through its faithful representation of the Predator’s arsenal and the tense cat-and-mouse dynamic with the Aliens. Weapon variety, environmental puzzles, and stealth mechanics ensure that gameplay never becomes monotonous, while the radar map and well-placed power-ups reward careful navigation and strategy.

Graphically, the game punches above its weight with detailed sprites, atmospheric color schemes, and fluid animations that bring the horror-filled corridors to life. Though the storytelling is lean, the narrative premise is strong enough to keep players motivated, and the dramatic progression toward the final face-off with the Alien Queen offers a satisfying payoff. Enemy design and ambient details work in concert to maintain a sense of dread, making each new level feel like a deeper descent into an alien nightmare.

For fans of the Alien vs Predator franchise, this title captures the essence of both universes, providing intense combat sequences and stealthy stalking moments in equal measure. Newcomers to the series will appreciate the straightforward objectives and tight controls. With its challenging difficulty curve, engaging level design, and faithful lore integration, The Last of His Clan is a standout adventure that honors the legacy of its sci-fi horror roots and delivers an action-packed thrill ride from start to finish.

Retro Replay Score

5.8/10