I decided to fire up Aliens vs. Predator 2 tonight on a whim. Or, well, I should say I fired up the Primal Hunt expansion, as DLC was called back in the old days before it could be downloaded.
I know this game got some grief back in the day for its visual style, especially compared to the first game, but I still think I like it more and played it a lot more. The coherent story helps, and I think the staged encounters are actually a bonus since it breaks from the constant adrenaline of expecting enemies like in the first game, even if it means that you can memorize the spawns.
The game's definitely not perfect though, and I forgot how much the aliens got stuck on the geometry or did other strange things, which is what people crucified Aliens: Colonial Marines for. Shooting your buddies is also an instant game over, which is normally not a primal except in the first Primal Hunt mission where you've got two who are actually following and doing a very poor job of helping. They're doomed to die, but if you try to help them by shooting the aliens you risk shooting them and losing instantly.
I also forgot how hard Primal Hunt was. I'm not sure if the aliens do more damage than in the base game or if there are just like five times as many, but I didn't make it too far into the first corporate mission. Only maybe halfway through the predator ship, right after the first praetorian spawn. I should probably play the base game again to refamiliarize myself before playing this part.