Aliens: Colonial Marines

Funny, I happen to be watching Aliens right now on cable…

I've been wondering about A:CM myself, but I've been too busy playing Dead Space 3 to pay much attention.

I remember being pretty hyped about it when it was first announced, but I lost interest along the way for some reason. I'd be interested in hearing some first-hand impressions of it.


*Edit* Wow… It received a 4.5 on Gamespot and a 48% from PC Gamer.
 
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The gameplay is just dull and that's the worst damned thing that could happen to an Aliens game. The only way I could recommend this to anyone would be for the story alone.

Gearbox are solely to blame for how this sub standard game turned out because make no mistake this a terrible game. Awful visuals, awful voice acting, awful gun-play. Kinda surprised given there past games. Don't play it if you're expecting an above-average, or even just above mediocre, game.

It feels like 90% of Gearbox were making BL2+ DLC, with a few guys in their basements working on Colonial Marines for the past four years, updating the rest of them occasionally.

Let me put it this way I wish Obsidian would of made there Aliens rpg instead of this. Instead Sega canceled it and had gearbox release this instead.
 
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The graphics are not impressive at all from the screenshots and video clips. Didn't seem creepy enough, and the aliens animation looked goofy. Too bad.
 
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It's the worst Aliens game I can remember playing, and that's saying something.

Stay as far away from this game as you would an actual Alien.
 
well i've played it and finished it so i will give my imput. i had preordered if for around $30 from greenmangaming which was all i was willing to get out of it under best circumstances in my view and with my disappointment with dead space 2 and wanting some sci-fi i went with this. plus aliens, which i saw before alien, was one of the most memorable and scary movies that came out when i was a kid. so really i was looking for a bit more of that experience and also i had watched some of the multi gameplay videos and thought that had promise.

the single player is indeed underwhelming, not terrible just very meh, with the un advanced ai and not enough suspense and fear in the game. the guns are great though and the pacing in the game is right. short at around 6 hours, its still i'd say worth it for a fan of the series needing more of fix. clearly not for a purist and their are indeed far better games in the genre. i'd say wait 'til its $10-15 if you only want the single player experience.

what i really think is enjoyable though is the mutliplayer, and if it continues to grow, mainly with additions of new maps then there is a decent value in the game at a higher price. played about 8 hours of multi and that indeed does capture the feeling of aliens in my view. especially the survival and escape modes which are 4 vs. 4. playing the aliens takes a bit getting used to and in my view not as fun as playing as the marines, still what is nice is that you play as one side and then the other in each mode.

i'm not sure if the two people above played multiplayer as i'm not sure if that's available to illegal versions which are most likely the ones played but multi is definately where the value is. and not to digress but as much as pirates cause us more drm and higher prices, i'd say the opinions of "anchor gamers" dilute objective discussions on a games merit which may be the worse crime. what i find really perplexing is people who have the money/job and still pirate. they shouldn't be shocked though when the layoff karma police cornhole them someday.
 
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Pirating this to test it out is one of the better decisions I've made recently, that's for sure.

Paying for something like this would be like bending over to a rapist.

Also, it's only because of the early and massively negative feedback from "the scene" that I avoided buying. I'm a huge Aliens fan - and would most likely have coughed up the cash like a naive fool if it wasn't for piracy.

So, let's just say I don't think much of what Curious had to say about it.
 
There has been a 'huge' contraversy with A:CM. Through its 6-7 life time, the game design changed from a squad based shooter with tactics to a CoD shooter. The graphics resolution, details and features were significantly reduced on PC and that was obvious through video comparison between the released version and a demo version released a year ago (you can see that on eurogamer for example).

Many of the expected survivour or horde modes that were present in previous Aliens titles was removed and put in a DLC.

A season pass was put on pre-order even before the game came out and without much description of its content.

PC and console verisons details were blocked from the media until day of release.

The above are just a few of the issues with the game. Just a piece of garbage that GBX produced exploiting fans' expectations. Stay away until the game is fully patched and cost no more than 10 euros/dollars/pounds 'including' all the DLCs.
 
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Errr, if they were blocked from the media then why did PC Gamer do a preview some weeks ago? (And they ripped into it mighty hard, too.)
 
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Errr, if they were blocked from the media then why did PC Gamer do a preview some weeks ago? (And they ripped into it mighty hard, too.)

A preview with the same game pictures that were in press over many years. The multiplayer details were scarce, and everyone was under the impression that surviour was a horde mode until few days before release it was found it was only a competitive 4x4 through the Steam manual.

No one ever talked about PC game features, dedicated servers .. etc. You can also check the A:CM forum about the media block restrictions (reviews .. etc.) and that they were removed on the day of release.
 
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Sad to hear this one is such a train wreck. The Aliens franchise deserves better than this. This is further evidence that the AAA game development model is broken.
 
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Sad to hear this one is such a train wreck. The Aliens franchise deserves better than this. This is further evidence that the AAA game development model is broken.

The case of A:CM is not a generalisation. It is just wrong and foul practices taken by Gearbox to exploit the fans and the publisher over so many years of stale development and delays. I can't remember a developer going this far with blatant bad practices.
 
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The case of A:CM is not a generalisation. It is just wrong and foul practices taken by Gearbox to exploit the fans and the publisher over so many years of stale development and delays. I can't remember a developer going this far with blatant bad practices.
I see what you mean - this is one case where the developer (Gearbox) is clearly at fault and not the publisher.

It just boggles my mind as there is so much potential with the Aliens license, how it could be so mismanaged. And now we might not see another Aliens game for a long while, since this won't sell well.
 
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I see what you mean - this is one case where the developer (Gearbox) is clearly at fault and not the publisher.

It just boggles my mind as there is so much potential with the Aliens license, how it could be so mismanaged. And now we might not see another Aliens game for a long while, since this won't sell well.

That is why I am a bit angry as I have been waiting for this game for a long while as the Aliens movie is one of my favourites, and AVP games have their unique atmosphere, feeling and long lasting memories.

What pains me more is that they cancelled the Aliens rpg by Obsidian to produce A:CM.

I hope some day a decent developer gets the license to do this IP what it deserves.
 
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What pains me more is that they cancelled the Aliens rpg by Obsidian to produce A:CM.

I hope some day a decent developer gets the license to do this IP what it deserves.
Yeah same here - Alien + Aliens are probably in my top 10 movies of all time. I'd love to see an RPG made in that universe. Unfortunately the shooter market is probably seen as more lucrative by publishers.
 
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Everytime people talk about the cancelled Aliens RPG - it physically hurts a little. Then, I think about us getting a Southpark RPG and Aliens Colonial Marines instead - and it hurts a LOT.

WTF is wrong with people....
 
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