The Alien franchise is one of my all time favorite movie series. I had them on VHS, I had them on DVD and now I have them on Blu Ray. I even spent money on the god awful Aliens vs Predator game (Collector`s edition which saddens me more).
But when I first started seeing the first concept art and place holder screen shots for Aliens: Colonial Marines, I was incredibly excited. I thought `finally a real Aliens game.`.
I waited YEARS for this game to be released. Following every new bit of news, every screen shot, every amazing game play and cut scene trailer. They all looked AMAZING! From the dark, misty, creepy atmosphere, to the true to movie way the Xenomorphs moved and attack. And how can you not smile when a Marine takes down a Xeno with a M14A Pulse rifle complete with authentic sound. Even Hadley`s hope looked amazing in those vertical slices.
And then the day was upon us and Aliens: Colonial Marines was released. And every gamer who shelled out $70 turned it on and thought `what the fuck is this shit?!`.
The graphics are NO where near the level of the game play trailers, there is no creepy atmosphere, and the Xenomorphs attack like they want to give you a big alien hug.
Lets not forget about the AI, or the lack there of. Standing in place saying pointless, useless lines of dialog, screaming to opening fire, but never blinking an eye, let alone pulling the trigger. And if a Xeno attacks them and rips them apart? Don't worry they'll just get right back up, dust them selves off and say something stupid.
This farce of a game comes from one of my favorite games studios, Gearbox. This is the same studio that game us Borderlands 1 and 2 (They also brought us the new Duke Nukem but that's for another time). But now we hear that Gearbox shelled out most of the game to other studios and may have only contributed about 25% of this game. If that's true then they outsourced a great looking and great conceptualized game and slapped they're name on it to try to get more sales, and didn't even stop to check if it was worth selling. An Aliens game brought to you by the same studios as Borderlands? Sign me up! said a younger, more naive, version of myself.
Colonial Marines took everything great about the Aliens movie and seemingly threw it out the window for the final product. It doesn't feel like its part of the franchise. It feels more like they were making a generic shooter then decided the slap some Xeno's in and label it Aliens to sell a few more copies.
This game is a slap in the face to any Aliens fan who waited and waited just like I did. If game studios want to make licensed games then DO THEM RIGHT. Listen to fans, see what they want! Licensed games CAN work, look at Batman: Arkham Asylum and City, Star Wars: Old Republic and The Walking Dead. These are games that have a huge following for their franchise and also work as games! Great games! You can't throw a game together because a new movie is coming out because then you get Thor, Iron Man or the Fight Club video game. (First rule of the Fight Club video game. You do not play the Fight Club video game)
My wish would be that something could rescue this game. Ang Lee's Hulk movie made me weep for comic book movies, but then Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk brought justice back. Maybe there's a Leterrier out there for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Or maybe we'll be waiting a long time to head back to LV-426.
GAME OVER, MAN!
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