Aliens: Colonial Marines - why it's awesome

I got Aliens: Colonial Marines for PS3 today, and to put it short:

1. I usually hate FPS games. I've played half the campaign in one sitting. Took me all night (eight ours, to be precise) on the easiest difficulty. And I still have the second half to go.

2. I don't play competitive games online. Ever. Except in this one and Transformers: War/Fall of Cybertron. Those two games were fun. :)

3. I've literally played it all night long in one sitting.

Then I started checking what other people thought about it, and was very surprised to hear most people think it's either mediocre or bad. Weird. But why? Some say it looks bad, the AI stupid and the gameplay is outdated. I can get that, sort of. The graphics are in the same style as Borderlands, but personally, I think it really works here. The AI is stupid? Well, it's Aliens. What`do you expect? They are mindless killing machines. That's all they ever were in the movies, and that's why we love them. So why is that a bad thing here? Did you seriously expect aliens discussing strategy? There are human enemies too, and they take cover, shoot from behind cover, flank you and so on. Very bad AI, that. Hehe.

The story takes place directly after the second movie (well, sort of), making the story take place in very authentic areas. The music is authentic, and some actors return to give voice overs. Lance Henriksen, for instance, shows up as Bishop in the game. How is that a bad thing?

And don't get me started on multiplayer. This game has excellent multiplayer. You can even customize your very own Alien (and choose from three different classes, too!) It might not be Battlefield: Alien, but so what? It's Alien vs Marines. Awesome stuff.

All in all, I'd give this an 8/10. Maybe 9/10 even, if you're into the whole Alien universe. (if you know who Hicks is, make it 9/10. If not, go with 8/10.) Who cares about some bad reviews? This game rocks! :D

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ExileDude wrote:

The graphics are in the same style as Borderlands, but personally, I think it really works here.

I have only seen a few screenshots of Colonial Marines, but it seems you mean "stylized" when you talk about 'like Borderlands 2'. I can't see how that would work for the Alien franchise.
On the other hand, I have read reviews of the game that do not criticize the art direction but rather the technical aspects: Blurry textures, bad animations, static lighting.

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The AI is stupid? Well, it's Aliens. What`do you expect? They are mindless killing machines. That's all they ever were in the movies, and that's why we love them.

Except they weren't.
The lone alien in the first film was exceptionally cunning. It didn't run rampaging around the Nostromo in plain sight. It did the opposite: It waited in the shadows, in air vents, in hard-to-see-in-and-navigate places and took out the crew one by one. When Ripley boarded an escape pod an blew up the Nostromo, the alien was bright enough to latch on to that pod.

They are killing machines, but far from mindless.

In Aliens, they patiently wait until the marines have manoeuvred themselves into their lair. They didn't go rampaging and slashing wildly at anything that moves.

In Alien III, the lone alien again does the 'hidden killer' thing, and even spares Ripley.

Aliens are not organic buzzsaws. They are murderous and predatory, but they do use their brains. It's part of their very being as hunters.


Lastly, some reviews rip on the very thing you appreciate: How it fits into the Alien universe. They notice the apparently significant amount of plot holes and retcons that were necessary to make the story 'happen'.



At any rate, I don't know the game, I know the films and previous games and just wanted to add my two cents where I thought I could comment on.

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Avireyn wrote:

I have read reviews of the game that do not criticize the art direction but rather the technical aspects: Blurry textures, bad animations, static lighting.

You do realize the reviews aren't for the finished game? At best, they are for the retail game without the day 1-patch. And besides, screenshots don't do the game justice. At least watch a gameplay video.

Btw I didn't think the Borderlands-style would work either, but it really does. It's different than the "realistic" style we're used to from the AvP games, but it really works. :)

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Except they weren't (mindless killing machines).
The lone alien in the first film was exceptionally cunning. It didn't run rampaging around the Nostromo in plain sight. It did the opposite: It waited in the shadows, in air vents, in hard-to-see-in-and-navigate places and took out the crew one by one. When Ripley boarded an escape pod an blew up the Nostromo, the alien was bright enough to latch on to that pod.

They are killing machines, but far from mindless.

In Aliens, they patiently wait until the marines have manoeuvred themselves into their lair. They didn't go rampaging and slashing wildly at anything that moves.

In Alien III, the lone alien again does the 'hidden killer' thing, and even spares Ripley.

Aliens are not organic buzzsaws. They are murderous and predatory, but they do use their brains. It's part of their very being as hunters.

It depends on how you see it. The alien in the first movie were an awesome killing machine, and yes, that one had some sort of intelligence. Not sure how much, though. But in the second? Once the marines disturbed them, the aliens went on a killing spree. They didn't exactly think much. One alien against a tank full of marines? Sounds carefully planned, that one. :p Alien Queen sacrificing herself to try to kill the marines, instead of escaping? Clever move, heh. They aren't literally "mindless", but they are not exactly strategic thinkers.

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Lastly, some reviews rip on the very thing you appreciate: How it fits into the Alien universe. They notice the apparently significant amount of plot holes and retcons that were necessary to make the story 'happen'.

There are some plot holes, yes. But c'mon, we're talking Alien. The plot isn't exactly advanced stuff. A few plotholes are acceptabl, and especially when the end result is so great. :)

And besides, I know a lot of rewiers give ita bad score. I just wanted to point out that you can't trust them blindly. I usually want to try something for myself before I know if I like it or not. What other people think of it isn't relevant to me. :)

It's a genergic gallery shooter, in a generic enviroment, with messed up animations, and terrible textures. The only good thing about the game is the sound.

The game apes the movie too much, that's my biggest personal grievance. And the Humans are more dangerous than the aliens.

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Crossflip wrote:

The game apes the movie too much, that's my biggest personal grievance. And the Humans are more dangerous than the aliens.

They return to the planet from the second movie to figure out what's been going on. *Of course* it apes the movie in the first half. That's the whole point. The second half doens't have much to do with the movie at all, but I guess you'd have to actually play the game to figure that one out, and not just read a few crappy reviews. And human more dangerous than aliens? Try not playing on the easiest difficulty level.

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LOL, Gearbox fails at making games and should get out of the business ASAP!

Tell that to Borderlands and Brothers in Arms.

This game is terrible, and no I didn't play. I watched the IGN preview, at least until I could not stand watching it anymore. It did terrible terrible damage to my brain as fan of alien universe and previous games.

I paid $60 for the game, it sucks, but I don't make mistakes so I have to justifice this purchase.

In all honesty, this game absolutely blows. It can be fun in coop, but that's it.

A 9/10 is asbolutely silly.

Honestly, I think it's hillarious how popular it's become to hate this game. And not only that, but I bet at least half the people who supposedly hate it are having a blast playing it. Why else would there be so many people playing it online all the time? If everyone hated it and no one bought it, shouldn't the servers be dead by now? Lol.

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ExileDude wrote:

Honestly, I think it's hillarious how popular it's become to hate this game. And not only that, but I bet at least half the people who supposedly hate it are having a blast playing it.

Or maybe they just genuinely dislike it. Having seen some videos, it seems the game has all the problems of the modern FPS genre. The double standard of the gaming media however is to punish these games, but reward COD\Medal of Honor for the same mistakes.

Imo Gearbox are not very good at making FPS games, I wish People Can Fly would have continued making Painkiller style games, however that would probably result in stagnation; can't expect one dev on its own to make proper FPS games.

Still, glad you enjoyed this game, nothing wrong with giving yourself as wide a library as possible.