Aliens: Colonial Marines

I'm not going to take this opportunity to again rehash the story of the development of this game, there are plenty of articles out there which do that. I'm just going to say that I reached the game, running though my Xbox 360 games alphabetically and playing before selling and I managed approximately an hour of this game, before the wonky control system meant that I decided to give up on it entirely.

As a result of that short play time, I'm not going to write chapter and verse about why the game doesn't work - it may well have clicked after a couple of hours - and I'll just never know. I gave up because I felt I couldn't trust the controller to do what I inputted - and it wasn't the physical controller, that's fine - it's just unresponsive and occasionally contrary coding. Combine that with just bad game design, like some areas where I'm not supposed to fight, and just run, but no real indication when I'm in one of those and, for me, still seeing the glitching Alien's occasionally just standing there for no reason - I decided that enough was more than enough.

Once upon a time the awesome Alien franchise was born... When i switched on my Xbox 360 earlier this week and played this game i quickly realised that the franchise, specifically in respect of video gaming, is dead and buried. The graphics are too sharp yet ill detailed and not at all Alien-esque... The titles are also juvenile attempts at mimicking the movies and are awful. The levels belong on an original xbox or PS2 release and are dreary, tiresome, repetitive and ill conceived. The interface isn't innovative in any way and must have been designed on the back of the blank cheque that Sega wrote Gearbox to bring this high school project to fruition.

I've been playing video games for 30 years and not ever has a publisher spent so much dollar on promotion for such a bland, weightless, empty shell of a concept that has not materialised into any semblance of a 21st century hi-def title.

In conclusion its like playing a several year old platinum title that has no place being in the modern era of video gaming. A poor poor title that'll keep you happy (in anticipation only) for about 10 minutes (if you're a die-hard Alien fan) before the disc is on its way to trade in for store credit.

What were 20th Century Fox thinking?! PS. Give the trailer director credit for clever editing, tricking us all into believing that we were actually buying something of substance.

I need to make it clear that before going into reviewing "Aliens: Colonial Marines," that James Cameron's "Aliens" (1986), the superior, action-packed sequel to Ridley Scott's infamous, landmark 1979 deep-space horror/sci-fi flick "Alien," is one of my all-time personal favorite movies.

"Aliens" is my fifth favorite movie of all time; I grew up with this movie, and I personally consider it to be far better in every conceivable way and fashion, than "Alien" (though I must also readily admit my great fondness for Scott's original masterpiece).

So you can imagine my surprise when news finally came out that a video game billing itself as a genuine sequel to Cameron's "Aliens" was in development. Unlike most people who have relentlessly trashed "Aliens: Colonial Marines" since its February 2013 release, I feel that I'm somewhere in the middle. I at least thought it looked nice, and it was good to see some sort of continuation - however sloppy - to "Aliens." The story to "Aliens: Colonial Marines" basically details a war between the United States Colonial Marines and the Weyland-Yutani Corporation's private army of heavily armed hired mercenaries, who are illegally breeding the hideous Xenomorph creatures using captured Marines and innocent space colonists as hosts.

It all sounds exciting, doesn't it? But it does have many issues...

The game itself has an incredibly clumsy story - which I already detailed briefly - that thoroughly contradicts established events from the film, and game-play that's pretty typical of any high-tech first-person shooter in recent years, since it was stated fairly early on by the developers that the game would feature squad-based game-play (we all thought it was going to be a war game in outer space, like the movie), and would feature the return of genuine flesh & blood performers from Cameron's 1986 action epic reprising their original roles from the film - Michael Biehn (Corporal Hicks) and Lance Henriksen (Bishop); if you could get the additional DLC packs, additional actors from the film - Al Matthews (Sergeant Apone), Mark Rolston (Private Drake), and (?) Bill Paxton (Private Hudson) (?) - would also be reprising their roles.

In terms of basic first-person shooter game-play, "Aliens: Colonial Marines" does feature some of the iconic weaponry from the movie, as well as familiar locales on-board the Colonial Marine space vessel the USS Sulaco, and the ruins of the space colony Hadley's Hope on the desolate planetoid LV-426 (and there's even a sequence in the middle of the game featuring the Derelict Spacecraft from "Alien" and featured briefly in a restored scene from the extended director's cut of "Aliens"). The game does not, however, recreate the claustrophobic tension and terror of Cameron's film (much less feature any of the landmark score composed for the film by James Horner), and most of the game's confrontations feature you gunning down hordes and hordes of approaching Xenomorphs (though you'll have your AI comrades and maybe a robot sentry or two to aid you - somewhat). There are little tasks you have to complete here & there to advance the story, but much of everything in "Aliens: Colonial Marines" consists of the player shooting aliens.

Some of the gun battles where you encounter the alien creatures can be frustrating - and even overwhelming (but not in a particularly good way) - at times, which is about the only authentic thing about them that even comes close to Cameron's "Aliens." Other than that, it's a pretty straight-forward first-person shooter that initially billed itself as the future of the "Alien" franchise in the video game world (which is ironic considering the possibility that "Aliens" has arguably had the single greatest influence on the overall development of the first-person shooter genre).

Despite the clunky story, there are a bunch of little tidbits that reference Cameron's film, which shows that the game developers may have spent too much time watching the movie rather than understanding it and trying to recreate the action and suspense it delivered.

"Aliens" will always rate as one of my all-time greatest movies, and one of the scariest, and most action-packed, sci-fi films ever made. The game that aimed to expand its story and legacy - "Aliens: Colonial Marines" - is not so much. It's a big disappointment, albeit an enjoyable disappointment. I got my kicks out of playing this game, mostly by enjoying the numerous references to "Aliens" (which include having to collect dog-tags of the Colonial Marine characters, among other little items, from the film), which took me back to the moments where it all started.

It's all too bad, really, because this could have been an EPIC, EPIC game-changer...

7/10

I love Aliens Colonial Marines! The combat was fun; I really liked how the Pulse Rifles and the Smart Guns looked and sounded exactly like how they did in Aliens. All the attention to detail with the ships and the big futuristic facilities was very cool. I loved how they managed to bring back the characters Bishop and Hicks; I really liked their characters in the film Aliens so just seeing Michael Biehn and Lance Henriksen come back to be them was a great joy to me. The story was a decent story about never leave behind nor betray your squad mates, always be selfless, and don't ever be greedy or lustful. The main corrections I'd make is I wish the camera was a first person camera for when you played as an Alien during the multiplayer, and as always I thought the gore and foul language was a bit excessive. Still though I definitely enjoyed it. Have a great day and goooo Aliens Colonial Marines!

17 weeks after the events in Cameron's film, you and your unit arrives at the Sulaco. Something has gone very wrong, and it's up to you to find out what, and take care of it. You'll face countless PMCs, some Aliens, and more than a few head-scratching retcons in this fan-fic of a story. Weyland-Yutani keeps trying desperately to tame the universe's most drooling killing machine. The villain himself is straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.

It's important to note that this is no longer broken. Well, other than the occasional hiccup. They patched the crap out of this thing, and fixed almost everything. That they could, that is. Some issues remain and mar the experience greatly. Plot, characters, dialog, writing and execution(do *not* get me started on the acting and lip sync) alike are definitely lacking. And yet, there are definite glimmers of talent. You do sometimes care. The types can be annoying, yet feel like they belong here. And the banter almost all works. Even if it has a tendency to go one line too far, ending on a sitcom punchline. All it's missing is a "wah-wah", or possibly a "that's our (blank)!" This adds a *lot* of customization and compelling new abilities for both species. The numerous guns, while too similar and limited especially for sci-fi, can be changed in a good amount of ways. Silencer, a handful of alternate fire options, stat changes galore. Strong, unique Legendary weapons add replayability. For what they can deliver, and recognizing the markings. Hudson, Vasquez, Different types of Xenos, they're given ranged attacks, tons of improvements on what was there before, etc. The real issue is that you can't practice this at your own pace. You have to improve, and even just learn, via multiplayer. And you will get slaughtered early on. That's when you can even find a match. No players, no server list, limited matchmaking, and I could go on. In two weeks, I barely spent any time in any of the too-similar modes. I hate to direct anyone to 2010's AvP, but that one you can play anytime, gets creative in how you approach it, and lets you try it at your own pace in SP.

The AI is hilariously inept. Maybe that's why your offline buddies are impossible to kill. They will run right into your line of fire, leave you to die, teleport to you if you get ahead, and more. Enemies might freeze in place, or just randomly run around. Their use of wall-walking seems more like they're showing off than their having a reason for doing so. The lack of enemy variety in these is lessened, though the Crusher, a huge one that's not that different from the Queen, is pointless. One spits acid at you, with nice speed and accuracy. Another will kamikaze, exploding in their blood. Thankfully, they can't see you. Which means you have to crouch-walk past them. Or stand perfectly still when they're completely next to you! Did I mention you were weaponless in this section? And that they look like fossilized husks until they start walking, surrounded by actual ones, so you won't know which is which until they start moving? The DLC are a mixed bag. I wouldn't get any of this if it's not on sale. The obvious ones to leave alone, for now, are the ones that consist entirely of MP maps. You can't play them by yourself. And without them, there are 10 to start with, a reasonable amount. They add up to 20 total. Ripley's signature bad-ass rescue facilitator is worth the asking price. Note that anyone you can don the look of are all slightly "off" in the face. There are enough shotguns without the one you can buy separately, and they don't lack ammo, reload speed and the possibility of alteration. Bug Hunt is rarely played. The two energy attacks are worthless. The S.H.A.R.P. Sticks mix things up and are the most interesting part of your arsenal in this whole thing.

Stasis Interrupted deserves detail. You play as a few different protagonists, you really get into it, it clocks in at 2 and a half hours meaning almost half the core product. The plentiful time spent alongside, unfortunately never as, Hicks is sadly somewhat soured by Michael Biehn clearly not wanting to be there. Even if you hadn't heard about that interview, it's plain to see in his performance. And I say that as one of his biggest fans. Compare to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon where he, as he also says, was having the time of his life.

Authenticity is through the roof. Everything looks, sounds and feels right. All memorable locations are not only visited, they're recreated in tremendous detail and every added section fits in so well, you'd swear you just didn't remember seeing that part in the films. The motion tracker finally works exactly right. You have all the equipment you see used. For some reason, you can carry every projectile delivery system, and even start out with a number of them from the beginning. Of course, you may not realize until after a while, and by accident, like it was for me. It's not common today to carry that many at once. And you can't cycle through them with any key. Oh, you can go back and forth between primary, secondary and which of the three pistols you have ready. As worthless as that is in the face of so much firepower that you basically cannot run out of ammo, no matter how inept you may be. You're stuck with the slow wheel which keeps you from moving, doesn't pause or even allow for it, selects whatever you were resting the cursor on even if you were just checking what had the most bullets left.

I recommend this only to the biggest fans of the franchise, and don't go out of your way to get your hands on a copy. 5/10