Community Review — Aliens: Colonial Marines

31 responses to “Community Review — Aliens: Colonial Marines”

1. 

   kermitron

   February 18, 2013 at 11:04 am

   I hope to be able to supply some comments on Colonial Marines but I don’t know yet if i’ve won a copy. 😛

   I’m guessing that some people might be able to find some pleasure in playing it, even if the experience is unpolished. Some of my friends found Duke Nukem Forever tolerable, whereas all I could think about was the wasted potential.

   I think a lot of people feel betrayed by the mishandling of the Aliens ‘universe’, but I was never all that big on it so maybe it wouldn’t bug me, I dunno.

   Reply
2. 

   blaghman

   February 18, 2013 at 11:04 am

   I’m enjoying the game. Its AI is terribad, its story is dreadful, it has no sense of pacing or tension, and its shooting is mediocre. And yet it’s still not nearly as bad as a bunch of reviews made out.

   Also, the multiplayer is pretty good, even if the people playing as Aliens are almost as bad at running around as the Aliens in the game.

   I’d give it like, a six. On a normal review score, not like a videogame review score, where anything under than a seven means that the game gave you cancer.

   Reply
3. 

   Milbs

   February 18, 2013 at 11:12 am

   I guess I’m in the minority that thinks it isn’t as bad as everyone is saying. It’s not great by any means, just average.

   It feels like a throwback to when there were b-grade, second tier shooters; when everything didn’t need to be either Battlefield/Crysis production values. The idea that it’s AAA or else it’s a personal insult to the player and their time is just something I don’t get. It’s just average, not an abomination – It’s shonky-ness is saved by the fact that’s it’s quite fun to play. That motion tracker kicks arse.

   Reply
4. 

   sable

   February 18, 2013 at 11:18 am

   I’ve been playing it pretty full on since it came out, I finished the campaign with a friend and I’ve also been hitting the multiplayer versus matches… and while its good, it isn’t brilliant… and while some parts of it were bad, it wasnt completely terrible…. Buggy? Oh yes…

   But fixable? Definitely… Gearbox will no doubt be releasing some patches going forward that will ultimately turn this into an amazing game…. I’m happy to give them the opportunity to do so understanding what happened during the development of the game.

   Right now… 6 out of 10… Potentially? 10/10 if its fixed to the quality I would expect of Gearbox.

   Reply
   1. 

      rowan

      February 18, 2013 at 11:37 am

      What other gearbox games have you played that give you the impression that they can get it to a 10???

      The best gearbox game ever? Opposing forces. That was over a decade ago. I admire how forgiving you are though. Don’t stop believin’!

      Reply
      1. 

         sable

         February 18, 2013 at 11:54 am

         So I take you are not a fan of the Borderlands series? Personally, I loved both games… You don’t have to like them though… I don’t expect everyone to like the things I do, the world would be a pretty boring place if it were the case.

         Reply
         1. 

            soulblade64

            February 18, 2013 at 12:25 pm

            I love these people that don’t like Borderlands and think it makes Gearbox a failure… There are boatloads of people who love Gearbox (myself included). Just like Skyrim doesn’t float my boat doesn’t mean I think Bethesda is a turd.

            Reply
            1. 

               sable

               February 18, 2013 at 12:50 pm

               I agree… I really didnt like Skyrim either, but I have friends that love it… Thats awesome, I am happy that they like it!

               Gearbox have made some amazing games (thats my opinion, we all have one). Give em a chance to fix it before trashing them

            2. 

               soulblade64

               February 18, 2013 at 1:10 pm

               I think the problem is though, they won’t fix it. They might correct some of the problems, but they won’t fix it to a 10/10 game… Best case they’ll remove some of the bugs.

               The reality is, most AAA games get some game breaking bug patches, then DLC, then ignored. The only company I’ve seen (personally) give love to a game years after release is Blizzard, who recently patched Warcraft 3 almost a decade after release in 2011. Gearbox… as soon as they iron out the worst of the kinks, they’ll wash their hands and move on with their lives.

            3. 

               lonewolf

               February 18, 2013 at 4:11 pm

               How about Team Fortress 2?

            4. 

               soulblade64

               February 18, 2013 at 4:20 pm

               That’s true, but it’s a little bit different… It’s a multiplayer only game with a massive player base… It needs updates. Same with League of Legends I guess.

               I’m more talking about games with broken or underperforming single player campaigns (of which TF2 and LoL don’t have)… Do Valve still patch Half Life 2?

               Valve are good though, they’ll patch something if it needs it (or they want to hide hints about new releases)

         2. 

            rowan

            February 21, 2013 at 7:48 am

            I didn’t mind Borderlands, but it was hardly a 10. More like a 6, or a 7 at best.

            For that reason I didn’t play nr 2.

            Reply
      2. 

         grim-one

         February 18, 2013 at 11:57 am

         Borderlands 2 perhaps?

         Reply
5. 

   sgubs

   February 18, 2013 at 11:36 am

   It is a testament to the strength of the Alien franchise that it is still so popular and seems to continue to escape damage, considering the steaming piles of turd that keep being released with its name slapped on them. Aliens:CM is not a bad game, its just that it touts graphics and animations from last generation and has the storyline of an original licensed Gameboy game. Even with these issues it is still a thrill to walk through a recreation of “Hadley’s Hope” and see Bishop standing at a computer console. If only, IF ONLY, there was a studio that would do justice to this franchise. It has such power and potential, potential we are STILL yet to see fulfilled!!!

   Reply
   1. 

      rowan

      February 18, 2013 at 11:47 am

      Same with predator. At least we got 2 good movies out of Aliens. And a couple of good books.

      Reply
6. 

   luke

   February 18, 2013 at 11:48 am

   The thing is with me is that i have played the first two or so hours and it hasn’t hooked me in like other games have, there is no motivation for me to play on until the end so it will probably go and sit in my Steam library until the end of time.

   Its not a terrible game but its mediocre it could have been much better but at least by buying the collectors edition i have a awesome power loader statue to remind me that its not all a waste of money.

   Reply
7. 

   horhe

   February 18, 2013 at 11:52 am

   I am really enjoying the direction the story is taking me, even if the execution is really bad. Better writing/dialogue/animation would have gone a long way to improve the immersion. The story actually takes place after Alien 3, which is quite interesting for fans.

   My favourite part of the gameplay is playing around with the guns! I did not expect at all for the weapons to be modifiable on the fly (a la crysis), and had just assumed you would be given set weapons throughout the campaign like many other shooters. Being able to extend the magazine and add a red dot sight on my pulse rifle makes it that much more fun to use. And if you don’t like the weapon noises you can add suppressors.

   Reply
8. 

   rize

   February 18, 2013 at 12:01 pm

   From my perspective, the multi almost completely makes up for what the campaign failed at.

   Reply
9. 

   gunnie

   February 18, 2013 at 12:03 pm

   I was interested in getting this, but not after all the negative reviews. In fact, while I was in an EB store, the sales clerk was telling me that 3 copies were returned in the last hour.

   Anyway, just a question for those that have played it.. which is something I am curious about with the story… does it explain how you are able to visit the areas on the colony on LV426. At the end of Aliens it is blown up in a huge nuclear blast. I’ve seen videos of this game where you can visit where Ripley and Newt are attacked by the facehugger and where Hicks and crew set up the auto-turrets. Cool nods to the movie, but how can it be possible?

   Reply
   1. 

      Stomp

      February 18, 2013 at 12:25 pm

      I haven’t quite finished it but
      the general idea from tweets etc prior to release was that the reactor which exploded was somewhat below ground which would have focused the explosion more upward. I still think it couldn’t really have survived as intact as it is but Hadley’s is far enough from the reactor that I’m OK with hollywood-handwaving the explosion. And the derelict was more than far enough away. I don’t think I’m too far from finished but so far there’s been no mention of the reactor and you never see the crater or anything like that.

      Reply
10. 

    screamface

    February 18, 2013 at 12:09 pm

    The second the bad word started to hit, I managed to cancel my pre-order on steam the day before release!

    Suckers!

    Reply
11. 

    blood

    February 18, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    Got 30 minutes of game play over the weekends on my mates account.

    Minus the story, there’s no depth in this game and the issues with the campaign just ruins it.

    I could go on with a huge review but seriously who wants to read things with the same things iterated over and over again.

    The one perk of this game is the news about it, it’s fun to read about how things went behind the scenes and people’s reactions. It’s like a little war within the gaming world and people takes sides, battle it out and leaked information comes out…it’s more entertaining than the game itself.

    Reply
12. 

    Stomp

    February 18, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    I haven’t quite finished. Thankfully I got it pretty damn cheap but it still wasn’t worth the outlay. I don’t have much of a problem with the plot generally. If it had been handled by better direction and much better dialogue it would have been fine. But that’s all moot when the game is mechanically terrible. Terrible AI for allies and enemies; terrible enemy tactics (distinct from AI); mental decisions like restricting legendary ammo and fire rates but not allowing you to go back to the default weapon; bad graphics and especially lighting; unfinished/broken portions that clearly weren’t playtested; invisible walls & terrible edge clipping; frequent frustration.

    Still, there’s something to be said for hearing the roar of a pulse pistol over the screaming of xenomorphs, and if you play on a harder difficulty then the game becomes reasonably tense around the second visit to Hadley’s with the much faster/stronger lurkers. I honestly think this is salvageable as a series, you could turn it around with a sequel done right although it’s probably far too late for that now (bearing in mind I haven’t seen the ending so that could effectively tank what little good will I have towards the plot and Colonial Marines franchise).

    Reply
13. 

    zombieface777

    February 18, 2013 at 1:32 pm

    IMO the game is rubbish and I personally won’t be giving it the time of day. But there are always going to be people who like things you don’t. Even truly horrible games are going to be played & enjoyed.

    I guess it depends on your expectations, what you want out of a game and an ability to excuse shoddy game design.

    Reply
14. 

    aliasalpha

    February 18, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    Well it cost me $35 and that feels about right. Ultimately the game feels like something from about 2007-8 where it would have been pretty good, sadly in 2013 its pretty poor all things considered.

    That said, i did basically enjoy the game and if gearbox do a sequel (rather than outsource it), it could well be a good game.

    Reply
15. 

    Bob

    February 18, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    The only community reviews you are going to get are people that were stupid enough to preorder and overlook every horrible thing about this game because they would never ever buy a bad game.

    Reply
16. 

    Mola

    February 18, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    I didn’t get past the fact that it costs US$80 on steam for Australians. For a game that the developers/publishers must have known before release was going to be a lemon to be priced at such a high point is just a massive up yours to all gamers. Can see that they wanted a high price to fleece all the hapless people who pre-ordered and try and make some money on this dud, but still, doing that should cost them their reputation.

    Reply
17. 

    weaponfx

    February 18, 2013 at 2:47 pm

    SPOILER ALERTS WITHIN

    A.I, graphics, story, shading etc etc aside, as we all stand together on that stuff.

    They should have removed your NPC team mates, they don’t help at all and do not really serve a purpose. Maybe just a couple of levels with them would have been good.

    There was no sense of “Oh crap where are they”. The motion tracker is awesome for film fans, the sound of it just pulsing away then BAM the white dots appear and the pitch increases, perfect! However the Xeno’s just didn’t instill any kind of RUN LIKE HELL moments as they did in the movie’s. I really wish they had have taken a Dead Space approach, Aliens hiding in the walls then fly out at the last second. Endless Xeno hordes coming down the hall at you giving you no choice but to cut and run for saftey rather than stand and kill everything before you casual move on.

    There was just no sense of urgency or panic.

    As a fan of the films as it seems a lot of people who wanted to play this are, I trully did expect to feel panic, this game was suppose to be a big shout out to the actually movies and the most crucial part to that was the way the Xeno’s acted, sadly they didn’t.
    Running around Hadley’s Hope was awesome, seeing a doll’s head and knowing it was Newt’s before the Acheivement came up telling you so was a thrill and discovering the auto turret’s in the corridor with one empty and the other on 004 was friggin fantastic. The sounds were spot on. Even the guns were as realistic as you would expect them to be in real life, they aren’t suppose to be esy to use, they are suppose to have worse accuracy and power over distance. The flame thrower was the only exception, that thing was broken big time.

    I felt good walking around the “set” I felt like I was kinda there, they did that well. If this is all I get from the game then for me I’m happy I spent the money.

    Game mechanics, NPC actions/reactions and graphical elements… this destroyed a potentially excellent game for me. Just can’t help but think if it played like Dead space 1 but in Ridley Scott’s world then the reviews would all be looking fantastic.

    Reply
18. 

    waldo

    February 18, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    The positive backlash is here. My friends were true believers but I, like the journo here, had my fears watching the pre release videos. My friends too are insisting that they are enjoying it coop and enjoy being in the aliens world but it must be said, it shouldn’t be up to the players nostalgia to make a good game.

    Truth be told I had an alright time with Kane And Lynch 2 coop with a friend as well as the bank heist missions. But even that reviewed higher than this, had decent style AND only cost me $20

    Reply
19. 

    pumpalong

    February 18, 2013 at 7:32 pm

    well personally i don’t mind the game, thats just me though, but just think of it as a COD game, the campaign sux ass but do you seriously buy them for the campaign……. HELL NO its for the on-line play, So all you haters stop ya hating eat some bacon strips and check out the on-line game modes and give them a go, at least in on-line u wont be facing AI aliens, no AI aliens no problems right!!!

    Reply
    1. 

       RocK_M

       February 19, 2013 at 12:31 am

       Errmmm… sorry but its an Aliens game. And the fans expect (and deserve) something much much much better than “something like a COD game”. If they wanted something w/ crappy story and lots of shooting ppl then they’d go for COD.

       They wanted a good story and ended up w/ something somewhat less than promised. I can understand why some fans are raging (especially since the whole story is meant to be “canon” and a “part” of the Alien universe….)

       Reply