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Aliens: Colonial Marines review thread of broken dreams and movie references

You know, this is becoming a serious, serious PR blunder for Gearbox and friends.

DNF you had reasons to give them a pass.

This, coming out worse than DNF, and you have a PR nightmare.

The sad thing is there is a good chance some people will lose jobs over this blunder, especially if the sales disappoint (and likely will).

I wonder if they are even going to complete a "season pass" worth of DLC, unless it already is all "made" *cough cough*
 
The takeaway from all of this is that Gearbox got extremely lucky with Borderlands.

Hardly. Gearbox didn't make one good game and that was pure luck. They've been around for a while and had mixed reception. DNF was a mess when they got it, the Halo port was pretty unspectacular. While Brothers in Arms was well-received, and Opposing Force is one of the best expansions ever, and to a rather prestigious base game (even though it's a standalone expansion). Colonial Marines' mediocrity seems pretty in-line with Gearbox, not some sudden revelation that they suck or anything.
 

Sanic

Member
The takeaway from all of this is that Gearbox got extremely lucky with Borderlands.

Hardly. Gearbox didn't make one good game and that was pure luck. They've been around for a while and had mixed reception. DNF was a mess when they got it, the Halo port was pretty unspectacular. While Brothers in Arms was well-received, and Opposing Force is one of the best expansions ever. Colonial Marines' mediocrity seems pretty in-line with Gearbox, not some sudden revelation that they suck or anything.

Take a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gearbox_software

A sea of ports and perhaps good, but not great releases, outside of Borderlands.
 
Hardly. Gearbox didn't make one good game and that was pure luck. They've been around for a while and had mixed reception. DNF was a mess when they got it, the Halo port was pretty unspectacular. While Brothers in Arms was well-received, and Opposing Force is one of the best expansions ever, and to a rather prestigious base game (even though it's a standalone expansion). Colonial Marines' mediocrity seems pretty in-line with Gearbox, not some sudden revelation that they suck or anything.

Gearbox is also responsible for that terribad port of 007 Nightfire on the pc.
 

haikira

Member
Just noticed that the Gametrailers and IGN video reviews, which would normally show console footage for multiplatform games, went with showing the PC version of this game. I wonder if that was by request of the publisher.

EDIT: hadn't finished watching the IGN video, when i posted that. They make special mention of the console versions half way through their video and show a little gameplay from one of the consoles.
 
The first two were great games. And of course Borderlands.

But that now has to contend with Duke Nukem and Aliens now. Not good.
personally I dont particularly rate their work even going back to Opposing Forces. I respect Borderlands. Never played the Brothers in Arms games because I was sick of war stuff long before they came out.

But all they needed to do here was make a competent by the numbers FPS with good fan service and atmosphere borrowed right out of the movies. Its a really easy remit. What they did... Eurgh.
 
Never played the Brothers in Arms games because I was sick of war stuff long before they came out.
They were respectful games, and smarter than other shooters. There's a particular feeling you experience when you complete a hairy mission, only to then look through the actual after action reports, maps and photos from the scenario you just played out. No other game I've played has made the connection between simulation and reality that tangible. It was affecting.

So Gearbox had earned plenty of my good will from those first two BiA games alone. Hell's Highway was just a mess though, but a mess that was forgotten because of Borderlands and Borderlands 2.

But all they needed to do here was make a competent by the numbers FPS with good fan service and atmosphere borrowed right out of the movies. Its a really easy remit. What they did... Eurgh.
Its honestly mindboggling and upsetting to see just how much they failed here, all while pushing that marketing machine forward at full speed.

If anything this means I will never believe an iota of hype from Gearbox.

That's probably for the best.
 

Boerseun

Banned
Gearbox is also responsible for that terribad port of 007 Nightfire on the pc.

Well they did cut out all the vehicle bits, rebuilt the whole thing in a new engine (Half Life 1.5 engine), neglected to include certain shortcuts and pathways. Among other things. They also left all the video cutscenes on the disc, including those connecting sequences no longer in the game. It was quite hilarious being reminded of what you were missing by buying their crappy PC version (not!).

Having said that, they're worst port job is still the first two Brothers in Arms games to Wii (as Brothers in Arms: Double Time, or something similar). These look worse than the Ps2 versions and the controls are just hopeless, especially when considering how Wii Remote and Nunchuck controls are perfect for those games (or should have been). I bought it and was so frustrated and dissappointed.
 
Sorry if it's already been discussed, but what's the 'twist' I've seen mentioned but not detailed in a couple reviews that supposedly casually disregards what happens in Aliens?
 
Sorry if it's already been discussed, but what's the 'twist' I've seen mentioned but not detailed in a couple reviews that supposedly casually disregards what happens in Aliens?
Hicks is still alive on LV-426, he somehow managed to put another body into the cryo chamber thing
 
Saw the Gamespot review. It looks like it could still be kind of fun, but not at full retail price. Maybe with a price drop or bargain bin down the line.

Still disappointing. Although I wonder if this is another untimely victim of the Call of Duty age, meaning, okay, soild shooters get butchered by reviews turning them into crap shooters. Medal of Honor Warfighter comes to mind. It got horrible scores but perhaps a few years ago, it would've been at least a solid 7?

Maybe Aliens Colonial Marines would've been received better if it wasn't delayed all these years? I don't know. Haven't played the game but lately reviews are getting kind of harsh knocking down any shooter that resembles Call of Duty's formula. Which is understandable but at the same time, it can still be fun.

Singularity is another game that was butchered by some reviews. I thought the game was really good and one of Raven's best. Some reviewers were way too harsh.

Don't know if I can fully trust reviews anymore. Gamefly, the bargain bin, or Steam is the most reliable resource to know if a game is good or not.
 
There was some quote where FOX said they considered it canon, but I'm sure it was hype and they'll go back on that, considering the bizarre things I'm hearing about the story.

I've heard similar quotes about lots of things that never held. If this has been good, it might have stood a chance. You will never see a film in the Alien franchise pay any heed to the events portrayed in this game. They won't even consider whether they are or aren't contradicting what is shown here.

Them's the facts. Any chance it had of becoming established canon were nuked by all these reviews.
 

PnCIa

Member
I dont consider Gearbox to be bad developer, while i am not a fan of Boderlands i can see the games qualities.
From my POV their problem is their frontman Randy Pitchford who keeps acting all excited and pumped up about bullshit. Not in the typical PR-way...he is just "overacting".
The guy talked about a secret level in DNF for christs sake.
 

Tankshell

Member
This really is a terrible game. My gf gifted me this as a birthday present on steam today, she knows how much I like the Alien films.

I played it for 1 hour before giving up in disgust. Went back to playing Dead Space. Felt a bit guilty as it was a present too!
 
The best part is when
another marine asks Hicks about the body in his cryo tube and he responds with "That's a longer story", that he then never follows up on. So fucking sad.

smh.gif


why did this happen
 

Coolwhip

Banned
Only saw the Sessler review, but it looked like an Aliens themed FPS. Nothing more, nothing less. Is it really that bad?
 
The quality of Borderlands 2 leads me to believe that Gearbox are indeed an excellent developer, but probably not a jack of all trades, so to speak.
 

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
This is fucking hilarious. The xeno is like "fuck this, I'm going back to my room."
I love that for a game that would thrive on atmosphere and lighting everything looks completely flat, there are no shadows and the alien moves like a plastic army man being pushed around on a board. Shocking how unfinished this game looks- even worse they're charging full price for it.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
To the people saying that Gearbox really fucked up here... didn't they not develop most of this game (just like with DNF)?
 

Kade

Member

On par with Halo 4, that's harsh.

To the people saying that Gearbox really fucked up here... didn't they not develop most of this game (just like with DNF)?

I only discovered this yesterday and I've been sort of following this game as a fan of the original movies. Wasn't it revealed that all of the pre-production and core design was by Gearbox, though? As a contract crew, you're only doing what you're told to do.
 

RoadHazard

Gold Member
And that's on them. In other words, they really fucked up.

Well, sure, that's a fair point I guess. I don't understand why they keep getting themselves involved in shit like this. They can clearly make great games when they take care of it themselves, so why allow stuff like this that just makes them look bad?
 

hamchan

Member
To the people saying that Gearbox really fucked up here... didn't they not develop most of this game (just like with DNF)?

That's even worse considering they've been putting their name on it everywhere, all the Randy Pitchford interviews, that e3 demo I posted above being false and everybody thinking they were the only developers until just recently.

It's like a con job by them.
 
I don't understand...the previews from a few months ago looked great. The animations looked good, the graphics looked good, voice acting was...decent.

It seems like everything actually got worse...how the fuck?


It's almost like Gearbox set out to intentionally deceive the public, then kept reviewers quiet as long as possible with a 4am eastern review embargo, thus ensuring that all Amazon preorders would have already shipped.
 
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