Support NeoGAF

[Deleted member 17706]

For fucking shame, Gearbox.

I was never really excited for this game, but it's a goddamned abomination, isn't it? Like one of those budget shooters that would get launched early in this generation.

This pretty much seals it for me that Gearbox just got kind of lucky with the original Borderlands.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

I dont get why it's so hard to make an aliens game. Why the hell are pretty much 10 year old games still outdoing modern stuff

We live in an age of call of duty. Creating a tense and scary FPS game requires a lot of care and the balls to actually design a game where you dont need to pull the trigger every 4 seconds.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

There must of been heads at GBX that was overseeing it. There had to have been. They made a conscious decision not to correct ship. Doing so would have meant they would have broken the contract and pay fees up the ass. It was clearly a business choice to dirty the company name rather than be at fault.

Yeah. Seems that way - what a fuckup.

Start Aliens YEARS ago, start another game at the expense of focusing on this one, figure out only then that you company is completely overloaded, and then rush out a shitty product. WHAT A SHOCK. Bad management, sounds like.

 

[1stStrike]

We live in an age of call of duty. Creating a tense and scary FPS game requires a lot of care and the balls to actually design a game where you dont need to pull the trigger every 4 seconds.

Uhh well, I guess there's always...

Maybe...

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

Uhh well, I guess there's always...

Maybe...

E3, man.

I feel it.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Would the Alien IP have done better at somebody like say... Monolith Productions? Gearbox was a horrible decision from Sega.

 

[Foffy]

For those looking for a video review, I'll be happy to oblige.

YoVideogames Aliens: Colonial Marines Review (WTF HAPPENED?!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck836MIeYwo

Goodness, you showed off a lot more issues than what I've seen from other sites. Impressive work, dude.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

Goodness, you showed off a lot more issues than what I've seen from other sites. Impressive work, dude.

This was probably my favourite review - really informative, entertaining and laugh out loud funny. When the power loader arm started spinning around like an egg beater with an alien spasming on the ground I lost it.

 

[Aaron]

Six years ago Gearbox seemed like a great choice. Their Brothers in Arms series is a solid basis for a squad of space marines, but Sega should have never given them this much slack, especially when they canned that Aliens RPG near completion.

 

[LiK]

lol, GT review is worth watching just to hear Brandon Jones yell out "Game over man!"

 

[ezekial45]

Six years ago Gearbox seemed like a great choice. Their Brothers in Arms series is a solid basis for a squad of space marines, but Sega should have never given them this much slack, especially when they canned that Aliens RPG near completion.

Was it near completion? All we saw of it was the concept pieces and that early looking gameplay video.

 

[Aaron]

Was it near completion? All we saw of it was the concept pieces and that early looking gameplay video.

According to Obsidian it was. They are biased, but since we'll never see what they worked on it's hard to say for sure.

 

[1stStrike]

Would the Alien IP have done better at somebody like say... Monolith Productions? Gearbox was a horrible decision from Sega.

News flash, Sega has been making bad decisions for closing in on two decades now.

 

[twinturbo2]

Giant Bomb's review isn't up yet, but it's apparently 1/5 stars.

Navarro deserves a Medal of Honor (not the game) for being so brave in playing shitty games to review.

I mean, he was the guy who was brave enough to play Big Rigs for Gamespot to review.

 

[SmithnCo]

Navarro deserves a Medal of Honor (not the game) for being so brave in playing shitty games to review.

I mean, he was the guy who was brave enough to play Big Rigs for Gamespot to review.

I look forward to that, his Family Guy review was pretty hilarious.

 

[Aaron]

Navarro deserves a Medal of Honor (not the game) for being so brave in playing shitty games to review.

I mean, he was the guy who was brave enough to play Big Rigs for Gamespot to review.

That video review is still a classic.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

For those looking for a video review, I'll be happy to oblige.

YoVideogames Aliens: Colonial Marines Review (WTF HAPPENED?!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck836MIeYwo

Best review so far.

This game is a colossal mess.

 

[zroid]

I dont get why it's so hard to make an aliens game. Why the hell are pretty much 10 year old games still outdoing modern stuff

Wasn't Aliens Infestation supposed to be pretty good?

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

SegaMegaMonster.jpg

News flash, Sega has been making bad decisions for closing in on two decades now.

I'm well aware of that, but they were way too lenient on Gearbox. At least the 32X/CD-thing had a good Alien port planned at some point.

 

[iMax]

Give the license to Visceral.

 

[The Mango Sentinel]

Damn this is clearly Gearbox's fault. Handing it to a cheap developer so they could develop BL2. Wow. I don't even blame TimeGate, GBX had to know what they were getting into.

I bet Sega is pissed. This was their baby. And they contracted one of the best shooter studios to do it and they fucked it up (even though I find it fun).

Time to give Obsidian a call, Sega.

Please no. Obsidian hates finishing their games.

 

[NullPointer]

(sorry if this was already posted)
http://www.reddit.com/r/LV426/comments/18ewf4/a_lot_of_you_are_rightfully_upset_at_the_final/

Wow.

So, Borderlands 2 burst out of the chest of Colonial Marines development, but Gearbox gave the bloody husk a stimpack, duct taped some marketing to it and pulled a Weekend at Bernie's on everyone.

 

[Dram]

I wonder why Sega didn't just cancel the product since it didn't seem like Gearbox had any interest in developing it?

 

[zoukka]

Give the license to Visceral.

Shieeeeet.

 

[Dahbomb]

After watching the Max review I am going to skip out on this game.

Huge fan of the Alien series and a huge fan of the AvP games as well. I really wanted to like this game and play it but it got so much wrong that I don't think I should bother.

Thank god I didn't follow the pre-releqse hype for this game much. Seems like a bad case of over promising under delivering... and the press was in on it as usual. Makes previews look more and more like advertisements.

 

[Tallshortman]

Give the license to Visceral.

Yep, I mean for all the shit people have given them for slowly moving towards action, they at least get the basics like atmosphere and gameplay right. Gearbox could have pretty much copied DS3 co-op with 4 dudes in first person and replaced necromorphs with aliens and ended up with a pretty good game.

 

[IdreamofHIME]

I'm loving this game, best train wreck simulator ever. AI, graphics, controls, voice acting, story...it's a perfect storm of shit.
You gotta respect a dev that can spend over a half a decade on this and then push it and release it with a straight face.

 

[Dahbomb]

I'm loving this game, best train wreck simulator ever. AI, graphics, controls, voice acting, story...it's a perfect storm of shit.
You gotta respect a dev that can spend over a half a decade on this and then push it and release it with a straight face.

Well SK did release Too Human...

 

[AppleMIX]

Give the license to Visceral.

Yes.

 

[vidcons]

We live in an age of call of duty. Creating a tense and scary FPS game requires a lot of care and the balls to actually design a game where you dont need to pull the trigger every 4 seconds.

That's the thing though, the xenomorph isn't scary. The Alien pretty much got relegated to garbage fodder when Cameron made Aliens. Fincher's work with Alien 3 was probably the only way the series could continue, but people were up in arms about that.

There is no way to make an Aliens game that will work like the first movie. It just can't realistically happen. You can see this by the first encounter with the xenomorph in A:CM. Trapped in a small room with it skulking around in vents, and you're pretty much playing wack-a-mole. You can't uniquely replicate Aliens without being generic, since that's pretty much the definition of the movie. Alien 3 can't work without being modern because all we do in games is shoot people. What I've played so far, and I've played very little, is about as close to a good Aliens game we can get, ever.

A:CM is a blend of the three movies that are distinct from one another and practically in different genres (although there is a blurring of the lines).

Like, I don't think you can fault this game for being a bad Aliens game but rather that the franchise lends itself to being bad at continuing.

I'm going to bring RE4 again because it makes sense to me. RE4's revolutionary change to the franchise wasn't just about a camera perspective, it was about how incredibly different the way you engaged your enemies was to prior entries. That's what A:CM is doing, for better or worse. You can't just get this horror game with a xenomorph because it simply won't work. You can't just get an Aliens game because it'd be DOOM 3. You can't just get Alien 3 without being COD-like. You can blend them for fan service, or you can alter the franchise itself (which is what should have been done), providing a canonical spin on Humans vs Aliens.

From everything I've read, they lose sight of what they were doing right and end up doing everything wrong without thinking about what any of it means. Alas, videogames.

 

[Riddy]

Just got a chance to play the first half an hour of the game. Wow. I don't even know where to begin. Oh wait, I do.

(There are technically spoilers in what I'm about to write but I strongly recommend everyone read them to understand my point)

So, in Alien 3,

Spoiler

the ship Ripley was on (the Sulaco) has a fire, leading it to eject Ripley and the other survivors of Aliens out into space via escape pod, which ends up landing on planet Fury 161.

At the very beginning of ACM, we see Sulaco over LV-426 (aka the planet with the xenomorph infestation). A distress signal from

Spoiler

Hicks from Aliens

is sent out and received by marines, who are then sent to search and rescue etc. They have their briefing in the cargo deck and are told they were going to board the Sulaco. One female marine looks at the commander and asks:

"Sir, the Sulaco was reported last seen over Fury 161...how is it back over this planet?"

To which he replies:

"We don't know how that boat got back here. Right now, we are worried about what is killing our marines in there. This is a liquid situation. Information to follow as it comes online. Ready up, good hunting marines. Hurrah!"

Wow. Wow. This may be me taking this personally, but this is how I interpreted that dialogue:

"There's this immense plot-hole...how do you explain this?"

"We actually have no idea ourselves. Right now, we just need a reason to revisit that ship for fan service and give you something to do and kill as soon as possible. We're playing this by ear with absolutely no regard for canon. We'll slowly fill these plot-holes via DLC as it becomes available. Now stop asking questions and just play our game. Hurrah!"

I don't think I'm too off the mark here...right? I can go into integral detail of how bad the graphics are, how horrid the AI is, how awful the dialogue and scenarios are, the uncanny resemblance to Duke Nukem Forever in both look and feel, but I think this sums it all up. This entire game is a gigantic "**** you" to Aliens fans and/or video gamers alike. Randy Pitchford has conned us.

(I don't mean to come off as a conspiracy theorist or fanboy, just a really disappointed immense fan of the Aliens universe)

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

For those looking for a video review, I'll be happy to oblige.

YoVideogames Aliens: Colonial Marines Review (WTF HAPPENED?!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck836MIeYwo

Wow. Goddammit. Aliens is easily one of my favorite movies of all time, this pains me. Good review, although I can only give you one flaw in your assessment; one of the things that got me excited was the thought that this game was pretty much going to rightfully ignore the post Aliens movies (that's a freakin' huge ass plus, I stopped at two for the characters, and pictured what James Cameron wanted before Fox took a huge dookie all over it), but alas so much squandered.

 

[Ollie Pooch]

"Sir, the Sulaco was reported last seen over Fury 161...how is it back over this planet?"

To which he replies:

"We don't know how that boat got back here. Right now, we are worried about what is killing our marines in there. This is a liquid situation. Information to follow as it comes online. Ready up, good hunting marines. Hurrah!"

This is either a terrible plot hole as you have said (likely), or some lame attempt to create some suggestion of the Company manipulating events to their own benefit (ie. remotely moving the Sulaco back to LV426 in interest of obtaining alien specimens) or some crap.

God I'm so sick of terrible, untalented people taking a huge shit all over this series.

I agree that it's difficult to translate this franchise into videogame form without just going 'its a shooter!' as the extra elements in Aliens aside from the action don't translate well to gaming. Though it seems they failed to even get those basics right. So they either tirelessly ape the movie (like they have done here), or just treat it like a walk-through shooting gallery (the earlier AvP games) - still, the old games did have some sense of tension and fear. When they just slavishly recreate elements from the movie it really just does get reduced to a novelty, like walking through a set.

The original idea sounded so good, though (on paper) - more of a siege-like environment, where you know you're totally fucked and outnumbered and try to survive against the odds. That's how I imagined it, anyway.

 

[LeMaximilian]

Wow. Goddammit. Aliens is easily one of my favorite movies of all time, this pains me. Good review, although I can only give you one flaw in your assessment; one of the things that got me excited was the thought that this game was pretty much going to rightfully ignore the post Aliens movies (that's a freakin' huge ass plus, I stopped at two for the characters, and pictured what James Cameron wanted before Fox took a huge dookie all over it), but alas so much squandered.

Thanks much. I'm not a big fan of anything post Aliens in the film quadrilogy either, but the way they handled it in the game is what really set me off.

Without spoiling things, they introduce a pivotal Aliens lore character with haphazard reasoning, and when another character asks 'Well how did you do that?!' he responds with 'That's a longer story.' and continues with a revenge plot.

The Aliens also don't play as much a significant role, as during the whole game...they're not the main enemy and only get in the way of the story.

Game should be re-titled

Weyland Yutani: Colonial Marines

or Colonial Marines: Featuring Aliens

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

This is either a terrible plot hole as you have said (likely), or some lame attempt to create some suggestion of the Company manipulating events to their own benefit (ie. remotely moving the Sulaco back to LV426 in interest of obtaining alien specimens) or some crap.

God I'm so sick of terrible, untalented people taking a huge shit all over this series.

I agree that it's difficult to translate this franchise into videogame form without just going 'its a shooter!' as the extra elements in Aliens aside from the action don't translate well to gaming. Though it seems they failed to even get those basics right. So they either tirelessly ape the movie (like they have done here), or just treat it like a walk-through shooting gallery (the earlier AvP games) - still, the old games did have some sense of tension and fear. When they just slavishly recreate elements from the movie it really just does get reduced to a novelty, like walking through a set.

The original idea sounded so good, though (on paper) - more of a siege-like environment, where you know you're totally fucked and outnumbered and try to survive against the odds. That's how I imagined it, anyway.

Like I said it was a follow up to James Cameron's Aliens that was going to ignore the post films anyway, they had all the opportunity in the world to give a detailed different scenario but wasted it and hurting that universe too!

 

[aegies]

This is either a terrible plot hole as you have said (likely), or some lame attempt to create some suggestion of the Company manipulating events to their own benefit (ie. remotely moving the Sulaco back to LV426 in interest of obtaining alien specimens) or some crap.

God I'm so sick of terrible, untalented people taking a huge shit all over this series.

I agree that it's difficult to translate this franchise into videogame form without just going 'its a shooter!' as the extra elements in Aliens aside from the action don't translate well to gaming. Though it seems they failed to even get those basics right. So they either tirelessly ape the movie (like they have done here), or just treat it like a walk-through shooting gallery (the earlier AvP games) - still, the old games did have some sense of tension and fear. When they just slavishly recreate elements from the movie it really just does get reduced to a novelty, like walking through a set.

The original idea sounded so good, though (on paper) - more of a siege-like environment, where you know you're totally fucked and outnumbered and try to survive against the odds. That's how I imagined it, anyway.

There's a pretty hackjob explanation for how the Sulaco gets back over LV-426. It sucks, but it's there, and there's more explanation given than the OTHER pile of bullshit.

 

[Sojgat]

This is either a terrible plot hole as you have said (likely), or some lame attempt to create some suggestion of the Company manipulating events to their own benefit (ie. remotely moving the Sulaco back to LV426 in interest of obtaining alien specimens) or some crap.

God I'm so sick of terrible, untalented people taking a huge shit all over this series.

It's simply the time-honored practise of using a character to draw attention to plot/logic holes in a narrative, in the belief that, if even the people in the story don't think it makes any sense, then the bad writing is somehow excused.

 

[Riddy]

There's a pretty hackjob explanation for how the Sulaco gets back over LV-426. It sucks, but it's there, and there's more explanation given than the OTHER pile of bullshit.

Please share with spoiler blocks or PM me the details? I am genuinely curious, as I would have bet money the credits would have rolled with no explanation.

 

[aegies]

Please share with spoiler blocks or PM me the details? I am genuinely curious, as I would have bet money the credits would have rolled with no explanation.

Spoiler

WY brings the Sulaco back to the planet from orbit around Fury 161 along with Hicks to conduct experiments on the Sulaco and the planet's surface, I guess because they also want to grab more specimens from the derelict.

I think, anyway. I've started to block it out. There are other things too, like a retcon of the alien reproductive cycle. Now

Spoiler

the "placenta" that grows to support the chestburster is like terminal cancer, so anyone who's infected will die no matter what, and it would be pointless to remove it.

Which I believe pretty solidly contradicts Alien: Resurrection.

 

[vidcons]

Spoiler

WY brings the Sulaco back to the planet from orbit around Fury 161 along with Hicks to conduct experiments on the Sulaco and the planet's surface, I guess because they also want to grab more specimens from the derelict.

I think, anyway. I've started to block it out. There are other things too, like a retcon of the alien reproductive cycle. Now

Spoiler

the "placenta" that grows to support the chestburster is like terminal cancer, so anyone who's infected will die no matter what, and it would be pointless to remove it.

Which I believe pretty solidly contradicts Alien: Resurrection.

or.. you know

Prometheus

 

[Riddy]

Spoiler

WY brings the Sulaco back to the planet from orbit around Fury 161 along with Hicks to conduct experiments on the Sulaco and the planet's surface, I guess because they also want to grab more specimens from the derelict.

I think, anyway. I've started to block it out. There are other things too, like a retcon of the alien reproductive cycle. Now

Spoiler

the "placenta" that grows to support the chestburster is like terminal cancer, so anyone who's infected will die no matter what, and it would be pointless to remove it.

Which I believe pretty solidly contradicts Alien: Resurrection.

So if I read that right, they're saying

Spoiler

Hicks was either working for the company the whole time or he decided to work for them after the events?

Speechless. I can live going against Resurrection canon as that movie was barely tolerable, but to portray

Spoiler

Hicks

so out of character is so downright insulting...what absolute blatant disregard for fans of the films. Shocking!

 

[aegies]

or.. you know

Prometheus

Prometheus's creatures/bioweapons weren't xenomorphs. Different lifecycles. And I don't think Prometheus contradicted other Alien/Aliens etc canon.

So if I read that right, they're saying

Spoiler

Hicks was either working for the company the whole time or he decided to work for them after the events?

Speechless. I can live going against Resurrection canon as that movie was barely tolerable, but to portray

Spoiler

Hicks

so out of character is so downright insulting...what absolute blatant disregard for fans of the films. Shocking!

They don't say much about you-know-who at all. That's part of why it's so fucking infuriating.

 

[Night_Trekker]

I didn't follow the development of this game, but I saw all I needed to see in the commercials (looks horrible), especially judging by those review scores. Yikes :/

Shame. I like Aliens and Gearbox.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

That's the thing though, the xenomorph isn't scary. The Alien pretty much got relegated to garbage fodder when Cameron made Aliens. Fincher's work with Alien 3 was probably the only way the series could continue, but people were up in arms about that.

There is no way to make an Aliens game that will work like the first movie. It just can't realistically happen. You can see this by the first encounter with the xenomorph in A:CM. Trapped in a small room with it skulking around in vents, and you're pretty much playing wack-a-mole. You can't uniquely replicate Aliens without being generic, since that's pretty much the definition of the movie. Alien 3 can't work without being modern because all we do in games is shoot people. What I've played so far, and I've played very little, is about as close to a good Aliens game we can get, ever.

A:CM is a blend of the three movies that are distinct from one another and practically in different genres (although there is a blurring of the lines).

Like, I don't think you can fault this game for being a bad Aliens game but rather that the franchise lends itself to being bad at continuing.

I'm going to bring RE4 again because it makes sense to me. RE4's revolutionary change to the franchise wasn't just about a camera perspective, it was about how incredibly different the way you engaged your enemies was to prior entries. That's what A:CM is doing, for better or worse. You can't just get this horror game with a xenomorph because it simply won't work. You can't just get an Aliens game because it'd be DOOM 3. You can't just get Alien 3 without being COD-like. You can blend them for fan service, or you can alter the franchise itself (which is what should have been done), providing a canonical spin on Humans vs Aliens.

From everything I've read, they lose sight of what they were doing right and end up doing everything wrong without thinking about what any of it means. Alas, videogames.

I think you're right in some ways - a true Aliens (not Alien) game will always be an action shooter because that's what the movie is.

There's still plenty else for them to get right, though - making a shooter doesn't mean you can't put effort into a rich atmosphere, great animation, varied gameplay in a varied campaign, and a not completely bullshit treatment of the source material.

Honestly I feel like the first Halo is probably the most halfway-decent Aliens game we're ever going to get.

 

[Tzeentch]

Spoiler

WY brings the Sulaco back to the planet from orbit around Fury 161 along with Hicks to conduct experiments on the Sulaco and the planet's surface, I guess because they also want to grab more specimens from the derelict.

I ... uhhh ... HUH?

 

[fizzelopeguss]

Time to give Obsidian a call, Sega.

After the clusterfuck that was alpha protocol? ironically enough another company and game that sapped money from SEGA.

 

[Coffee Dog]

After the clusterfuck that was alpha protocol? ironically enough another company and game that sapped money from SEGA.

A good portion of why that was a clusterfuck was SEGA not allowing them to work on the game during its delay and mandating stat based combat. If anything, I don't know why Obsidian would want to work with SEGA again.

 

[Riddy]

Honestly I feel like the first Halo is probably the most halfway-decent Aliens game we're ever going to get.

This is so true it hurts.

It would be silly for people to expect anything but an action shooter when a game is based off of (arguably) one of the best action movies ever made. That was never the issue. The issue is, we got an incredibly generic one that put no effort into using its license in a creative or meaningful way.

 

[Bad7667]

I think you're right in some ways - a true Aliens (not Alien) game will always be an action shooter because that's what the movie is.

There's still plenty else for them to get right, though - making a shooter doesn't mean you can't put effort into a rich atmosphere, great animation, varied gameplay in a varied campaign, and a not completely bullshit treatment of the source material.

Honestly I feel like the first Halo is probably the most halfway-decent Aliens game we're ever going to get.

I agree. Making a shooter based off of Aliens could be good, the problem isn't that it can't be done, its that Gearbox decided to make a shitty COD game with Xenos.

 

[toddhunter]

This is so true it hurts.

It would be silly for people to expect anything but an action shooter when a game is based off of (arguably) one of the best action movies ever made. That was never the issue. The issue is, we got an incredibly generic one that put no effort into using its license in a creative or meaningful way.

Dead space (1) even almost has the rifle. Reskin it and we are pretty much there.