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Aliens: Colonial Marines demo vs. final build
- Thread starter SolidSnakex
- Start date
No. Lighting is not the only difference. It seems like AI has taken a massive nosedive along with animation and overall image quality. And you're probably the only person who thinks the release lighting is better than the demo.
I don't know if that matters to the player though. Those examples are certainly different in that they had shown what the games actually looked like at least 6 months before the game was released (if not longer). Which I suppose could be the issue if we consider early pre-release footage to be a part of the marketing. Do we then consider it false advertising? Or do only actual ads count?
It isn't just about early specs though is it? Sometimes designs just don't work outside of the scripted demo situations, time and money run out etc. There are accusations being thrown around, but do we know for sure the situation with this outsourced stuff? And does it matter? Is it unreasonable for Gearbox to use outside help? Certainly the rumor that they were focused on Borderlands 2 makes it more sketchy, but again we don't know for sure yet.
Many people here will probably disagree, but I don't think it did. Which I think illustrates the issue with all this. It's up to each individual to decide if they care about the changes. There are positive reviews for this game. I don't understand them, but there are games I hate that most people love. There are even buggy games that I am totally fine with. This game turned out to be shit for most people. Until some real evidence comes in I think we can leave it at that.
Perhaps glasses might be in order.
Thanks. Made two screengrabs for this:
maybe they accidentally switched versions so that the iPad version code was compiled into the PC version?!
sure looks like an iPad game...
anyway. I will never ever preorder a Gearbox game after their LIES about this game and Duke Nukem
I bought Duke Nukem out of pure curiosity, as I had followed the game's progress since I was a kid. I knew it was a bad game, but I had to know for myself.
I still regret having it in my collection.
With that said, Duke and Aliens are not games that were entirely developed by Gearbox. Especially Duke. The last two games they had total control over were Borderlands 1 and 2, which were good games. They just need to stop this practice of polishing up turds and releasing them onto the market.
Why would you want something more clear in an Alien game? It's suposed to be dark and moody, go watch the movies!
There is no tension when there is a fucking light festival going on in the levels
Also, the reason it's more clear it's because there is a huge graphical downgrade and there is basically no dynamic light/shadows
Anyone?
Aretak
Member
And if there's one thing you want in an Aliens game, it's bright, clear environments.
Have you watched extended game play sequences from this game?
SkoomaSuckinSwit
Member
I played through the entirety of both Duke Nukem Forever AND Aliens Colonial Marines.
Plowed through both campaigns in a single sitting.
I thought they were entertaining, and worth every penny I spent on them.
Plowed through both campaigns in a single sitting.
I thought they were entertaining, and worth every penny I spent on them.
$2 rentals.
Watch this and see how you feel;
http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-aliens-colonial-marines/2300-7033/
I actually fell asleep watching them play this. There is just nothing remotely appealing about this game. It makes that last Aliens Vs Predator game seem amazing.
I never made it through Duke. The game play was just too shitty and bland. And I own the stupid game. I should force myself to play from start to finish sometime.
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
WAT?!?
Yes I don't want the Foie Gras give me the Cloaca soup!, I'm happy eating Duck Anus soup!
Thanks. Made two screengrabs for this:
UE3 games already have mobile settings in their config files. It's implemented by default.
Duck Anus soup sounds like an extravagant delicacy.
Prime crotch
Banned
I'm all for people feeling outraged and venting their frustrations but come on, let's not turn this into a efigy burning.
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
So you would shlurp duck ass soup, I find new things aobut you Mahonay, and I like it sir
Inb4 giant effigy of Randy Pitchford burning on YouTube.
I'd shlurp that shit down to the last drop.
brain_stew
Member
And even if they weren't capable of getting it upto speed on consoles, there's no good reason to artificially destroy the PC version. This is just a horrible situation all around, and after the fantastic bets SEGA have made in the PC and digital space it's such a shame to see one of their biggest investments fail so spectularly. No wonder, they're shifting focus away from the retail space, investments like this just aren't worth it when they've got studios like Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly that can ship high quality and profitable games like clockwork, year after year.
The problem with your accusations is that, in many of those examples, the discrepancy was a direct result of developing for unknown specs. Many of those were games which were being developed blindly. In that type of situation change is to be expected.
While Aliens has been in development for a long time the platforms they were targeting have been around for ages at this point.
Also, the MGS2 trick was one of the greatest things Kojima ever did. Absolutely brilliant. The game itself, in the end, looked every bit as good as those early demos and still ran at 60 fps so it wasn't bullshit on that side.
Also, consider the fact that most of those games you've mentioned turned out to be solid products despite the changes made. Aliens is a bad game plain and simple.
I don't think it's as clear cut as that. These demos were shown well in advance of the actual release date when things were still in flux.
I was just about to say...I played this game today (well, yesterday technically) and it's worse in every possible way.
After watching the various demo and final comparison videos, I absolutely wish this game had turned out to be what the demo had. It just grabbed my attention so much.
I didn't want this game just because it was based on Aliens either, this game could've been something that I would have shared with my dad since Aliens is his all-time favourite sci-fi movie.
Gearbox has literally destroyed what would have been a great father-son moment. Sure, I could play this crappy version with him, but he plays video games too and he would notice how bad it is as much as I did.
I didn't want this game just because it was based on Aliens either, this game could've been something that I would have shared with my dad since Aliens is his all-time favourite sci-fi movie.
Gearbox has literally destroyed what would have been a great father-son moment. Sure, I could play this crappy version with him, but he plays video games too and he would notice how bad it is as much as I did.
Pachterballs
Banned
cartman with an amazing defence force post. I mean, that's a lot of effort to defend this game.
That is why you should always have one person with final say and full accountability on every project, even those that allow for group input or a design by committee approach.
Unfortunately that kind of crap can be commonplace when throwing your game around to different developers. Some developers crave the ownership and feel no wrong just gutting all the original art/animation to replace it with their own "art" even if it is sub-par.
Been waiting for the WiiU version, maybe they'll put more polish into it - Maybe the game will see a legit remake in the future.... hope :/
Messofanego
Banned
The funniest bit is at 29:30 when your ally vaults over a glass window twice, and then 5 seconds later the glass breaks in a delayed response. Made me go WTFLOL
Fox Mulder
Member
Why didn't Gearbox have more control over TimeGate starting from scratch and wasting years of work? It was their project, their hyped up love of Aliens, and they outsourced it to a lesser studio and shoved it out the door.
Gearbox apparently has no problem releasing shit games, they'll probably brag about sales on twitter again like with Duke Nukem.
This to me feels like Gearbox "leaking" things to manipulate the press and to not look too bad. How the hell could timegate have control when Gearbox got people at Timegate fired and had their people at Timegate running things?
Apparently, according to the Reddit post, Gearbox had full control over what TimeGate was doing. It was stated that Gearbox constantly moved the goalpost (mission objectives, dialogue, boss fights, etc.) on what the final game should be conceptual-wise and the development suffered greatly because of it. Basically, Gearbox is trying to save face by throwing TimeGate under the bus. They are trying to hide the fact that they severely mismanaged the game.
It is also quite telling of the ethics of Gearbox when they received TimeGate's work how they didn't want to be bothered to fix it themselves and almost opted to ask Sega for another delay. That is true laziness right there
.That Escapist vid was good, really put it into perspective. What a load of bullshit. I kind feel sorry for Gearbox, like they set themselves up for promising so much, so many cinematic moments. If you can't pull it off, don't say you will.
Shame, because I was looking to pick this game up too.
Shame, because I was looking to pick this game up too.
People keep saying this, but I don't buy it. I don't think this is as cut and dried as "they couldn't get it running on consoles".
I suspect, more accurately, they ran into problems with the lighting engine that broke the game and couldn't solve all of those issues in time.
I don't buy this either, but even if true, they did the worst job of it I've ever seen. It barely runs on consoles, for what seems like no good reason.
To me it looks like the exact opposite. They polished up a small section of the game to a level they knew they were never going to attain in the finished product, just to hype it to the press.
Insane Metal
Gold Member
VibratingDonkey
Member
Man.
The demo build actually has some atmosphere and cool sequences, the queen and powerloader look great. It just looks so much better in every single area. Really does appear like it was built exclusively as a demonstration of what they wanted the game to be like, and the actual game at that point was in complete shambles.
The demo build actually has some atmosphere and cool sequences, the queen and powerloader look great. It just looks so much better in every single area. Really does appear like it was built exclusively as a demonstration of what they wanted the game to be like, and the actual game at that point was in complete shambles.
Rated-Rsuperstar
Member
The review should have just been the first 10 seconds. lol
There seems to be some serious fanboyism going on from some people with this game, which I expected anyway with Aliens fans since some of those guys are fucking crazy.
Like, the game in nearly every respect is complete garbage, right down to the AI and yet there's some people that are trying to defend it. It's really funny.
I would really like to sell these guys a vehicle that's a straight up lemon, because I know that no matter how shitty the car was, they would continue to try and justify their purchase and wouldn't even bother coming back to me to try and get it fixed. Easy money, mang.
Like, the game in nearly every respect is complete garbage, right down to the AI and yet there's some people that are trying to defend it. It's really funny.
I would really like to sell these guys a vehicle that's a straight up lemon, because I know that no matter how shitty the car was, they would continue to try and justify their purchase and wouldn't even bother coming back to me to try and get it fixed. Easy money, mang.
GoddyofAus
Banned
I initially pre-ordered the game because of this demo then quickly got a refund when I discovered it was a sham.
Special edition of Jimquisition where he examines this disaster and tears Gearbox a new one.
troopershades
Neo Member
bamboobimbo
Neo Member
You get these weirdo's every time a hyped game flops, it's really quite interesting to observe the state.
GoddyofAus
Banned
Stockholm Syndrome.
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
Guy that worked on the game said the lighting engine was only 45% done when he started working on the game, and that was after the game was in production for 6 years. I'm going to guess they ran out of time or they couldn't get it to run in consoles limited ram.
Anton Sugar
Member
So this seems, by all accounts, worse than the AvP game that came out a few years ago?
I played a bit of that game's Marine campaign, and actually enjoyed it. Had a few good scares, too.
I played a bit of that game's Marine campaign, and actually enjoyed it. Had a few good scares, too.