GamesAsylum: Aliens: Colonial Marines - Review

GamesAsylum reviews Sega's frequently delayed Aliens: Colonial Marines. Worth the wait or another bug hunt?

[Myst]

Apparently the end of the review has a spoiler in it ( glad I skipped down to the comments on the page after a bit ). So if anyone cares about the game plot be weary.

[NonShinyGoose]

Several key moments from the plot were left out of the review to prevent the storyline being spoilt. There's a rough summary of what the last mission entails but it doesn't go into great discription and the ending isn't revealed.

[Myst]

Ah gotcha those darn comments then *shakes fist*

[GadgetGooch]

Regardless that the review did not reveal the ending he still pretty skimmed through the game in the article and detailed the last mission which i think is wrong as i want all the surprises and experiences to be my own no matter how small, Would you write a review like that? There's much better ways of writing reviews that completely sum up a game without revealing any details of latter game content or even twists and turns....As i did not want to know that halfway through the game you were left stranded in a sewer without any weapons and had to sneak past a colony of blind Xenomorphs (Sorry for the spoiler but apparently it's OK to add these), Something like that i would have loved to been thrust upon me without prior knowledge of it happening....

[Robotronfiend]

It should be left up to the prospective buyer to determine what a spoiler is for that game, not a random reviewer or commenter.

To some people, any story details are spoilers.

[paybackprahl]

Disagree. The review flat out declares in no vague terms what the ending is.

[Gaming101]

Who cares what the ending is, the game is a glichy, unpolished turd.
License game that's been delayed several times - who coulda figured it would be bad...
This one filed under "duh"

[maximus1985]

thanks for the warning, i hate reading a review only to have surprises spoiled

[Psn800]

I do that I just want the score , I don't want to know the plot it spoils the game .

[AusRogo]

Honestly, im enjoying this game but god dammit Gearbox.. ive been disappointed too much this gen. If I wasnt a huge Aliens fan I wouldnt have got it. If you're not a fan of Aliens then dont bother. Thankfully I do enjoy it though. Do not disappoint with Brothers in Arms. PLEASE.

[GadgetGooch]

What do you find bad with the game?

[Kurt Russell]

A bit more details on your likes/dislikes would be good. I'm a huge fan of Alien/Aliens... but with these reviews coming out I haven't parted cash due to the fact the game looks like it's going to be another f'ing disappointment.

[joab777]

I had a feeling it would resemble in quality another game that was in production for along time. It needs no mention but i just knew it would be more in the vein of a steroid freak then the amazing borderlands. Oh well, i am so far behind so i am glad i can just skip this one.

[NonShinyGoose]

Yes, some of the mission of objectives are revealed in the review. However, plenty aren't. Several key plot details and twists have been left out to prevent the game being ruined.

The sewer mission was featured in the review to cover the fact that's a degree of variety. It's also the only time that the game feels atomspheric, hence why it was mentioned.

Go out and buy the game and play it. Then come back and read the review again. I think you will find that very little has been spoilt at all.

[modesign]

heres a spoiler, your either going to kill the aliens at the end or your not, depends on if there is a sequel. hate to be captain buzzkill, the same reason halo had 7 rings and you had to blow them up one at a time.

[1nsomniac]

Gearbox. Terrible developers. Never have they ever released even a half descent game. They're shit!

[Pintheshadows]

Nonsense, Borderlands 1 and 2 are excellent and so was BiA.

[Picnic]

Deleted

[1nsomniac]

Get over it, Borderlands is shit!

The only thing that made it good was what you made of it with 3 other mates playing. Which you can do better on many other games!

[Pintheshadows]

I don't have anything to 'get over'. It sounds like you might do though considering your reaction to my statement.

[MysticStrummer]

I defend your right to have a ridiculous opinion.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Funny. Completely wrong, but funny.

[deafdani]

You're right, Gearbox have never released a Descent game, much less half-a-Descent game.

But, you know, Descent was created before Gearbox Software was founded, so it would be kinda hard for them to have made it, much less half-made it.

:)

[Pintheshadows]

There I was scrolling down thinking the same thing and then...BAM!

Bubbles for funny.

[Zha1tan]

i agree, I thought borderlands was pretty shit as well.

Got a free copy of it with my GTX 680 but i just sold it for £30, managed to buy me a few lunches!

So for that tasty burrito I have Randy Pitchford to thank.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

So here is the funny thing. Everyone loves Gearbox now because of Borderlands. They struck gold with Borderlands 1 & 2 and I think there were some key reasons to its success and in looking at Aliens I worry a bit.

Graphically I think Gearbox is a run of the mill developer. Borderlands manages to evade that issue by its cell shaded nature. With cell shading you kinda get a pass for "high end graphics". Aliens deserves high end graphics and what I have seen is ... "decent" Unreal Engine 3 quality which lets be honest, doesn't really cut it. I already know I am going to be let down by Aliens visuals.

Gearbox also managed to create a fun simple story for Borderlands series. Lets face it, without clap trap that story is not exactly fantastic. I would say Borderlands actually succeeds despite its story. When you really step back and look at Borderlands story you realize its super thin. This is the one area where I think Gearbox may actually get helped out by being a licensed IP. They have been handed a story that in essence kinda could write itself. So while it may not be something over the top original I suspect it will be halfway decent compared to most Gearbox offerings.

Last piece to Gearbox's recent success is game play. Borderlands nails and easy drop in drop out coop play and a great upgrade system that lets you really customize to your play style. This is one element I am confident Gearbox will bring to the table for Aliens...and its the one reason I am still getting this game.

[MysticStrummer]

The funny thing to me is how N4G reacts to reviews, good or bad. Particularly the early reviews which typically come from sites that are second tier at best.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

That is a very fair point, but we also typically see these 2nd tier early review sites give a lot of praise for the games. Usually these sites are "fans" of the game. Not really getting that vibe this time.

[aliengmr]

@Dlacy13g

Agreed. I'm noticing less than stellar reactions to the game.

To me, early reactions seem to gravitate to the extremes. I am not seeing that here.

[Legion21]

Unreal engine 3 is an amazing engine, look at Batman Arkham City especially on PC. Don't blame the engine for a crappy job the developers did.

[brianunfried]

About what I expected. I remember when this was gonna be a PS2 launch title before it got cancelled. After that it was cursed.

[NonShinyGoose]

That was an entirely different game. A different publisher (EA) and developer.

[Robotronfiend]

Not the same game.

[multipayer]

Aliens Forever been in development 14 frigan years, no doubt about it.

[eliteslaya13]

I regret pre-ordering on Steam now... This is disappointing

[lovegames718]

wheres kingofwiiu and metroid? once again they will be disappointed thinking this game would set some graphical benchmark and make Wiiu look next gen lol

Wow i %ucking knew it!!!!!! Check my comment history. I told everyone this game would be super hyped mediocrity like Duke Nukem was!!!! Nintendo fans especially were hyping up this garbage because gearbox said it would look better on the Wiiu and they thought this trash would be a new graphical benchmark for consoles smh how more wrong could you have been!!!!!!

Bottom line i did research and saw videos of ppl previewing it and they all said the same thing. A generic shooter, terrible character animations, dumb spongy Al, and nice backdrops that look kinda fake because of their shininess.

However as usual well known sites that previewed this game omitted such issues and hyped this up to death along with the devs smh. I say %uck what devs. say and most well known webistes because they just cannot be trusted!!! Everything is about money and free copys of games. And like i say taste is subjective but blatantly not mentioning glaring issues in a preview and just hyping games up because of a company name is not whats up and it happens all too often. These reviewers and previewers also tend to not stick to a standard on some reviews of more popular known releases but keep a strict standard on other games and down vote them to death.

I keep telling these fans and especially these Nintendo fans stop listening to everything these devs say like Gearbox they are just stroking egos to sell games and in the end will under perform. zombi u was another such case.

[paul1974]

Why the constant hate of all Wii U? you kids today are spoilt with the quality of games! this is the world I now live in and it makes me sad! try googling games of the 80's to see what was to what is now! you kids are lucky today!

with regards zombi u! again I dont understand the bashing! I am enjoying it! what is it you think it should be??? to me its a tense dark and scary game not a FPS, it has some elements but its a strategic game to be played at a pace that allows you to be immersed in it!

This site is full of hate by horrible people in the whole who wish such companies as Nintendo to go bust!

I have never played a game that is perfect EVER!

[Robotronfiend]

You predicted a game would not get high review scores. Grats. Wall of text still unjustified. Brevity! Get into it!

[PopRocks359]

@lovegames718

Only on N4G can a comment that is this stupid get this many agrees.

Seriously, this should be marked as off-topic. You're trying to troll Nintendo fans on a review of a multiplatform game, you troll.

[ame22]

Looks like they dropped the ball in this one.

[honkayjeezus]

While the game looks horrific to me...

It is hard to believe the guy actually played it.

Bad review from a link looking for hits.

[lovegames718]

Paul1974 response....

No constant hate on wiiu. I could care less for it. You can direct that to the Nin. fans that upon wiius unveil went ballistic bashing Ps3 and Xbox acting as if the Wiiu would be this powerful Nintendo Juggernaut. Every time some type of information is released and a dev says that this ip or exclusive will look or be better on Wiiu they go in attack mode. Plz dont make them out to be the victims that they are not. And every single time they eat their words and get proven wrong.

By the way im 34 buddy, everyone on here aren't kids. Ive been gaming just as long as you and have def. seen the evolution of gaming.

resp. to Robotronfriend...

No lamo i predicted that the game was over hyped and Wiiu fans boasting would once again be disappointed.

[bluetoto]

By your comments it seems that some minds are still undeveloped, even at the ripe age of 34.

[Jacobster]

It's game over man! I think most people's expectations are skyhigh with this game, like they are expecting some mind blowing genre defining game...gimme a break! All the game needs to do for me is provide some suspense,a good co-op experience and some laughs along the way I'll be muchos happy!

[axerated]

Amen bro

[Breadcrab]

GASP! You mean, they didn't include a score? As in... people actually have to read the review and find out the reasoning behind it instead of simply staring at a number and complaining?

Gosh, I'm not sure my 21st century brain can handle all that.

[Picnic]

All the trailers suggested to me that this was going to be the new Doom 3 and that's what it looks like. I'm sure that it will at least be visually interesting enough in places to warrant playing because those aliens looked amazing in the trailers.

[Crazay]

I've not played the whole game yet but am about half way though the title and I'm not disappointed with it, but also, I'm not in love with it. The backdrop looks and feels like an Aliens movie but yes it's true, there has been far too much battle with a PMC for my liking. Can't wait to sink my teeth into the Multiplayer.

[stumpa]

Apparently this game has been found to contain horsemeat its really that bad !!!

[napalmbrainmusic]

Hardly a suprise.

[KillrateOmega]

Not to be a dick, but I never really expected this game to turn out that great, just mediocre. Maybe it was the wait, it's movie-based nature, or the saturation of hype, but I'm not really surprised here.

[lovegames718]

Poprocks

your the biggest hypocrit on this site. You know damn well why im pointing this out, yet you call me a troll but dont bat an eye when your delusional buddies metroid and kingwiiu aka wiialpha talk utter nonsense and troll. Hypocrit next time call them out and stop being biased. The truth hurts but we all have to deal with it.

[Plagasx]

TL;DR.

No score, don't give a shit.

[isyourhouseonfire]

This game ROCKS on the 360. Not so much on the PS3, might be a slow cpu issue. Either way, get this game if you have a 360.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

Personally I think Gearbox let Duke Nukem rub off on Aliens... (ew would Duke really do that? haha). But seriously I feel this game suffered from what I refer to as the Alan Wake Effect (although I love/own Alan Wake). It just didn't end up getting the praise from a vast majority of gamers... with TONS of gamers saying "for the wait we deserved/wanted more!". I feel Aliens falls into that same mold. I never got into their Borderland games at all, I personally found them boring... possibly because of the Cell Shading. I also really wanted BIA Hells Highway... the old footage Gearbox was showing of what the game was to be, looked AMAZING! then it turned out a MAJOR turd!

I was willing to get this game because most of my buddies at work are getting it cause it's Gearbox. I was more interested in the source material than who was making it. To me it just seems pretty lackluster for the Dev. time it had, especially the graphics remind me of the Doom 3 re-release. Im just not impressed...

I was willing that if this got good/great reviews, I was hoping to buy it for my WiiU to get it turned on some more. But I guess I will just split the cost 30/30 and pay off God of War Ascension CE/Bioshock Infinate Songbird Edition. After all Im more looking forward to those titles anyways...

[PickAShoe]

I wouldn't mind if aliens copy left for dead gameplay mechanic, this stinks

[Tornadobounce]

Wow. Just wow. The award for most disappointing game of the year go's to!.....Thanks guys, we couldn't have done it without you. This for all the alien fans out there! We finally did it! It took a lot of hard work but it was worth it.....crowd go's quiet. Tomato's and boos follow. Gearbox go's out of business soon after. Game over man! I would recommend getting this if you are just making the move from ps2 or Xbox to this gen now. We waited 5 years for this!!!! Man.

[ACEMANWISE]

It is disappointing that my opinion of the game differs from these reviews. The game still looks great to me.

[FlyingFoxy]

I was hoping as good as L4D, but it looks like it aint very good.

My best Co-op games are currently Left 4 Dead 2 and Killing Floor.. both very good and fun games. Both games have free updates and the only DLC you can buy for Killing Floor are weapons or characters, either way it does not affect other people from playing like the b.s extra mode they are bringing out for this game that you need to pay for.

Thankful for Tripwire and Valve, both very good dev's who know how to make fun games without releasing pay-for DLC that pisses off other players.

Hard to believe people on consoles had to pay for DLC in L4D2 when us PC gamers got it free, same with Portal 2.

[jackwei22]

From what i have seen it looks like they need to patch this game as the Aliens looks very weak come on KO an Alien by hitting him with your rifle?? WTF??

In the films those Aliens are extremely strong as they break doors down and are way more aggressive even in the AVP film Aliens can overwhelm the strength of Predator sometimes.

I remember playing AVP 1 and 2 on the PC my the Aliens were very hard to kill in those games and i haven't played the 2010 version yet.

Oh well i will get my copy later today by post and see what it this game is like on the harder modes.