Michael Biehn: Working on Colonial Marines 'wasn't fun at all'

Actor Michael Biehn, who played Corporal Hicks in landmark 1986 sci-fi film "Aliens," recently described Gearbox Software's first-person shooter spinoff, Aliens: Colonial Marines, as a "passionless" project, and revealed that reprising his film role in the game "wasn't fun at all."

[Wni0]

Well, I dont think gearbox was the best choice for what they were trying to do. If they just made the game arcadey like Borderlands it woild have been better. That or get the guys at Monolith who made the first Condemned.

[Vladplaya]

Gearbox could have made great game, but they were simply were interested in finishing Borderlands 2 first, because that was THEIR game. Colonial Marines was just a side project for them, they took money that suppose to go to that game, and they just didn't care. I don't know how anybody can not care about games with Aliens, but they didn't, Borderlands 2 was more important to them, which turned out to be pretty decent game, but it totally suppressed A:CM.

So Gearbox would have made a great Alien game, if their management and leadership actually allowed the team to work on it.

[TH3KARMACHARGER]

@jdaboss
Imagine you are a chef, and you have to make the two hard dishes, one you know and one you don't, What is going to happen? One will turn out great (the one you know how to make AKA Borderlands 2) and one will burn (the one you don AKA Aliens:CM )

Also don't turn these arguments hostile, You turned a peaceful conversation into an argument with a few choice words.

Now in all respect, Go soak your head kid

[KrystofKage]

@jdaboss
Seriously? Resorting to personal attacks because of someones opinion?

Anyways, Gearbox is hit or miss. They've shown they can make amazing titles when they put their core team to work. Anything else I'd be ashamed to put my company logo on. The A:CM footage was a pretty blatant lie, one that not only Gearbox is guilty of doing.

[RememberThe357]

I don't know guys, I like his style. Lets get some ol fashion trollin in here.

Some Breakfast trolling. Some of that PowerOfGeen trolling.

All the OGs know what I'm talking about. I see ya.

Things have been pretty boring around here since all these babies joined us from the Open Zone. Too much crying, not enough sh!t talkin.

I like this here. I like where this is going.

[Dead_Cell]

Trolling : Why choose the Lesser Evil?

[3-4-5]

Yea can't stand that Gearbox guys face anymore. He is so weasley.

[webeblazing]

ahhh PoG and breakfast. yes the era of the open zone. it seem like the power flipped now its more psfanboys than xboxfanboys. this site use to be way better back then too.

[Chug]

Neither was playing it.

[tanookisuit]

I don't think Gearbox will ever recover from this debacle! Even Borderlands 2 is teetering on praise and annoyance from the community.

[Bimkoblerutso]

They just need to focus on single projects at a time.

Borderlands, Brothers in Arms, and even the two original Half-Life expansions prove that they are capable of doing things right, but when they start picking up random projects here and there, it becomes very obvious that they put next to no effort or time into them.

[MrChow666]

they sure wont be seeing a sigle cent from me, I despise the way they shamelessly lied through the endless development of the game and pre-release, I dont like being treated like a idiot, I wont forget it randy dickford

[madpuppy]

Randy Pitchfork needs to get a back alley beating for what his company allowed to become of A:CM as well as for the unapologetic rants the scumbag spouted after the game was released.

[TH3KARMACHARGER]

Borderlands 2 is getting mixed reviews? This is news to me. It was my GOTY last year

[Len]

He had fun spending the money he made from it though. xD

[MrChow666]

he did his job, doesnt have to like it tho

[Yodagamer]

The sad thing is this game is considered cannon and even then it still screwed up the story :/

[MrChow666]

not for me

[KillrateOmega]

Just when I thought that I had finally moved past the disaster that was A:CM, I see this article and I'm freshly reminded...

[Vladplaya]

Aliens fans never forget, and never forgive >.>

[KillrateOmega]

Just like Sweeney Todd.

[madpuppy]

YEAH! The demon barber of Fleet Street, I'd pay the two bits for Randy Pitchfork to get a shave and a haircut from Sweeney Todd...

[Rhaigun]

I had high hopes for this game. And, why shouldn't I from the demo we were shown? Too bad it was all smoke.

[SITH]

Playing the game was not fun at all.

[ufo8mycat]

Can someone explain to me why this game was getting so much hate? Maybe I didnt have high expectations for it and sure the last half of the game introduced 'soldiers' and what not, making it feel less Aliens,

But the first part where you meet your first Alien, that whole atmosphere was EXACTLY like the ALIENS movie with the sound effects, steam coming out, graphical effects, darkness, the tracker sounds, the atmosphere was SPOT ON and so was the time you visit Hadleys Hope for the first time and walked through those corridors, it felt like I was visiting ALIENS,

Atmosphere there was spot on and pulse rifle sounded spot on.

Sure the game got a bit over the top and moved away from the ALIENS atmosphere after that and generic but still, still way too much hate.

[Lionalliance]

Cause it sucks?

[zerocrossing]

All you need too know is that A:CM and Gearbox's passion for the project was grossly misrepresented by, some people didn't mind being lied to but most are pissed.

[Murad]

Especially considering they paid 60 dollars for it, and even after demanding a refund, the only thing Gearbox did is lie even more. I'm personally shocked to find out that Gearbox even had the balls to come out and say this.

[Jaunty]

Son, you have low standards.

[marloc_x]

Glad that at least the pulse rifles were great!

[palaeomerus]

I wish someone would hack the PC version and at least fix the stupid stiff-legged movement animation. It feels ridiculous.

[Angainor7]

you tell me...

[teezy]

I haven't played any of the recent Alien based games including AVP remake, they all looked a bit too basic and boring for me.

The last one I played was either original AVP on PC or Alien Trilogy on PS1

[Mr Tretton]

AVP2 on PC, as dated as it looks, for some reason is still good.

[IIC0mPLeXII]

That game was the fucking shit. Got me into competitive FPS, I miss playing that game.

[MattS]

While I get that Gearbox hit gold with Borderlands, when is the gaming community going to wake up to the fact that the company is so painfully managed by amateurs that it's an embarrassment to our hobby?

We don't need companies run by these people. No matter how creative their output is at times.

[TH3KARMACHARGER]

They made one mistake and they are amateurs?
Every company screws up from time to time. But it's nice to know that the half life expansions, Borderlands franchise, Halo PC ports, Tony hawk Pro Skater 3, Brothers in Arms, Counter strike: Condition Zero, and Samba De Amigo can all be forgotten and pale In comparison to Aliens:Colonial Marines

[dennett316]

They also were responsible for a good chunk of Duke Nukem Forever.....a game that will most likely be remembered as the punchline of this generation of consoles.
Their attitude in the aftermath of that games release left a lot to be desired, and then they blatantly lied to every potential customer of Aliens: Colonial Marines by creating misleading slices of supposed gameplay footage, claimed to be massive fans of the franchise and then set about farming the game out to the lowest bidder with nary a care to the final quality of the product, all while marketing it as a Gearbox game (synonymous with quality after Borderlands) when it wasn't even done by them for the most part.

They are everything that is dark, sleazy and disingenuous about modern gaming....trying to get as close to the line of false advertising as they can without legally having stepped over it. They can be talented and creative, but it's clear they also have no qualms about lying to their fans, and fans of a beloved franchise in Aliens.

[ifritAlkhemyst]

You... you do realize that most of those games are ports, right? All they did was port it. port =/= develop.

Their actual track record is extremely hit or miss and I'm horrified that they now own the Homeworld IP.

[webeblazing]

even tho i like borderlands. i feel it is cheap and the lvl design in it is horrible. its no challenge in the enemies they just throw massive waves of dumb enemies with long life bar at you. no cover and many other useful assets thats present in other games' environments. the game is highly over rated if i didnt buy the second on steam sell i would of never got it.

[overlord23]

Whatever game they do next I will not buy it and I hope allot of other people do not.

[Rhezin]

agreed ^

[badboy776]

looks great

[dennett316]

How shocking....that game is surely the poster child for artistic integrity and worth, right?

Pffft, the game is a shambles. But the worst part is the writing, it's simply abysmal...fan-fiction level. The guy who did Sonichu? He looks down on the writing of Colonial Marines.
Tabloid "journalists"? They look down on that crap.

Hicks' body was medically examined in Alien 3 and prepared for burning. They had access to his medical records, and Ripley would have seen it wasn't him. The garbage they wrote in this new DLC to explain away his appearance in the game is nonsensical and doesn't fit into continuity in any way. Oh, and the Facehugger that's attached to Ripley is shot, and that's what set off the electrical fire that led to her pod being ejected. Bull crap! The acid from that would have melted her face off...when you're shot, the blood doesn't only travel in the direction of the bullet.

Trying to retcon Alien 3 is an insult to the franchise. It's not as good as the first two movies in the series, but it's a very underrated movie that was a perfect capper to the then trilogy of films. It had great writing....this pile of garbage of a game didn't even make it to Michael Bay levels of writing quality.