Aliens: Colonial Marines Message Board older than one year ago

Before you fire up your Power Loader, you might want to see what the critics had to say about this game...

A portion of a Shacknews review...

Those few minutes inside the ship were the best part of the game, but they were rushed–there was no build up, no excitement, nothing regarding the importance of the ship--and ultimately felt inconsequential. Now that I think about it, that's the best way of describing Colonial Marines as a whole. It's hard to care about this game as a player when the developers obviously didn't care themselves.

Full review here

Aliens: Colonial Marines got 99 problems, and looking like it’s from 2005 is one of them. Which is mystifying, given that recent in-game footage clearly showed that a more attractive version of the game did/does exist somewhere. God only knows why they’d put so much effort into a game whose lone memorable achievement is taking as long to develop as Half-Life 2 did, but modders have been busily trying to make Gearbox/Timegate’s mess look a little more as though it was released this decade.(more…)

#aliens You may have heard that Aliens: Colonial Marines has some problems. Among those problems is the fact that the PC version of the game looks like pretty raggedy. The ship interiors and darkly-lit alien worlds taking very little advantage of recent advances in PC graphics technology. More »

Maybe when the industry and players panned Aliens: Colonial Marines for being a hot mess, it was only because we all approached it from the wrong angle. Perhaps Colonial Marines' true gameplay value lies in its modding opportunities, specifically those that would fix the game's graphics, lighting, AI, UI and anything else that might need it.

Groups of players with programming skills are taking to the Colonial Marines source code, attempting to patch up the game (for PC) on their own. The Steam and Gearbox forums host a number of fix guides, including this step-by-step walkthrough with pre-made files from Steam user adonys.

Gearbox forum member kutjong notes an interesting phenomenon within the Colonial Marines code: "It's quite fascinating to study the .ini files. In PecanCompat.ini you can see all the graphics cards that qualify for a certain class. The most modern graphics card in that list is from 2007!" This Gearbox thread in particular hosts some comparison screenshots from before and after players have fiddled with the code, including the enhanced shot above. Game on, coders.

#aliens No other version of Aliens: Colonial Marines is as disappointing as the PC edition, seeing as it ships with such limited support for even the most basic level of visual flair gamers on the platform are accustomed to. More »

#aliens By now, if you've been keeping up with Aliens: Colonial Marines, you've probably come across certain GIF of an alien waddling through a sewer level. See above. I know, I know. It looks silly, it looks ridiculous. More »

A portion of a 1up review...

The weapons and sounds of ACM feel authentic, but the bland look of the game will make you think it shipped as an unfinished product. Unfortunately, ACM isn't the tense, atmospheric shooter everyone initially hoped for, and this awful game offers little beyond surface-level fan service.

Full review here

If Aliens could cry, entire planets, ships, and conveniently placed ventilation systems would be dissolving under a torrential downpour of acid-laced tears right now. See, in spite of their lovable looks and multi-mouthed charm, no one wants to take credit for, well, pretty much anything about Aliens: Colonial Marines. First, Gearbox kinda did, but then TimeGate was accused of incubating Colonial Marines’ loathsome single-player campaign – which prompted Sega to descend from its mountain of unreleased Shenmue sequels and tilt the needle back in Gearbox’s direction. Seems like a lot of fuss to make if it was really all Gearbox at the helm, though, huh? And that’s where a winding Reddit post by an alleged Gearbox employee enters the picture. Further, RPS reached out to a former TimeGate employee (who wished to remain anonymous) to clarify the situation.

(more…)

#aliens Aliens: Colonial Marines is a bad game, by most accounts. Reviewers have almost all trashed it, fans don't seem to like it, and the final product looks nothing like the impressive demo that developer Gearbox showed last year. More »

#aliens By almost all accounts, Aliens: Colonial Maries isn't a good game. Patricia certainly didn't care for it, saying that "it was literally a pain just to get through." More »

#aliens Not that they all agree, oh no. To call Aliens: Colonial Marines divisive would be an understatement. Reactions have ranged from disgust and feelings of betrayal, to indifference, and sometimes even awe and affection. More »

#aliens Gary Goddard has just about the coolest job in the universe. He gets to design theme park rides. Over the decades his work has appeared all over the world, in places like Universal Studios, but not everything he put to paper made it to construction. More »

#aliens No, really. Check out this hilarious video by grizzl360 that showcases the incredibly deadly, ultra fearsome alien threat in Aliens: Colonial Marines. I think the The Hello! Ma Baby song makes a strong case for why the AI in the game would have been better suited for a musical, don't you? More »

Get away from this game, you @#%$!. Our review of Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines found it "devoid of any redeeming qualities whatsoever." Let's find out how others felt.

• EGM (90/100): "On an express elevator to otherworldly awesomeness."

meanwhile, everyone else...

• OXM UK (60/100): "It needed to offer intense combat against an unstoppable force, deft storytelling that matched the cinematic flair of the films, and some new ideas that could have rejuvenated an overexposed franchise. It needed, in short, to be a better game."
• Edge (50/100): "Colonial Marines feels stiff, shallow and dated. First announced for a 2008 release before the Aliens franchise machine prioritized other projects, it feels like more work has been retained from that initial production period than either Gearbox or Sega would care to admit. "
• Game Informer (40/100): "Take away the Aliens license, and you've got a shooter that has no reason to exist. It would be like stripping the terraforming from Fracture or playing Inversion without its gravity-defying gimmick. At its best, it's barely mediocre."
• Eurogamer (30/100): "It's shocking stuff, certainly one of the most glitchy mainstream releases of this hardware generation, and the sort of thing that would barely pass muster as a low budget game from 2002."

Of course you remember Aliens, right? Who could forget Danny Glover kicking ass on the Discovery One, Sarah Hamilton shouting, “That’s how they git you. They’re under the goddamned ground!” Ah, the memories. John’s spent the day ploughing through Aliens: Colonial Marines, so he can tell you wot he thinks:

(more…)

#aliens Last night, my review briefly touched on the disappointing enemy AI in Aliens: Colonial Marines—often, Xenos would run straight at you. According to this video by PCGamesN, it gets worse. More »

Aliens: Colonial Marines seems like a product developed over a series of Friday afternoons. You know, those long days where passion felt throughout the rest of the week has dissolved and all that's left are the moments you count off in your head as the clock inches toward closing time.

Though my tongue is planted firmly in cheek as I describe Gearbox's development schedule, Aliens: Colonial Marines showcases the monstrous pendulum that swings between the quality of the products released by the Texas studio. Whatever magic Gearbox pours into the Borderlands series, it isn't to be found here, and despite being blessed with a franchise practically tailor-made for a video game adaptation, Aliens: Colonial Marines is devoid of any redeeming qualities whatsoever.

By almost all accounts, Aliens: Colonial Marines, released this week, is a trainwreck. And not one of those cool trainwrecks with explosions, collapsing bridges and men in awesome hats leaping to safety at the last second. Instead it sounds like a sad, slow, drift off the edge of the track, toppling gracelessly onto its side and making a limp ‘pffffffffffffffffff’ noise. Mister John Walker will be along either later today or tomorrow to confirm or deny this, but in the meantime let’s have a confusing look at the Gearbox shooter’s odd gestation. I say ‘Gearbox shooter’, but it rather sounds as though other studios did the heavy lifting.(more…)

“It’s like Left 4 Dead,” said the journo playing beside me to the Sega man.

“Yes,” said Sega. (more…)

#aliens A game based on existing media has three options. It can strive to be faithful to the original work, privileging authenticity above all else. It can try to do its own thing, using the original work as merely a jumping off point for something else. Or, it can try to find a balance between authenticity and originality. Aliens: Colonial Marines fails spectacularly at all three of these possible approaches. More »

Part 13 of IGN's video walkthrough for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Mission 9: Hope In Hadley's.

IGN shows you the location of the Legendary Weapon, Vasquez's Smart Gun, in Mission 6: For Bella.

IGN shows you the location of all dog tags in Mission 8: Rampart.