Aliens Colonial Marines Review

 

Man have I been waiting for this game for what seems like forever…

Of course I say that about any Aliens, or AvP game as I’m as much a fanboy for that franchise as I am for 40K. I’ve loved most of the movies except for resurrection and the second crappy AvP movie, Prometheus was OK, but I personally don’t really consider that in the franchise proper- a topic for another time.

 

First foray into the video game series was when I saw a friends Atari Jaguar, which was probably around 1995 or 1996 and he was playing Alien vs. Predator which of course at the time was unthinkable- you could be a colonial marine, alien, OR predator? I was one of those dudes that bought the Jaguar just for the game, don’t laugh, I did the same with Xbox 360 and Space Marine.   

Since then there have been how many Alien based game? There was Alien 3 for the SNES, Alien Res for the PlayStation which despite the limited graphics and pushing that system to the limit is still an AWESOME game based on atmosphere alone- it is pretty scary and more of a survival horror type game over a bug hunt shootout.

 

 

And then of course the Aliens vs. Predator computer games, and the recent AvP on Xbox 360 and Playstation…

SO, when Colonial Marines came out I was excited to throw down with this most recent incarnation of the franchise…

I’m about half way through it and I’d have to give it three out of four stars if we had to come up with a rating system. I’m far from disappointed, but it could have been better, but overall it did get one very IMPORTANT part correct- the aliens.

 

You see every game lets you revisit scenes and fluff points from the movies, every game lets you use the colonial marine weapons- pulse rifle, smart gun, etc.  These are not selling points developers, these are standard points of the game.

The selling point is how much fun it is fragging aliens and how edgy it makes you in the process…

The best way this is done (Aliens Vs. Predator PC) captured this spot on is to start the aliens far away from you, you see it in the distance as it starts running towards you and you draw sight on it and start shooting. While this happens one or two more aliens start running towards you, and then at some point one of them breaks the run, by leaping at you and then is suddenly in your face. This tension lets you gun down one or two on the way in, but then you start to get overwhelmed and need to fall back.

Aliens Colonial Marines does this spot on.

Of course there are the lone aliens that suddenly appear or pop out at you, and this is cool to break things up or scare you once or twice, but if that is all you have as your alien delivery system it gets old and boring quick- AvP Xbox 360.

And then there is the uber alien syndrome which thankfully doesn’t plague Colonial Marines- that one stupid alien on the screen which is able to run so fast, climb walls like crazy, and take a few hundred rounds before dying- that is just frustrating.

So if Colonial Marines lets you play with the franchise toys, pushes the aliens properly, and advances the storyline of the Sulaco + multiplayer, why only three stars?

Well, without giving anything away, you spend WAY too much time fighting Weyland-Yutani mercenaries (you know they were going to be involved) which has me falling like I’m revisiting the first Half-Life for the PC- these guys are a dead knock off from the white tactical body armor, the weapons, and the chatter they make when shooting.

Was one of the developers a HL fan?

Final question for me, and it’s too soon to tell is to see how the multiplayer options turn out in terms of weapon viability. HOPEFULLY they balanced that, unlike Space Marine where pretty much you are an assault marine or you are dead at this point. Sniper options like the lascannon or the stalker bolter SEEM cool, and you can try and snipe, but the balance vs. the boards just isn’t there.