Aliens: Colonial Marines

 PC
User Score
3.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 1246 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 218 out of 1246
  2. Mixed: 224 out of 1246
  3. Negative: 804 out of 1246
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  1. murut87
    Feb 22, 2013
    4
    I think i should rate it at 4,a good point is how this game was released after being cancelled thats first one...Co-Op mode was fun,and the sound effects are really nostalgic,especially the Pulse Rifle and the ALIENS ,Multiplayer are amazing and last thing is the Environment of the game was cool.Ok,the bad point...the AI is stupidly bad,either Enemy or Ally...i don`t know but its broken inI think i should rate it at 4,a good point is how this game was released after being cancelled thats first one...Co-Op mode was fun,and the sound effects are really nostalgic,especially the Pulse Rifle and the ALIENS ,Multiplayer are amazing and last thing is the Environment of the game was cool.Ok,the bad point...the AI is stupidly bad,either Enemy or Ally...i don`t know but its broken in every possible way.If you try to play Soldier Level alone,Don`t.The graphics are low-detailed even on MAXED detail.The story,well its uninspiring and dissapointing at the end of the story.There are Aliens vs Predator 2010,and even better than this.This is 2013 game,its like game from 2007. If you tend to buy this game,just stay avoid this game.… Expand
  2. StanleyStinklip
    Feb 15, 2013
    4
    A disgrace to the Alien movies and an unfinished turd of a game. Screw you, Gearbox! This POS is barely worth $10, let alone $50. You've got some nerve trying to get garbage like this past us and I won't even GLANCE at a product with your name on it again.
  3. Necrotaur
    Feb 13, 2013
    4
    Single player wise, yeah, Colonial Marines is pretty bad. There's a lack of suspenseful atmosphere (except for one level), the AI is atrocious, acting is bad, and the storyline is worse. Hadley's Hope? Un-nuked, I guess. Whatever. Multiplayer is a better experience than single player, but suffers from some major issues. Marines level up from the campaign and multiplayer, while aliens canSingle player wise, yeah, Colonial Marines is pretty bad. There's a lack of suspenseful atmosphere (except for one level), the AI is atrocious, acting is bad, and the storyline is worse. Hadley's Hope? Un-nuked, I guess. Whatever. Multiplayer is a better experience than single player, but suffers from some major issues. Marines level up from the campaign and multiplayer, while aliens can only level up from multiplayer. This means that pretty much right out of the chute marine teams have a gigantic advantage over the alien team. 6 hours after launch I was running into marines between level 10 and 23 with fully upgraded weapons, and today all my matches have consisted of max level marines vs. level 1 to 7 aliens. Customization options are far more in depth for marines, with aliens being limited to 3 heads and some slightly differently colored skins. Finally, there are no dedicated servers, and if the host leaves before the match is over, you are kicked and lose all your progress. So, bottom line, multiplayer is the only way this game can redeem itself, but even that has a long way to go.… Expand
  4. JimCorbett
    Nov 6, 2013
    4
    Crapbox strikes again. many rumors surround the infamous development cycle this game went through. Outsourcing most of the work, stealing funds from this project and putting them into their other games, etc. But one thing is certain. Gearbox never cared at all about this game. It's a complete disaster from start to finish. The only redeeming quality about this game is that it takes placeCrapbox strikes again. many rumors surround the infamous development cycle this game went through. Outsourcing most of the work, stealing funds from this project and putting them into their other games, etc. But one thing is certain. Gearbox never cared at all about this game. It's a complete disaster from start to finish. The only redeeming quality about this game is that it takes place in the Aliens universe, which is awesome. Being a big Aliens fan, my review score is a bit higher than it normally would be if I didn't care about the license (probably a 2 or 3/10). Other than that, Aliens is a stale shooter which offers entirely linear gameplay and uninteresting multiplayer. The story is confusing and nonsensical, the characters are completely forgettable and there is no reason to care for any of them. While the voice acting for some of the characters is actually quite good, the lip syncing is terrible. Graphics and effects and other sounds are well below par. The AI is among the worst I've ever seen. The list goes on and on. The only people that should even think about buying this game are fans of the Aliens franchise. Everyone else needs to stay far away. After three disaster games in a row (Duke Nuke, Borderlands 2, and now this), Crapbox has shown they have no ability whatsoever to make a good modern game. Stay away from this crap developer and anything that they happen to spawn.… Expand
  5. CrazyCactuaR
    Feb 12, 2013
    4
    Immense yourself in the world of Marines vs Aliens. Living in the Alien film genre this is most likely the only thing going for the game. A typical linear first person shooter with not much to offer other than a survival story line. The game features poor AI on both allies and enemies alike, weapons feel mediocre and not much use changing from the pulse rifle. Graphic detail of the game isImmense yourself in the world of Marines vs Aliens. Living in the Alien film genre this is most likely the only thing going for the game. A typical linear first person shooter with not much to offer other than a survival story line. The game features poor AI on both allies and enemies alike, weapons feel mediocre and not much use changing from the pulse rifle. Graphic detail of the game is pretty sub-par for its retail price. Easily finished from start to end in one sit through. For fans of the Alien films, its worth the play-through just to learn more of the lore and see some familiar faces but not for the retail price, wait for this title to hit the bargain bin which i can imagine it will soon be heading to.… Expand
  6. zarg556
    Nov 4, 2014
    4
    Pretty bad - AI = bad, story = bad, graphics = bad. Bit disappointing... Get Alien: Isolation if you want a true Alien(s) game. It could, however, be worse and is not too horrific to play - just really unpolished and rough around the edges.
  7. EddyHan
    Feb 14, 2013
    4
    If your an Aliens fan like me then AVOID THIS AT ALL COSTS!!! The story is so pathetically put together that it doesn't even have an explanation that links this game to the movies. It's like no research went into making it in the first place! The characters are so uninteresting and their AI is incredibly DUMB. The aliens AI is so stupid that it basically runs at you straight past the dumbIf your an Aliens fan like me then AVOID THIS AT ALL COSTS!!! The story is so pathetically put together that it doesn't even have an explanation that links this game to the movies. It's like no research went into making it in the first place! The characters are so uninteresting and their AI is incredibly DUMB. The aliens AI is so stupid that it basically runs at you straight past the dumb NPC who is closer! Aliens even get stuck doing what they 're good at, clinging to walls! The level design is appalling! It's like a CoD game where you keep pushig forward. The graphics are so, soo, sooo dated! Even the collisions aren't working, with aliens running right through NPCs and bullets impacting on, well nothing! Coop is a joke! Other players somehow mysteriously teleport in from nowhere and have no idea what they should be doing, except shooting. Multiplayer is probably the only thing that is good about this game, but even that is flawed. No dedicated servers, imbalanced matchmaking system and in the right hands an alien can be OP because they can see through walls! From Borderlands 2 to this? Gearbox, You need to shift up to 6th because this is unacceptable!!… Expand
  8. RiceMuncher
    Feb 16, 2013
    4
    "100% gameplay" demo shown in E3 expo was a lie. Look at this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z2qVebxlUo
    Other than that Poor AI, Jarring atmosphere and cliche story gives it a 4
  9. Zyromkiru
    Feb 15, 2013
    4
    Second review... campaign is complete crap.. multiplayer is fun at first but there isn't enough variety.. found out there were things not in the game that were suppose to be...

    As a whole it's still not worth $50, more like $15
  10. FireDagger12
    Apr 11, 2013
    4
    Broken AI. It doesnt have the good atmosphere or the suspense.... Really what a let down!! and like the other reviewers said the Graphics are outdated, animation and blood/acid effects are very poor, sounds effects are very nice but what we have here strikes me as overall unfinished, unpolished, rushed, underdone.
  11. Haajib
    Feb 12, 2013
    4
    This game is not recommended, its a bad PC port for starters, the singelplayer story is neither good nor bad, The AI is broken and not at all challenging, They introduced a expensive DLC pass with content cut from the game, that they expect us to pay for. The multiplayer has some potential, but its not worth it, considering you pay a full price for a game that you finish the singerplayerThis game is not recommended, its a bad PC port for starters, the singelplayer story is neither good nor bad, The AI is broken and not at all challenging, They introduced a expensive DLC pass with content cut from the game, that they expect us to pay for. The multiplayer has some potential, but its not worth it, considering you pay a full price for a game that you finish the singerplayer in less than 10 hours, and a multiplayer thats hardly worth it as a alone light in the darkness.… Expand
  12. SoManyGoblins
    Jun 20, 2013
    4
    This is a painfully average game, the Aliens franchise deserved a whole lot better than this half-assed thing. The graphics are functional, nothing otherworldly, but bear in mind that this is more accurate after the 4GB patch, but an important gotcha, they look nothing, and I mean NOTHING like what they show on the demo footage, it's a ripoff and a trick to get you to buy something thatThis is a painfully average game, the Aliens franchise deserved a whole lot better than this half-assed thing. The graphics are functional, nothing otherworldly, but bear in mind that this is more accurate after the 4GB patch, but an important gotcha, they look nothing, and I mean NOTHING like what they show on the demo footage, it's a ripoff and a trick to get you to buy something that it's not what you're seeing. The storyline is frankly the stupidest and most damaging thing I've seen inflicted on this series, there is a plot hole so freaking huge that the mystery character that appears just says "too long to explain", that's it, that's the explaination for shamelessly raping the movie Aliens.
    There is a pointless cameo of Hadley's Hope, just fan service, which granted, could have been nice, but is so underwhelming that I wish I hadn't played that part, I love the move Aliens so much that playing through that and getting so disappointed was damaging to the soul of a hardcore fan such as me; it's surprising how little damage a thermonuclear explosion caused on the main colony complex.
    The characters are forgettable, honestly I remember more, and had way more fun with the main characters from Aliens vs Predator 2 (great game, btw).
    The action is fast paced, but the enemy AI is the stupidest thing I've seen in a while, these are the most charming, most tame Aliens I've ever seen, they really do their best not to hurt you, adorable! You see hints of good ideas, like sometimes you see them hiding in the shadows, and they fail at leaping at you, or attempting to attack after you shoot them, painfully easy.
    The multiplayer is horrible and boring, I haven't seen an Aliens game with xenomorphs so stiff to move! The marines are far more suited for combat than the aliens.
    Avoid this game if you're an Aliens fan (though if you're one, you'll probably make the same mistake I did and not heed to advice     … Expand
  13. foulplay
    Feb 13, 2013
    4
    Terrible 2005 era graphics, underwhelming audio, bad dialogue, bugged, uninspiring, unpolished and barely any atmosphere. A review embargo until release day got me wondering what was wrong, and now I know. This is the first game in years where I have true buyers remorse. I want my pre-order money back.
  14. tayfuntuna
    Nov 25, 2013
    4
    I can't help but feel sad about Alien fans, who paid the full retail price to play this title. I paid $5 and I feel like that was a waste of money, as I didn't even have the desire to finish it... Library Delete Local Content.... Done. Now I feel better.
  15. McFungus
    Feb 13, 2013
    4
    It is important to remember when placing a numerical score on a game that, naturally, it must sit below better offerings in the entertainment spectrum. But it should be rated better then the crud this product out shines. In that regar, remember the movie Last Action Hero?
    That movie Sucked! This game is way better then that movie. It isn't good, but it's better then that crap.
  16. Tulipunahapero
    May 6, 2013
    4
    I watched trailers and gameplay videos and they looked amazing. What happened to this game? Did demo and final version switch places and final version is in a landfill?
  17. Bjsfreaked
    Feb 23, 2013
    4
    I am a huge aliens fan, especially with the demo being shown which looked amazing, that alone made me want to get this but sadly you don't get anything that the demo shown sadly. The quality of the textures especially in some places like the truck in the 3rd level was dumbass designing 101. For gearbox to present themselves with this product is so bad and with the devs blaming each otherI am a huge aliens fan, especially with the demo being shown which looked amazing, that alone made me want to get this but sadly you don't get anything that the demo shown sadly. The quality of the textures especially in some places like the truck in the 3rd level was dumbass designing 101. For gearbox to present themselves with this product is so bad and with the devs blaming each other doesn't help the franchise and IP. The AI is terrible and sadly the only time personally, I find a good AI is in ultimate badass which is the highest level. If you do play at a lower difficulty, prepare for bad AI and the characters stories and how they act are the worse and don't even expect good facial or quality character models.

    Although this is negatives, there are some positives Drop in, Drop out works, Some of the levels were enjoyable especially the 5th one in but the main positive is the Modding community actually modding so fast to allow it to look better than what it is. Sadly the devs have been so unresponsive, the modders came in and actually made it look better which is a positive which is why i feel bad for console who can't get these mods....

    The story which i won't go into strongly is badly written, badly executed and not good especially within many of the levels.... however there are the occasional good point throughout but its not at all AAA.

    However it isn't the best, it is enjoyable to a point and playing a lot of games its not the worst... sadly that still goes to Orion: Dino Crisis and WarZ but sadly this game doesn't show the IP and Gearbox in a good way at all... and i feel bad for sega for allowing gearbox to design this Crap.

    Shame on you gearbox!
    Shame on you Randy Pitchford!    … Expand
  18. AtotheFrame
    Feb 12, 2013
    4
    Quite frankly not good enough.

    This feels more like a mod or total conversion than a game of it's own. Graphics are dated, animation and blood/acid effects are very poor, sounds effects are very nice but what we have here strikes me as overall unfinished, unpolished, rushed, underdone. You would have to love James Cameron's film A LOT for this title to be salvageable, and I do, and it isn't.
  19. Mofo010
    Feb 12, 2013
    4
    If you compare the final game to the gameplay they showed at E3 im almost convinced that this is just plain robbery ."Some called Duke Nukem Forever the worst FPS ever. That angered me and I wanted to prove them wrong." Gearbox CEO on why they made Aliens
  20. FruitCakeHD
    Mar 14, 2013
    4
    A game that is not that good in overall. I have played at my friend's PS3 and the graphics were even worse that on PC. My deal is, why on earth is the DEMO look even nicer than the original game? Who would pay 49.99 USD for a game that looks like a 2003 one?
    As for the gameplay, it just sucks due to the amount of details not added in the original game from the demo. Weird storyline in    A game that is not that good in overall. I have played at my friend's PS3 and the graphics were even worse that on PC. My deal is, why on earth is the DEMO look even nicer than the original game? Who would pay 49.99 USD for a game that looks like a 2003 one?
    As for the gameplay, it just sucks due to the amount of details not added in the original game from the demo. Weird storyline in overall. All thanks to their ridiculous management by handing the game to a infamous company.    … Expand
  21. Shobhit550
    Feb 19, 2013
    4
    Unless they redo all the AI and Fix the terrible story-line, i cant see this as being worth 40 dollars. I strongly urge you to wait and see if the price goes down to at least 20-30$, and even then not go out of your way to buy it.A huge disappointment to all of the aliens fans.
  22. Duskspark
    Apr 26, 2013
    4
    When I first heard of the bad reviews in Aliens: Colonial Marines, that's when I actually started watching Aliens the movies. I wasn't even born at the time the movies got released and I never had much interest in that, but since I've been a gamer since I was a kid, I wanted to like Colonial Marines. I watched the movies, to get up to date with the story, and I loved it. The atmosphere,When I first heard of the bad reviews in Aliens: Colonial Marines, that's when I actually started watching Aliens the movies. I wasn't even born at the time the movies got released and I never had much interest in that, but since I've been a gamer since I was a kid, I wanted to like Colonial Marines. I watched the movies, to get up to date with the story, and I loved it. The atmosphere, the sound, the special effect (by the times standards) were amazing. And that is exactly everything what Colonial Marines missed. There is no atmosphere as the Xenomorphs just come running towards you in stead of lurking in the shadows, the sounddesign is sooo poorly done it barely makes me care about anything that is happening, and the graphics are mediocre at its very best. I decided to give it a 4/10 because this game actually made me watch the movies and made me love them. It could have been an okay 6/10 title if they would have released it as an indie game.… Expand
  23. Mothman13
    Mar 16, 2013
    4
    This game is below average, no question about it. One has to wonder how to mess up a aliens game, but somehow it happened in this case. The action is boring and repetitive, the aliens are not threatening or scary, the story makes no sense and the characters are uninspired. Not mention bugs and lack polish. The game feels rushed. It manages to surprise at parts with good lighting andThis game is below average, no question about it. One has to wonder how to mess up a aliens game, but somehow it happened in this case. The action is boring and repetitive, the aliens are not threatening or scary, the story makes no sense and the characters are uninspired. Not mention bugs and lack polish. The game feels rushed. It manages to surprise at parts with good lighting and interesting locations from the movie. I would give this game a 3 but as a fan of the aliens franchise I bumped it up to 4. Huge disappointment.… Expand
  24. Curreri
    Apr 7, 2013
    4
    This is a waste of money and (Alien) license: the game fails to recreate the athmosphere of the series.
    Even if the overall gameplay is not too bad, AI of the game seems not good and the graphics disappointing.
  25. MasteRR
    May 4, 2013
    4
    Aliens: Colonial Marines is not a great game under any criteria.

    The game is set in the same universe and location like the original movies, LV-426, a planet which actually isn't a planet, it's a moon, bigger than average ones. The story is set after the events from the original 1986 movie Aliens. In the game you revisit the iconic locations from the original 2 movies, but in a    Aliens: Colonial Marines is not a great game under any criteria.

    The game is set in the same universe and location like the original movies, LV-426, a planet which actually isn't a planet, it's a moon, bigger than average ones.

    The story is set after the events from the original 1986 movie Aliens. In the game you revisit the iconic locations from the original 2 movies, but in a different way.

    The plot is a very simple one, which relatively lacks of originality. You assume the role of a a Colonial Marine called Christopher Winter, and your mission is to check an SOS left by Dwayne Hicks, one of the main characters in the Aliens movie.

    From here it's obvious what's next, you find that the place is infested and you must later fight to survive. Very simplistic.

    However, even so, the game's chaotic development leaves his mark. The best citation can be ,,The game sounds like Aliens, looks like Aliens, but unfortunately, it doesn't play like Aliens., IGN. This citation captures exactly how the game is, the level design isn't really horrible, but is not ground-breaking like other games from today's standards.

    The graphics are as simple as possible, with simple shadows, banal lightning effects and banal textures.

    Beyond the graphic design, the story also draws criticism, it lacks of consistency and it takes only @5-6 or 9(on harder/hardest difficulty) to be completed, so is quite short.

    Also the story is very chaotic at some parts, like progressing with no sense during the levels, basically just ,,Shoot the bad guys in this room, then continue playing,, .

    And also many people(including I at some points) is like a sort of Call of Duty: Weyland Yutani, and I partially agree here, for me is a sort of a Sci-Fi Counter-Strike. Is centered more on shooting humans than aliens, and more on combat than the story itself.

    Again, the story doesn't make much sense at many parts, especially when you find that Bishop and Hicks have survived, but rather than make light, it makes you even more confusing. It's reveal that Hicks was captured and interrogated but nothing more abut how he's been captured. Same with Bishop, where is nothing revealed about how it survived.

    In game play and value terms the game is mediocre, is based on one of the best sci-fi horror-thriller movies ever made, but the game is a shame. It captures the alien in banal encounters many times, and the tension suffers.

    Is also insufficient in value term, we we're promised a far better game in both story and design in the trailers and E3 demos, but the final product is lower in quality and a lot different, and doesn't stand up at the price as well, seriously, it isn't worth 50$, I'd say 15-20$, but not more.

    I also greatly dislike the patches, because they fix things that we're not supposed to be there. Improved the AI to be more aggressive and responsive, added many effects and some graphically redesigned places? Fixed some circumstances in where the aliens could've used erratic animations? This all are bugs and glitches which must have never been in a game, doesn't matter this or other and improvements that must have never be cut. It wasn't able to run on consoles? Then where we've seen the game running in some game plays? This is just a lie, haven't we all seen Crysis? It has ridiculous requirements, but somehow it looks and runs well on consoles, and also has a good replay value and design.

    Also the iconic weapons are only used a ridiculous amount of time, only max. 10min. to use the Smart Gun and no more ammo to be found for it? Really?

    The characters aren't really well developed as well, you can't describe many marine's personality.

    The development was very chaotic, and why put others work on your dream? TimeGate Studios for single player and Nerve Software for multilayer? Why? You said it was your dream and you love the franchise.

    The coop as well isn't really awesome included, you can play in the campaign with up to 3 more friends, which I find really cool, despite it doesn't feature additional objectives and locations.

    In visuals and performance, the console versions were terribly optimized, by having many visual glitches
    , and unbelievable low resolution textures, cut shaders and several bad effects.

    This were the bad parts, but there somehow are some good ones. The weapons sound, look and behave exactly like in the movies, the game has a very well made sewer level where you have no guns and you must escape from the explosive aliens. That's aliens! Very exciting and tensioned.

    The first DLC and the multiplayer are well made, despite the multiplayer doesn't feature a lot of maps, but they offer lot of fun and are having a great value.

    Excluding the coop flaws, is Drop-In Drop-Out so you don't have to restart a level of some annoying things.

    So in the end, A:CM has some good stuff inside, but too many problems, however there are 3 more DLCs so who knows, maybe Gearbox is preparing a surprise for us.    … Expand
  26. TailGunnner
    Aug 13, 2013
    4
    The game sposed to be a alien game... but the game hasn't got almost anything about aliens... They took the alien lisence and make it a call of duty rip off. The game had worked for 3 years on this game and thats what they sucseeded so far? The only part I like was those alien focus part... you don't even need to shoot anything whole game exept at the final boss you can just run the WHOLEThe game sposed to be a alien game... but the game hasn't got almost anything about aliens... They took the alien lisence and make it a call of duty rip off. The game had worked for 3 years on this game and thats what they sucseeded so far? The only part I like was those alien focus part... you don't even need to shoot anything whole game exept at the final boss you can just run the WHOLE LEVEL while you are playing on recuit. and even in exterame mod it doesn't changes a lot...… Expand
  27. Frast2013X
    Aug 2, 2013
    4
    Długie powstawanie gier często(nie zawsze!) nie wpływa pozytywnie na ich jakość. Taki przykładem jest właśnie Aliens: Colonial Marines który zapowiadał się ciekawie a po wyjściu na światło dzienne został zniszczony przez recenzentów że musiał szybko wracać pod ziemię. Fatalna grafika, kiepska grywalność, bugi, niedopracowanie gry, głupie AI, nudne pomysły, nie wykorzystany potencjał toDługie powstawanie gier często(nie zawsze!) nie wpływa pozytywnie na ich jakość. Taki przykładem jest właśnie Aliens: Colonial Marines który zapowiadał się ciekawie a po wyjściu na światło dzienne został zniszczony przez recenzentów że musiał szybko wracać pod ziemię. Fatalna grafika, kiepska grywalność, bugi, niedopracowanie gry, głupie AI, nudne pomysły, nie wykorzystany potencjał to jedynie połowa z wad które można wstawić temu wybrykowi. Twórcom udało się chodź odrobinę uratować sytuację robiąc chociaż po części nawet(tylko nawet!) ciekawy klimat, który i tak został strasznie nie wykorzystany. Nawet jak dla fana kosmicznej serii o Obcych to tytuł który powinno się omijać z daleka. Moja ocena 4/10… Expand
  28. Tomle1202
    Jan 20, 2016
    4
    If a xenomorph plays this game, it will try to suicide by laying eggs in its mouth then choke to death. The best part? The thing you have just read makes more sense than Aliens: Colonial Marines.
  29. MindlessMe
    May 8, 2016
    4
    After all the years of waiting we finally get an Aliens game that looks potentially awesome. The games storyline is even supposed to pick up where the Aliens movie left off, which is a really nice area to fill in some details. After Ripley leaves the planet in Aliens we never really get to see what happens so it will be really cool to finally find out, right? If the game had not been soAfter all the years of waiting we finally get an Aliens game that looks potentially awesome. The games storyline is even supposed to pick up where the Aliens movie left off, which is a really nice area to fill in some details. After Ripley leaves the planet in Aliens we never really get to see what happens so it will be really cool to finally find out, right? If the game had not been so half-assed then I would say yes, however it was definitely a half-assed attempt at an Aliens game.
    Well I guess we will just dive into the gameplay and figure out what we enjoyed out of it. After playing through the game I have to say I did actually enjoy the environments quite a bit. From the opening scenes to the end of the game they definitely hit the overall atmosphere and feel of LV-426 perfectly. I actually really enjoyed being able to “set foot” on the planet and explore a piece of iconic history with a character. Now if everything else had been as good then it would have been a perfect experience. When looking at things like the AI you can really tell it was rushed though and never got the time it deserved. While playing through the story-line the AI companions just seemed like puppets on a stick reacting to things around them. There were countless times during firefights when my companions would be downed because they would attack aliens far away from them instead of the ones wailing on them point blank. In small fights this isn’t so much of an issue because the player can contend with them, but in larger battles it was a serious pain in the ass. The Alien AI was also absolutely terrible from what I witnessed. Even after all the patching that was done by Gearbox after release the Aliens still just traveled from point A to point B, then attacked. There wasn’t really any variation to the attacks, no tactics, nothing surprising. It really depressed me because the movies showed us such a cunning enemy, and the game delivers an obvious robot following a preset path. It wouldn’t be so bad if this was 1995 but we have seen better AI in games in the last 10 years.
    Now with the gameplay pretty botched you would think they used this time on the story-line to give us a great experience. Oh man how I wish that was the case. In all the time playing the game I just felt the story was scattered, if not almost completely absent. We know that we are another team responding to the issues plaguing the first team, but they don’t really give you a purpose beyond that. You don’t care about the characters you’re with or really get a lot of info on why you are doing what you are, other than the simple go here and do this command. The lack of attachment to the characters really irritated me because that is a basic element in any storytelling. When you are attached to those around you it makes protecting them much more important, and in the event that something happens to them it has a profound effect on the player. Yet all that was completely absent here.
    Since there is not a lot more you can say about the story of the game we will go ahead and move on to the graphics. The visuals in the game are also part of a fairly heated debate since the demo footage seemed to be better looking than the actual released version. Now since release Gearbox did add a massive 4 plus gigabyte patch that made the visuals in the game better but it’s still hard for gamers not to feel cheated in the beginning. The bad thing is that even after the massive patch Aliens: CM still looks rather dated for a game that has released in the last 5 years. Now I am usually not one to rag on graphics but when you don’t have a storyline to make up for it then it’s difficult not to be hard on a game. Something else that really bothered me is the amount of frame lag I got while playing the game on PC. I could understand having this if I was playing the game on a low end PC but that’s just not the case. I am not sure if this happened on consoles as well but I would be interested to see if it did. It’s just disappointing to see a game with this much potential being kicked to the curb in the graphics department.
    I can say that the one place I did see real quality was in the sound effects. I know that they were most likely ripped directly from the movie, but all the sounds had a great presence in the game. It’s always nice to be hit with nostalgia when playing a game based of something so beloved. With the sound effects being as good as they were you would not expect the dialog to be as jacked up as it was. There were a few times that the character’s mouths and dialog didn’t match. It seriously took me back to the days of old school Godzilla movies.
    All in all, this game is worth playing as a rental or in the discount rack but as for buying it at full price, just don’t. Gearbox was given the keys to a Lamborghini with this IP and they somehow modified it into a rusted down Pinto. The concept and potential was so great, and yet in the end the finished product just didn't deliver.    … Expand
  30. Taylord99
    Aug 12, 2018
    4
    Aliens: Colonial Marines is a game that has a few really clever concepts and ideas, but overall fails as a whole. With linear level design, clunky controls, poor A.I., and a sub-par story, this game's shortcomings overshadow its positives.
  31. lorem
    Mar 31, 2020
    4
    A lot of technical problems, poor graphics, broken mechanics, glitches everywhere and not even the story manages to save the game from all these problems.
  32. micro10k
    May 18, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES was already going to be the best shooting game of all time, but in the end this game went wrong. Why doesn't everyone like it? the good and the bad: 1) atrocious AI; especially aliens. They just make a straight line for you.
    2) Dated graphics; unlike what was seen in the demos.
    3) The first level was great with a great atmosphere and development. It stops there, on the first level.
    4) "EPIC" boss battle.
    5) This is related to the second point; there is absolutely no sense of fear or "feeling". Flip the switch, run and shoot, flip the switch, run and shoot.
    6) Terrible AI
    7) Terrible Story
    8) Single player and multiplayer with many bugs
    9) There are no dedicated servers, so hosts are constantly leaving
    10) Terrible alien pathfinding when creeping in MP, stuck, etc.    … Expand
  33. Diaboliquin
    Feb 12, 2013
    3
    This is a subpar game. A disservice of the Aliens licence. WTF gearbox? Brain-dead AI, poor textures, boring corridor shooter. This game is candidate to Worst Game of the Year 2013.
  34. PsyEd
    Feb 12, 2013
    3
    Horrible game from start to finish. From gfx to animation to sound to AI(artificial idiots) to pacing...everything is below average or broken. Gearbox has balls to ask full retail price and then more for "DLC's". Seriously only buy this game if you're an idiot like me who throws money anything that has Aliens in it....or steam has it for $10 or less sometime in the future. AvP 2010 is wayHorrible game from start to finish. From gfx to animation to sound to AI(artificial idiots) to pacing...everything is below average or broken. Gearbox has balls to ask full retail price and then more for "DLC's". Seriously only buy this game if you're an idiot like me who throws money anything that has Aliens in it....or steam has it for $10 or less sometime in the future. AvP 2010 is way better game than this junk. I will officially ignore all games that has "gearbox" written on it...thanks for screwing up DNF...and now Aliens.… Expand
  35. Kanazawa
    Feb 12, 2013
    3
    What the hell happened? The AI was one of the worst AI I've ever seen. Many Aliens won't even come after you. Sometimes they look at you and walk around you. WALK.
  36. 07151129
    Apr 30, 2013
    3
    This game is absolutely terrible. It's a generic stereotype space marines action shooter. The single player is mindless and boring, the AI is terrible, the sound effects are also terrible. The game is not scary and the voice actors just sound depressed. The online mode is not fun, you'll get bored in minutes because there is no depth to the gameplay.
    One of the redeeming factors of the    This game is absolutely terrible. It's a generic stereotype space marines action shooter. The single player is mindless and boring, the AI is terrible, the sound effects are also terrible. The game is not scary and the voice actors just sound depressed. The online mode is not fun, you'll get bored in minutes because there is no depth to the gameplay.
    One of the redeeming factors of the game however is that it has decent music, but that's it. If you're having trouble sleeping, I definitely recommend this game because there is no way you'll still be awake after 30 minutes. Gearbox over-hyped this game and just ended up deceiving Aliens fans. I highly recommend you look at game footage before you commit to buy this game.    … Expand
  37. Beatlejuice6687
    Jul 28, 2013
    3
    Yes, this game is worthy of all the horrible reviews others have given it. It has a bad single player experience. I won't go on faulting it over the story, this is all how bad the gaming experience is. It is like an arcade game where an alien or copany guy pops up so you can shoot them. Don't worry about them harming you. People have made videos of sidestepping aliens thru a later levelYes, this game is worthy of all the horrible reviews others have given it. It has a bad single player experience. I won't go on faulting it over the story, this is all how bad the gaming experience is. It is like an arcade game where an alien or copany guy pops up so you can shoot them. Don't worry about them harming you. People have made videos of sidestepping aliens thru a later level without firing a shot. The multiplayer is somewhat redeeming. The biggest problem is they put out a horrible game and without feeling an ounce of shame, they felt they could sell new content. They even have the nerve to sell a single player add-on, really??? This should be the lowest rated game of the year. Maybe Simcity would beat it other then the initial launch, but overall gameplay, this is hands down the worst of the year. There is no way they should charge 50 for the game then charge for the season pass. Give it away to make up for this abomination they tricked people into buying.… Expand
  38. RamboRomulous
    Feb 12, 2013
    3
    The first thing that you will notice after paying 60 bucks and booting this thing up is that it is possibly one of the ugliest modern shooters I have seen in a very long time. If you are a graphics enthusiest then this will make your eyeballs bleed. I have a fairly stout computer and was hoping for some meat on this thing, there is none. The first thing that came to mind (an afterThe first thing that you will notice after paying 60 bucks and booting this thing up is that it is possibly one of the ugliest modern shooters I have seen in a very long time. If you are a graphics enthusiest then this will make your eyeballs bleed. I have a fairly stout computer and was hoping for some meat on this thing, there is none. The first thing that came to mind (an after reading these reviews, many others as well) is Doom 3. and not the BFG edition. Some may argue that it is uglier. Its pretty bad. It is kind of fun though, but that is comming from a guy who is not a serious FPS player. I do enjoy cod series but if thats what you look for in all shooters, dont even come near this. But if you like shooters to a degree and are tired of the hardcore ones, and reminse about the days of return to wolfenstein and the like then this may be something to try. Not for 60 bucks though. 20 at the most. If you buy it now you will feel ripped. Being an aliens fan dosent hurt either but not being one will destroy any enjoyment you hope to have. The only reason it gets a 3 is cause of the alien thing. its not a bad shooter, just not a serious one, and a very very very very very ugly one. Its so ugly you will be floored. My jaw hit the ground.… Expand
  39. Kuarinofu
    Feb 18, 2013
    3
    Visuals are weak, getting better on LV-426, but still bad.
    It's not about the graphics, it's the atmosphere.
    And it doesn't feel like an Aliens related game at all. Aliens are weak and they seem to be missing ragdoll physics whatsoever. They get stuck inside walls and they melt like if they were vampires. Stormtroopers attack was a surprise, silencers on pulse rifles were unnecessary.    Visuals are weak, getting better on LV-426, but still bad.
    It's not about the graphics, it's the atmosphere.
    And it doesn't feel like an Aliens related game at all.
    Aliens are weak and they seem to be missing ragdoll physics whatsoever.
    They get stuck inside walls and they melt like if they were vampires.
    Stormtroopers attack was a surprise, silencers on pulse rifles were unnecessary.
    Overall it's not a total disaster, the intro sequence was good, Henriksen and Biehn presence was also a good sign, but it all ended before it started. P.S. A good game for 10-15$.    … Expand
  40. DeliMontana
    Feb 12, 2013
    3
    I played for five minutes which would normally not count as enough, though this might be the exception. i would have given this a 6-isch if it was 2006 now, but its 2013 and its been in developement since 2006, when i first saw this game i thought finally someone would make a kickass game, but it runs like and my comp is great. i wouldnt recommend anyone to buy this, MP might be fun butI played for five minutes which would normally not count as enough, though this might be the exception. i would have given this a 6-isch if it was 2006 now, but its 2013 and its been in developement since 2006, when i first saw this game i thought finally someone would make a kickass game, but it runs like and my comp is great. i wouldnt recommend anyone to buy this, MP might be fun but its so worthlessly done it doesnt deserve your time and money!… Expand
  41. mcpadson
    Feb 13, 2013
    3
    You know what the best parts of Alien Aliens were? The tension, the terror and the characters. None of which are present in this game. The poorly textured repetitive environments are a bore, where you'll always find the same poorly programmed Xenomorphs glitching around on the walls trying to feebly slash at you, or even atrocious gunfights against humans. It's a totally rinse and repeatYou know what the best parts of Alien Aliens were? The tension, the terror and the characters. None of which are present in this game. The poorly textured repetitive environments are a bore, where you'll always find the same poorly programmed Xenomorphs glitching around on the walls trying to feebly slash at you, or even atrocious gunfights against humans. It's a totally rinse and repeat formula after an hour or two, there's barely any variation whatsoever. However, there is actually one good stealthy level where you have no weapons and are completely vulnerable to wart-covered, husks of Xenos. There's also a relatively good level of authenticity for the spaceships and planets, even linking directly back to the films. I really don't know why, but even on the hardest difficulty the Xenos are just not terrifying enough. There's never a moment where you have to hurry and prepare and wait for them to come knocking at the door, it's just a random sprawl of enemies jumping on top of each other and slashing at friendly AI. I do think this is meant to be a horror game, not a military shooter, and this game leans more on the latter. You can carry EVERY gun you've unlocked at once, completely knocking out the immersion factor straight away. The story is all over the place with utterly dislikeable characters who you couldn't care less about. The low resolution PS2 cutscenes don't do them any justice either. Moments of intrigue and horror are blown out with moronic dialogue like imitating the Xenos, 'They were like, oh yeah, we're gonna blow up now! What the A lot of potential, wasted.… Expand
  42. Lyon111
    Feb 18, 2013
    3
    Aliens: Colonial Marines for PC is such a fraud. This is is clearly not worth 50 euros for many reasons. The most important reason is that it is a boring game. Yes, the sets are cool in some way, but not for a 2013 game, where it should be much more creative and engaging. The single player campaign is so boring and so boring that I stopped playing after 1 hour, more or less. Obviously IAliens: Colonial Marines for PC is such a fraud. This is is clearly not worth 50 euros for many reasons. The most important reason is that it is a boring game. Yes, the sets are cool in some way, but not for a 2013 game, where it should be much more creative and engaging. The single player campaign is so boring and so boring that I stopped playing after 1 hour, more or less. Obviously I did not buy the game. The internet must serve for something in that regard. Whenever I like a game, I sure buy it, but this time I am not going to. Even if this game cost 20 euros, I would not buy it. I would give 10 euros for it, and that is a lot of money for this game. I feel revolted to see that this game has a price of 49.99 euros when it is obviously worth no more than 10 euros. I know the company in charge of production took years to build it, but that is not how the game should get its worth from. First the producers must have real players test it and give their sentence about price and other things, and I am sure they did that, so why they are charging so much more? I tell you why, because when clients see a game for a good and high price, they are more likely to buy it and not research about it, so the company makes a lot of money in the first week, and in the next ones, when the heat is off, when all criticizers publish their critics, clients start realizing the game is BS.… Expand
  43. Forgewolf
    Apr 28, 2013
    3
    Very late, I know.. But let me tell you.

    I pre-ordered this game on Steam. All the videos and reviews I heard of this game were pointing to one direction. That this game was going to be great! And with a fairly decent company developing it, Gearbox, I had little to worry about. Boy, was I wrong. The Aliens in this game are dumb, static and predictable. They always charged for you,    Very late, I know.. But let me tell you.

    I pre-ordered this game on Steam. All the videos and reviews I heard of this game were pointing to one direction. That this game was going to be great! And with a fairly decent company developing it, Gearbox, I had little to worry about. Boy, was I wrong.

    The Aliens in this game are dumb, static and predictable. They always charged for you, nobody else and it was always in the same direction. I know there is only so much you can do with A.Is.. But the A.Is from Aliens vs Predator in 2010 where WAY better!

    I was very frustrated with this first encounter with enemy soldiers.. It felt like I was playing a poorly constructed, wannabe CoD game. It just didn't feel right running into them so soon.

    I'm extremely disappointed with the graphics and the removal of the first scene where you should have ran into the Alien Queen like they showed in their Reveal demo!

    The first Boss battle was really dumb too.. Getting into a power loader and smacking at this weird, Brute like Alien.. I died many times on Normal. It wasn't Challenging.. it was buggy and frustrating.

    NEVER! EVER! Outsource any part of your game to another company. That is down right stupid and only comes to bite you back in the ass! The blame is on Gearbox and Sega for rushing the game and trying to place the blame on smaller, more innocent developer companies that are less experienced. Trying to kill competition huh?    … Expand
  44. drmattsuu
    Feb 17, 2013
    3
    "No. No. No. No. Gearbox, what are you doing?" Sums this game up nicely.
    Aliens: Colonial Marines (read Aliens: Colonial Morons) is the perfect example of why I don't /ever/ pre-order games. The Good:
    + I've been told... Badgered by others insisting that the multilayer is passable, It's playable and competitive. So despite my personal feelings that the Multilayer portion of a game that    "No. No. No. No. Gearbox, what are you doing?" Sums this game up nicely.
    Aliens: Colonial Marines (read Aliens: Colonial Morons) is the perfect example of why I don't /ever/ pre-order games. The Good:
    + I've been told... Badgered by others insisting that the multilayer is passable, It's playable and competitive. So despite my personal feelings that the Multilayer portion of a game that has a singleplayer campaign should ever be a centre-point of a review, I'll let this one slide.
    The Bad:
    - Dreadful attempt at atmosphere. I can tell this game tries so hard to be something it isn't... As an Aliens game, expectation dictates that the atmosphere has to be on par with an expertly directed horror film. With an enemy that surpasses our little human character in almost every attribute- I want to feel hunted and isolated in an almost hopeless situation, fighting for my very survival. Any attempt at the before-mentioned feeling is destroyed the moment one of your companions opens their mouth... and then further trashed when you move through the campaign mowing down hundreds of the Aliens as if they were made from toilet tissue. The AI, frankly, sucks. My Graduate games programming project had better Artificial intelligence than this. You constantly see the human characters getting stuck, taking insane path finding routes. This may just be me however as I have developed an eye for such things.
    - The visuals I am not one to criticise a game based on it's graphical quality. However, I expect a AAA, multi-million Dollar budgeted game to provide a certain degree of graphical quality especially if the marketing material boasts scenes that show off lighting and rendering techniques used by the latest DX11 technologies. But this is a small point... ugly textures and ugly lighting doesn't kill a game but it does not help it ether.
    - The Feel of the gameplay is off. I can't accurately articulate it because it's not really something tangible, but when I play a shooter, I expect the game to provide feedback in a certain way, Aliens: CM, does not provide this feeling.
    To summarize I am disappointed that 7 years of development couldn't produce something better. But, I have a feeling that this suffered from the same problems as Duke Nukem: Forever in that it has been outsourced to so many companies and been messed about with so much over the past 7 years The end result maintains no real identity It's a game that consists of poorly mashed together bits from all kinds of different places and it is a real shame... A perfect example of brilliant marketing on Sega's part to sell a bad game so well though.    … Expand
  45. AcidCasualty
    Feb 24, 2013
    3
    Game over, man! The Aliens franchise is as dead in gaming as it is on the big screen. Secure that sh-t, Hudson, and let's go play another game. Even the lackluster Aliens Vs. Predator circa 2010 makes Colonial Marines look like horse meat in place of beef. In fact, if you are dying to play an Aliens game, play that one instead you can probably get it relatively cheap.
  46. The_Choad
    Feb 12, 2013
    3
    This game is triumphant only in it's massive failure to deliver any kind of satisfaction, or enjoyable experience. It's is glaringly obvious within just a few moments of starting, A:CM is a steaming pile of crap, cobbled together from various farmyard animals. It's almost a parody of what it is supposed to be, the bugs are so amusing, you spend more time frowning or laughing thanThis game is triumphant only in it's massive failure to deliver any kind of satisfaction, or enjoyable experience. It's is glaringly obvious within just a few moments of starting, A:CM is a steaming pile of crap, cobbled together from various farmyard animals. It's almost a parody of what it is supposed to be, the bugs are so amusing, you spend more time frowning or laughing than flinching in terror, in what is supposed to be the supreme horror suspense franchise, from which all others stem. Just look at the critic reviews, who are often accused of being paid to give high scores, completely denounce this product as utter rubbish. The lies spewed forth by the aggressive marketing campaign only adds salt to the wound, a developer desperate to claw back some of the money they spent over the SIX YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT that this game had. Aliens: Colonial Marines has left me feeling disappointed, ripped off and angry. SHAME ON GEARBOX! SHAME ON YOU!!… Expand
  47. ROTARY_13BT
    Feb 15, 2013
    3
    Heres the deal kiddies, im 25 years old. ive been playing pc games fps since doom, quake, descent, wolfenstein etc etc came out. i can assure you do not waste your time and money on this game, lucky for me i picked it up for $50 instead of steam high price of $80. The game AI is terrible, they run around with bad ai decision sometimes even running past your team mates in single playerHeres the deal kiddies, im 25 years old. ive been playing pc games fps since doom, quake, descent, wolfenstein etc etc came out. i can assure you do not waste your time and money on this game, lucky for me i picked it up for $50 instead of steam high price of $80. The game AI is terrible, they run around with bad ai decision sometimes even running past your team mates in single player games just to shoot you. the gun sound effects are awful and movement in general feels so unatural and stiff. if you like the feeling of cod s movements, aliens is completely opposite you feel like a robot. MULTIPLAYER IS you cant choose your sides, the matches are about 2 minutes each so once you get the hang of things your automatically playing an alien role and have no clue what your doing... multiplayer can only hold 10 so 5 vs 5 and because the matches are literally like 2 min each round you cant make technical or team work decision its really just a run and shoot whatever moves in your sight. SAVE YOUR MONEY AND BUY A TRUSTED GAME LIKE BLACKOPS NOT THIS GAME TRUST ME.… Expand
  48. PlaySphereDE
    Feb 21, 2013
    3
    This game really hurts because I always had the opinion of gearbox as superb developer. Well, time, a long developing process and some minor dev-studios might be the reason for this but it's still not acceptable. Big fans von the Alien-Franchise and Gearbox himself were disappointed in a big way: Aliens: Colonial Marines manages to create atmosphere and has a great soundtrack, but afterThis game really hurts because I always had the opinion of gearbox as superb developer. Well, time, a long developing process and some minor dev-studios might be the reason for this but it's still not acceptable. Big fans von the Alien-Franchise and Gearbox himself were disappointed in a big way: Aliens: Colonial Marines manages to create atmosphere and has a great soundtrack, but after all there are just to many bugs, ugly visuals and a very short campaign. Only fans of the movie might get some of the references being made but every „normal“ shooter fan should not buy this game at all.

    Gearbox, you can do it better and you know that!    … Expand
  49. TurdIsTheWord
    Feb 27, 2013
    3
    They messed it up. I have never been more disapointed in a video game in my life! Several developers worked on this game, for 6 years! How do you mess up so hard? The developers had the fans trust, and they let them down! Dumb AI, useless companions, and most of the game you're fighting Weyland-Yutani. But, there are good sides. The developers nailed the authenticity part, and theThey messed it up. I have never been more disapointed in a video game in my life! Several developers worked on this game, for 6 years! How do you mess up so hard? The developers had the fans trust, and they let them down! Dumb AI, useless companions, and most of the game you're fighting Weyland-Yutani. But, there are good sides. The developers nailed the authenticity part, and the multiplayer is fun enough to keep you occupied. Overall, I'd rather play AVP 3 than this.… Expand
  50. redspark
    May 23, 2013
    3
    I was so disappointed with the games graphics, I was looking forward to this coming out after seeing a preview clip on line, but theirs nothing ,lacks atmosphere and badly designed story line, played for 2 hours that was enough try turning the brightness down- gives it a little atmosphere, better still turn it off completely
  51. DukeGozer
    Mar 18, 2013
    3
    Thats the first and last time I preorder a game. I was never so disapointed like for this game. 49 EUR for a game, that is unfinished and comes with a really lousy graphic.
  52. BudSpencer
    May 13, 2013
    3
    Worst game ever created by Gearbox (TimeGate). Gearbox, you lost 50% of my trust in you. At least Borderlands shows that you have talent. Use your good men and women on only one project and concentrate, don´t hire other idiots to do the job like Timegate. You fools! Terrible AI, ugly graphics, low atmosphere, bad animations, boring and uninteresting story and the boss fight is a slap inWorst game ever created by Gearbox (TimeGate). Gearbox, you lost 50% of my trust in you. At least Borderlands shows that you have talent. Use your good men and women on only one project and concentrate, don´t hire other idiots to do the job like Timegate. You fools! Terrible AI, ugly graphics, low atmosphere, bad animations, boring and uninteresting story and the boss fight is a slap in the face for all fans. At least Mutliplayer is good, balanced and makes fun. Even the Co-Op is a joke if you compare it to Killing Floor or Left 4 Dead, Payday The Heist. We expected more tension in Co-Op, but what to expect by such ugly graphics which can´t produce enough atmosphere to let the aliens look terrifying. They feel like no danger and they die to easily. The developers threw them against you like they had nothing else to offer as danger in this game, than hordes of aliens and HUMANS! Who wants to shoot humans in such a boring game? It´s getting even more boring. A total fail. There´s one dense scene though, were you have to sneak, but thats no reason to buy it. Take it from the shelf and spit on it.… Expand
  53. Duke0102
    Jul 21, 2013
    3
    The game as-is is not too bad, worth playing for the fans but I can only recommend if on a cheap deal. AI is terrible and graphics should be better, feels like a game from years before hand.
    Most users give hate due to the gameplay demo shown at E3 but the final product is a huge let down and verging on a con.
    The DLC saves the game if you like multiplayer but you have to buy them but    The game as-is is not too bad, worth playing for the fans but I can only recommend if on a cheap deal. AI is terrible and graphics should be better, feels like a game from years before hand.
    Most users give hate due to the gameplay demo shown at E3 but the final product is a huge let down and verging on a con.
    The DLC saves the game if you like multiplayer but you have to buy them but you shouldn't have to throw money at a bad game to make it playable.
    The later patches have improved it a lot but not saved it completely.    … Expand
  54. brump
    Sep 7, 2013
    3
    To give this game justice, if it is released in around 2004-05, it would have gotten a good grade, 7.5-8.5. But this is year 2013 and this game is simply a generation behind. The control is clunky, the firearms feels plastic in a way that doesn't convince you, and the way aliens dies/explodes don't seem to reflect how shots landed on them. Very unpolished in terms of atmospheric build-up.To give this game justice, if it is released in around 2004-05, it would have gotten a good grade, 7.5-8.5. But this is year 2013 and this game is simply a generation behind. The control is clunky, the firearms feels plastic in a way that doesn't convince you, and the way aliens dies/explodes don't seem to reflect how shots landed on them. Very unpolished in terms of atmospheric build-up. Overall it's a bland game in which you shoot weapons that doesn't really feel like weapons, at enemies that merely keep scrambling and charging at you with little AI to speak of.

    The gameplay and graphics are both one generation behind. You won't want to play Aliens colonial marines when you could have spent about the same amount of money on other top-of-the-line shooters like Dead Space 3 or Crysis 3.    … Expand
  55. DarkWolf1991
    Aug 31, 2013
    3
    Easily one of the most disappointing games of 2013, I am a huge fans of Aliens and I couldn't wait to play this game when it got announced many years ago. When I played this game I was greeted with terrible graphics, boring gameplay, horrible A.I and boring story. I just can't believe that FOX has approved this and made it canon to the film! What a joke.

    On the bright side, The    Easily one of the most disappointing games of 2013, I am a huge fans of Aliens and I couldn't wait to play this game when it got announced many years ago. When I played this game I was greeted with terrible graphics, boring gameplay, horrible A.I and boring story. I just can't believe that FOX has approved this and made it canon to the film! What a joke.

    On the bright side, The multi-player was fun while it lasted, Shame really as Gearbox seemed to care more about the online gameplay than the actual campaign.

    If you REALLY want to play this... Well you know what to do.    … Expand
  56. tw1stedreviews
    Oct 30, 2013
    3
    I got this game on launch and their was colossal amounts of glitches. for a game centered around co-op their were so many connection issues that i ended up doing the campaign alone. The graphics looked nice i guess the aliens were detailed but everything else was so awful. They should of researched the films a lot more in order to get the atmosphere right. Don't even get me started on theI got this game on launch and their was colossal amounts of glitches. for a game centered around co-op their were so many connection issues that i ended up doing the campaign alone. The graphics looked nice i guess the aliens were detailed but everything else was so awful. They should of researched the films a lot more in order to get the atmosphere right. Don't even get me started on the fact that there were human enemies beside aliens. Massive let down for a game that had so much potential.… Expand
  57. korphser
    Nov 20, 2013
    3
    Things I liked a lot...the weapon improvement system, the concept of the game is awesome, BUT it lacks of a 'strong materia' there isnt challenge in the game is weak, is empty...the stuff is cool, I enjoyed pump alliens with the shotgun, but you can ran like a ramboo, and kill lot of the enemies..thats not cool, even I play on veteran..Dont get me wrong, dev guys got the concept, but itThings I liked a lot...the weapon improvement system, the concept of the game is awesome, BUT it lacks of a 'strong materia' there isnt challenge in the game is weak, is empty...the stuff is cool, I enjoyed pump alliens with the shotgun, but you can ran like a ramboo, and kill lot of the enemies..thats not cool, even I play on veteran..Dont get me wrong, dev guys got the concept, but it lacks on effort and work in its game.… Expand
  58. WayT101
    Jan 4, 2014
    3
    The only worthwhile part of this game is the online multiplayer which I can best describe as flawed but fun, however the issues including the fact that the games are only 5 V 5 at most will bore most people quickly. I have had a lot of fun playing it but I can't really recommend it, I mainly like it because Marines versus Aliens is very different from other games I usually play online suchThe only worthwhile part of this game is the online multiplayer which I can best describe as flawed but fun, however the issues including the fact that the games are only 5 V 5 at most will bore most people quickly. I have had a lot of fun playing it but I can't really recommend it, I mainly like it because Marines versus Aliens is very different from other games I usually play online such as Halo 4, Gears of War 3 and Battlefield 3.
    The single-player campaign is worthless and if you are an Aliens franchise fan and were hoping to see a true sequel to Aliens you will only be disappointed and probably pissed off.
    This game was clearly falsely advertised.    … Expand
  59. DrugsMeazureTim
    Mar 29, 2015
    3
    i did see this coming when this game released. due to development hell. and second time coming from gearbox.

    the graphics are just ugly, not awful. ugly, and really not what you seen in the demo. repetitive,generic,not scary. boss battles = too **** easy. many of glitches worst AI i've ever seen in 6 months since survival instinct. the first level was good, the rest, NOPE voice    i did see this coming when this game released. due to development hell. and second time coming from gearbox.

    the graphics are just ugly, not awful. ugly, and really not what you seen in the demo.
    repetitive,generic,not scary.
    boss battles = too **** easy.
    many of glitches
    worst AI i've ever seen in 6 months since survival instinct.
    the first level was good, the rest, NOPE

    voice acting is good, the main weapon sound like my ass.    … Expand
  60. zimmer600
    Aug 18, 2017
    3
    Virtual journey to the places of military glory Ellen Ripley, rather than a full-fledged action movie in the famous dark universe. Be sure to review the "Aliens" before you sit down for the game. Perhaps, at least so you will be interested in playing it.
  61. sgthombre
    Sep 26, 2016
    3
    I'm just writing at least 150 characters because I wanted to save this review in a more convenient way to look back at scores that I had given stuff as a user.
  62. Demon2017
    Jun 18, 2022
    3
    Очень скучная игра, которая стала жертвой собственной рекламной компании. Абсолютный проходняк.
  63. Masterhummel
    Feb 12, 2013
    2
    Campaign: Not worth to mention: Broken AI. Story is illogical garbge. It's running in circles and shoot aliens. Let's move to the Multiplayer:

    Matchmaking: No dedicated Servers. "Host leaved the game" every few minutes. Not much more to say Feeling: (Alien) Switching to the third person view may be a good descision for making gameplay more smooth, but the lack of proper animations    Campaign: Not worth to mention: Broken AI. Story is illogical garbge. It's running in circles and shoot aliens. Let's move to the Multiplayer:

    Matchmaking:
    No dedicated Servers. "Host leaved the game" every few minutes. Not much more to say

    Feeling: (Alien)
    Switching to the third person view may be a good descision for making gameplay more smooth, but the lack of proper animations and the fact that the alien moves like your put a stick up his and now pulling some strings absolutly ruins it. Feeling: (Marine)
    It's ok. I'm missing some kind of distant radio. I had a guy with his micro not muted and i could hear the dampened gunfire while catching up with the group. It was actually pretty cool. Otherwise the game lacks a proper envoirement sound set. If you spawn after death somewhere you can't hear nothing. It's so peaceful, you may settle down and have a picnic with a nearby spitter. Also the guns feel somehow cheap, like made out of lego bricks. To be honest all the models feel like i bought a 14,99 Indie game.

    Maps:
    The maps i played so far are uther rubbish. Sorry envoirement artist and level designers, but did you play your maps once? There's no tatic. It's just "find the best spot to sit on" and stay there and shooting the aliens coming from two directions. Forget vents, they're placed almost randomly without strategic purpose.

    Season Pass:
    You expect me to pay 30 bucks for you to maybe fix this, really?

    There are some things cool about this game but it doesnt compensate the games overall cheap feeling and bad, bad, bad, BAD map design. Just my personal opinion on this.    … Expand
  64. Andrew_Paterson
    Feb 13, 2013
    2
    This game is not fundamentally broken (with the possible exception of the AI) but it doesn't feel like it's a finished product either. It doesn't capture the feel of the Aliens movie, it looks dated and it's short and not very interesting. In no way does it live up to the marketing and hype around it.
  65. Zen-Zinxe
    Mar 28, 2013
    2
    I'm giving this a 2 because I actually got enjoyment out of it. But as far as games go I feel like I wasted my 50$. This game will likely be 5$ on a steam sale in a year for sure. I got sucked in as a die hard aliens fan. Before this game even got released I had a feeling it was going to be bad. Not because of something we were shown, but because of what we WEREN'T shown. A day beforeI'm giving this a 2 because I actually got enjoyment out of it. But as far as games go I feel like I wasted my 50$. This game will likely be 5$ on a steam sale in a year for sure. I got sucked in as a die hard aliens fan. Before this game even got released I had a feeling it was going to be bad. Not because of something we were shown, but because of what we WEREN'T shown. A day before release and I'm sitting there paying for the preorder through steam, thinking to myself "isn't it odd that there isn't a single actual gameplay video for this game? No teaser no nothing that is relevant to the release candidate?". Well I learned my lesson we can say that. I am not going to sum up everything I thought was wrong about this game, but I think I was one of the few that actually didn't mind the graphics. The worst part was the gameplay itself. It's an aliens game that is actually more difficult during the parts where you fight humans. Which happens roughly 50-60% of the game, or at least feels like it because it's harder. There are WAY too WY soldiers to fight in this game. The aliens in this game are laughably bad at what they do, so much so that it's not even scary to fight the aliens, not even difficult to say the least. They either run straight at you, or are a "spitter" alien (dreamt up by someone who theorized it would make a good game element in multiplayer probably) with a glowing head that you can see from a mile away. The multiplayer while it is somewhat fun, is basically just a back and forth with aliens and marines in a small call of duty arena style battle. Good luck getting into any other game modes beyond team deathmatch because everyone has already moved on from the game. If this game ended up going the multiplayer route of natural selection 2, this game could have actually been awesome. Even if all the other gaping flaws still existed, the natural selection 2 multiplayer model with an aliens theme would have been so so sick.

    The worst part about this game is without a doubt the alien melee "pistol" finishers. I have never seen such a waste of animation in my entire goddamn life. Let me put it this way. In an aliens game, if you put your entire hand and pistol in an aliens mouth (and alien with molecular acid blood) and pull the trigger, you better be either pulling a half melted pistol out of it's mouth or be screaming while the bones fall off your hand for me to even START believing the character just did that. But no, your character will jam his pistol and hand into the aliens mouth, pull the trigger, and pull it out completely unscathed. I'm SHOCKED I haven't seen more complains about this, because this is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. The lack of realistic consequences in this game absolutely kills any potential of fear.    … Expand
  66. Sickocrow
    May 3, 2013
    2
    I bought the game before the massive 'upgrade' patch if you want to call it that. The graphics were okay, but the AI was very dumb. Aliens would hit you once then run away around a corner and stare at a wall it was that bad. However.......changing the AI so that every single alien on the screen runs straight at you AND only you regardless of how many other marines are standingI bought the game before the massive 'upgrade' patch if you want to call it that. The graphics were okay, but the AI was very dumb. Aliens would hit you once then run away around a corner and stare at a wall it was that bad. However.......changing the AI so that every single alien on the screen runs straight at you AND only you regardless of how many other marines are standing around is even dumber. Plus those said marines still have dumb AI that don't actually help you at all. Then you get up to the first human rivals and they have an uncanny ability to throw grenades directly at you and frequently, all the while ignoring the rest of your marine teams which still stand around scratching their balls. The game is a poor failure.… Expand
  67. DFBHDTS
    Feb 14, 2013
    2
    Can't believe the quality of this game. I played it for a few hours and I couldn't believe the bugs (no pun intended) littered everywhere. After realising how bad it is I found out that the Alpha gameplay demo is in fact a far superior version to the actual game. It actually looks like a different game. I have been scammed out of my money along with many many other supporters of this game.Can't believe the quality of this game. I played it for a few hours and I couldn't believe the bugs (no pun intended) littered everywhere. After realising how bad it is I found out that the Alpha gameplay demo is in fact a far superior version to the actual game. It actually looks like a different game. I have been scammed out of my money along with many many other supporters of this game. I loved Borderlands 1 2 and I had absolute faith that Gearbox could deliver. But this just isn't the case. If there is a game to avoid this year, then Aliens: Colonial Marines is the top contender. I wouldn't even get this out of the bargain bin, and if you are a big ALIENS fan. Then I would stay a nuclear bomb radius away from this game.… Expand
  68. slartibartfas
    Feb 13, 2013
    2
    Seriously Gearbox? After the excellent Borderlands 2 I thought, it can't be wrong to pre-order another game produced by Gearbox. I was proven wrong. One thing I have learned for sure after this game release disaster: I will NEVER NEVER NEVER ever pre-order a game anymore!
  69. Kyrandos
    Feb 16, 2013
    2
    The game is crap.
    - Kicking in steel doors, diving through the of a marine dropship that an Alien Queen cant even get through
    - Aliens that either rush right at you or stand motionless - Aliens that rush up to you, strike once, then idle - Weyland Yutani mercenaries by the boatload. Seriously, forget the Aliens. This game is about killing people. - Acid Blood doesn't hurt - Unless    The game is crap.
    - Kicking in steel doors, diving through the of a marine dropship that an Alien Queen cant even get through
    - Aliens that either rush right at you or stand motionless
    - Aliens that rush up to you, strike once, then idle
    - Weyland Yutani mercenaries by the boatload. Seriously, forget the Aliens. This game is about killing people.
    - Acid Blood doesn't hurt
    - Unless it's specifically chosen as a weapon, in which case it mystically hurts
    - Remember the first sign Alien 4: Resurrection would suck? The alien in a glass cage that lets you see every orifice? This game does it too! WITH EVERY VARIANT, including the ones not yet seen.
    - Xeno variants that couldn't have possibly been bred. What? Why are they spitting acid? How did a facehugger impregnate a rhinoceros?!
    - Graphics suck, unlike the graphics they sold preorders on.
    - Duke Nukem Forever made an Aliens game worse. I mean are you for ****ing real?
    - Fire extinguishers react to your fire. By disappearing.
    - a chestburster farm in a lab... with 0 containment for the chestbursters. What do you do with xeno infested humans? Mercy kill. Nope, not these ones. They're made of iron.
    - Every single ongoing Weyland experiment fails catastrophically as soon as you look at it.
    - Oh a captive queen. How quaint. Oh look, she suddenly figured out how to break free. She's smashing the glass to get at me! Uh oh, she broke through the glass! Phew, she gave up.
    - Aliens for the most part cannot transition surfaces while climbing. No clue why. If you want to get onto the ceiling, you need an app for that. Oh sorry, I meant a 'perk'.
    - controls randomly invert when climbing as an alien. Yes, ALL of them. Because wall movement wasn't hard enough.
    - Xeno pounces have a wonderful 5% chance of failing, leaving your lurker pinning down a marine until either the match ends or another player comes along and either kills you or steals your kill.
    - Claymore mines can be dropped instantly, and while in the midst of another animation. Lurker just pinned you and about to chew off your face? No problem. RETROACTIVE CLAYMORE!
    - You can also sit on your claymores, because strangely they just don't hurt humies.
    - Challenge order. Bizarre. Three challenge types, one of each on offer at any given time. Usually the hardest ones straight at the beginning.
    - There's a mission where PMC's and Weyland techs run from your team despite superior numbers. They escape through doors in the side of the ship. Looking out a window you notice they are doors directly to space.
    - Super weapon backpack. You have access to something like 16 weapons and 4 tacticals and thousands of rounds plus secondary rounds on you at all times. D&D did it first!
    - There are 9 multiplayer maps split between 4 game modes. On many of the maps, you could smell an opponents fart on the opposite end.
    - Mapping orbs! "Look, we can Prometheus, too!" exclaims Randy Prichford with a piggish squeal. "ugh" exclaims you, whose quite sick of the half-assed 'nods' without any obvious love for the material.
    - PRE RENDERED cut scenes! WOW! Why did developers stop doing this? I mean, the gamer was never immersed in the first place so you don't have to worry about that jarring transition, the 12 frames per second of the video is TOTALLY unnoticeable if you pack in enough ACTION!!!, and frankly, We miss running a server-farm for weeks to render this junk.

    Ok. I'm out of obvious things. You guys take it from here.    … Expand
  70. chuckyboy12001
    Feb 12, 2013
    2
    The campaign doesn't have the most cinematic quality nor does it's story seem genuinely riveting. It suffers from poor facial animations and has some low rez graphics but it is still a lovingly crafted Aliens game which is telling in it's set design, accurate to the movies and it's enemy AI and animation. NPCs are underdeveloped but this still has some of the best Alien animation, AI andThe campaign doesn't have the most cinematic quality nor does it's story seem genuinely riveting. It suffers from poor facial animations and has some low rez graphics but it is still a lovingly crafted Aliens game which is telling in it's set design, accurate to the movies and it's enemy AI and animation. NPCs are underdeveloped but this still has some of the best Alien animation, AI and avatars I've seen in any official game from the franchise. The bravado of the marines may seem distasteful or unrelated to the franchise at first but for real die-hard fans of the movie it's quite humorous and almost self-referential. The guns in this game are well crafted, compared to previous AVP outings, and feature the original sounds as well as a ton of customization.

    The multiplayer looks promising, being based on asymmetrical games Like L4D and allows you the opportunity to play as a Xeno in 3rd person.    … Expand
  71. JEK
    Mar 18, 2013
    2
    I was waiting for this game since last year. I was hoping that this game will be good because there are lots of alien games to be release this year (crysis 3, dead space). I was really disappointed and was hoping a lot more from this franchise.
  72. dkaizer
    Feb 15, 2013
    2
    1) Atrocious AI; especially the aliens. They just make a beeline for you.
    2) Dated graphics; unlike what was seen in the demos.
    3) First level was great with a great atmosphere and build up. It stops there, at the first level.
    4) "EPIC" boss battle.
    5) This is related to the second point; there's absolutely no sense of dread or "feel". Flip switch, run and gun, flip switch, run and gun.
  73. Jacer200
    Jun 18, 2015
    2
    This is an awful game. Do not waste your time. This game is not worth your hard earned money. This was a money grab. Visuals 3/5, Mechanics 2/5, Story 1/5, Audio 2/5
  74. superleam99
    Feb 15, 2013
    2
    The absolute worst game of 2013 so far. The single player is 5 HOURS, FIVE MO******CKING HOURS AND IT IS BORING, REPETITIVE AND PREDICTABLE. The characters are forgettable. The story is forgettable. The AI is they stop and wait for you and forgets that there is Xenomorphs around. And my biggest complain is that you fight Weyland-Yutani soldiers INSTEAD OF XENOMORPHS WHY THE HELL WOULDThe absolute worst game of 2013 so far. The single player is 5 HOURS, FIVE MO******CKING HOURS AND IT IS BORING, REPETITIVE AND PREDICTABLE. The characters are forgettable. The story is forgettable. The AI is they stop and wait for you and forgets that there is Xenomorphs around. And my biggest complain is that you fight Weyland-Yutani soldiers INSTEAD OF XENOMORPHS WHY THE HELL WOULD THEY DO THAT!? THIS IS AN ALIENS GAME! Ok so the story is you are a guy named Winter and you are on a spaceship when it gets attacked by xenomorphs then you find out that guess who is behind it? That is right Weyland-Yutani then the spaceship crashes on the planet then find Hadley's Hope after that the story is BULL****!… Expand
  75. Keltik0ne
    Feb 18, 2013
    2
    Not wanting to discuss plot for spoiler reasons, I'll stick to mentioning awful AI, poor level design, baffling plot choices (single player), horrific balance (multiplayer, spitters ftw) and some of the worst scripting and voice acting I've heard, ever.
    The game isn't worth your time, Gearbox should be ashamed.
  76. idohaker
    Mar 29, 2013
    2
    what is this aliens:colonial marines or human:colonial marines.i loved the first level and i thought why people hate this game so much,now i understand.aliens colonial mariens is a terrible game in the first level the graphics are good after the first level has became one of the worst game i have ever played the desing is horrible the fact that this game called aliens:colonial mariens andwhat is this aliens:colonial marines or human:colonial marines.i loved the first level and i thought why people hate this game so much,now i understand.aliens colonial mariens is a terrible game in the first level the graphics are good after the first level has became one of the worst game i have ever played the desing is horrible the fact that this game called aliens:colonial mariens and you are fighting humans more than half of the game or that the game ending is just horrible and easy or that the game is 7 hours on ultimate bad ass the only thing that lets me give this game a 2/10 instead a zero is the multiplayer its quite fun but its doesnt help this game to be good.aliens colonial marines=one of the top 10 worst game on angry joe list and also my list… Expand
  77. mewshiny
    Feb 14, 2013
    2
    I am very disappointed. The demo looked so good with all the effects and graphics and the final game looks like a bad joke. The KI is horrible, the game is very linear and the Aliens are not scary they are just canon fodder. The game has 11 level. From this 11 level there are 3 or 4 level which repeat, so you play them and later you have to play them again, just in another mission. LastI am very disappointed. The demo looked so good with all the effects and graphics and the final game looks like a bad joke. The KI is horrible, the game is very linear and the Aliens are not scary they are just canon fodder. The game has 11 level. From this 11 level there are 3 or 4 level which repeat, so you play them and later you have to play them again, just in another mission. Last there is the horrible end. This game is a huge disappointment and you shouldn't even think to buy it.… Expand
  78. zombieapocalyps
    Mar 6, 2013
    2
    I was one of the fools who pre-ordered this. When I saw the reviews on its release day, I wasn’t expecting a great game but it was worse than I imagined. Graphics from 5 years ago and gameplay from 10 years. It’s not scary, it lacks atmosphere, the weapons feel weak, the AI is atrocious, the NPCs constantly glitch and the animations of the aliens are so laughably bad at times it breaks anyI was one of the fools who pre-ordered this. When I saw the reviews on its release day, I wasn’t expecting a great game but it was worse than I imagined. Graphics from 5 years ago and gameplay from 10 years. It’s not scary, it lacks atmosphere, the weapons feel weak, the AI is atrocious, the NPCs constantly glitch and the animations of the aliens are so laughably bad at times it breaks any possible immersion into the game’s world. And why am I spending more of the game shooting men than HR Geiger’s monsters? I didn’t buy a game set in the Aliens universe to shoot at other marines. The multiplayer isn’t much better. I was hoping that it would be like a cross between Valve’s Alien Swarm and Tripwire’s Killing Floor, both tactical co-op shooters that employ strategy, different player classes, a varied range of weapons and equipment, and which require planning and strong co-operation and co-ordination between players (at least on the harder difficult settings). Instead it’s a poor imitation of the versus mode from the far superior Left 4 Dead. The maps are badly designed, the game mechanics are poor, the controls are clumsy, and there are no player classes and a very limited range of weapons. If you want to play a co-operative game set in an Aliens-like universe then I strongly recommend Alien Swarm, which is a 100% free game available on Steam.

    The game feels unfinished and from what I’ve read about its disastrous six-year development it sounds like it was a rush job done in nine months in order to get rid of the project and appease publisher Sega. It’s hard to believe this is the same developer (ie Gearbox) that brought us the excellent Borderland games.    … Expand
  79. Kauffy
    Feb 20, 2013
    2
    A major motion-picture-based shooter-on-rails? What could possibly go horribly, disappointingly, you-lied-to-me-wrong? Everything! I guess it makes sense why Randy Pitchford's voiceover in the teaser trailers (showing things that are nowhere near the final game) sounds like one of those pseudo-rapist characters from the websites where girls show up for a calendar shoot and are tricked intoA major motion-picture-based shooter-on-rails? What could possibly go horribly, disappointingly, you-lied-to-me-wrong? Everything! I guess it makes sense why Randy Pitchford's voiceover in the teaser trailers (showing things that are nowhere near the final game) sounds like one of those pseudo-rapist characters from the websites where girls show up for a calendar shoot and are tricked into doing porn.… Expand
  80. GaiusBaltar
    Feb 13, 2013
    2
    Crap game. Bought the hype that Gearbox would actually make a good game out of a much beloved franchise. AI is you can actually run through the whole game without fighting or taking on an alien. Check on youtube for the video for proof. This is a joke game. Not worth $60.00..save your money.
  81. Zarrick1
    Feb 13, 2013
    2
    It's sad but I think the sounds were the only thing i enjoyed about the whole game. The Aliens were difficult to track if you lost them especially the face huggers. 80's iconic symbols always seem to get ruined when created now, so sad so much more potential tech wise and I feel like I wasted $67 dollars
  82. WhiteReaper
    Feb 16, 2013
    2
    Coming from an Alien/Predator fan, this game is a complete disappointment. I waited 5 years for a game that makes DNF look like a masterpiece. I had to REALLY force myself to finish the campaign. What makes this game so bad, you ask?

    1- The AI. That damn AI...the worst I have EVER seen. Enemies can't do anything but run straight at you, your comrades will shoot walls in an (obviously    Coming from an Alien/Predator fan, this game is a complete disappointment. I waited 5 years for a game that makes DNF look like a masterpiece. I had to REALLY force myself to finish the campaign. What makes this game so bad, you ask?

    1- The AI. That damn AI...the worst I have EVER seen. Enemies can't do anything but run straight at you, your comrades will shoot walls in an (obviously futile) attempt to hit an enemy: they can't "see" the obstacle! Of course they will shoot through you as well. Sometimes enemies stand still in the middle of a room. Even at the highest difficulty the bad guys are just too stupid and that results in the game being extremely easy.
    2- The plot makes no sense, the character's reactions are completely off and you're left wondering whether the authors behind this were 5 years old fans. It's that stupid. Oh, the ending makes you want to punch in the face whoever wrote this garbage.
    3- No atmosphere. I remember the old AVP1/AVP2. Those games were terrifying when playing the Marine campaign. In Colonial Marines you feel nothing...well sometimes you get angry over how stupid everything is. It's that boring.

    These are just the three main issues with the game, but there's a lot more, for example the bad animations and the mediocre (at best) graphics but that's not really something I look at when judging a videogame. There are a few good things, though, like the guns (they sound really nice), one of the levels (although it doesn't last long) and the MP, which isn't horrible.

    Overall, this game is extremely bad, and may very well be the worst game I have ever played. If you're thinking "I'll try it anyway because I'm a fan of the Alien Saga" then listen to me and DON'T do it. You'll be even more disappointed.    … Expand
  83. EchoBlack
    Feb 16, 2013
    2
    One of the weakest shooters in recent memory. I have a hard time thinking of anything good to say about this game. In spite of how archaic the visuals are (easily below offerings that are nearly a decade old, such as Doom 3, Far Cry and Half-Life 2 to name a few), graphics are far from the biggest problem with this game. Anemic, popgun-like shooting, bland levels, lack of challenge and aOne of the weakest shooters in recent memory. I have a hard time thinking of anything good to say about this game. In spite of how archaic the visuals are (easily below offerings that are nearly a decade old, such as Doom 3, Far Cry and Half-Life 2 to name a few), graphics are far from the biggest problem with this game. Anemic, popgun-like shooting, bland levels, lack of challenge and a plethora of bugs are far more pressing concerns. I would not recommend this title, not even to hardcore fans of the Aliens franchise. There's nothing to see here, even as pure fanservice it falls flat. It's not worth enduring Colonial Marines' below average gameplay to experience this "canon" continuation of the series, as you'll probably also end up disappointed by the retcons and sophomoric writing.

    Strong candidate for worst game of 2013 and we're only in February.    … Expand
  84. ITDude289
    Feb 18, 2013
    2
    After years of anticipated waiting I was totally let down and should have burned my 50 dollars that would have provided me more enjoyment and entertainment for my dollar.
    This game is chock full of bugs, clipping issues, and stuck enemies. Voice cues will trigger after you’ve already cleared a room. It’s so bad that I was instructed to “cover the right flank” when there was nothing but a    After years of anticipated waiting I was totally let down and should have burned my 50 dollars that would have provided me more enjoyment and entertainment for my dollar.
    This game is chock full of bugs, clipping issues, and stuck enemies. Voice cues will trigger after you’ve already cleared a room. It’s so bad that I was instructed to “cover the right flank” when there was nothing but a wall to my right. In larger arena-style areas, it isn’t uncommon to wonder why nothing else is happening, only to find a bad guy inanimately stuck next to a box just waiting to be killed.
    At least your sonar-style motion tracker will be useful in finding those stuck guys because it’s pointless otherwise. You’ll use it before opening a door, not see anything of concern, then enter and get attacked anyway. But it doesn’t really matter because the xenomorphs are fragile idiots. Their AI is on par with the standard Infected from Left 4 Dead, but now they get to climb on walls. Xenomorphs conveniently ignore any squadmates nearby and come right at you. Sometimes they’ll crawl on the ground, but most of the time I was shooting at awkward geriatric people that should be in nursing homes with walkers.    … Expand
  85. SergioEngles86
    Feb 20, 2013
    2
    This has to be one of the worst games ever released for PC. The most honest and true review I found for this game can be found here at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/12/wot-i-think-aliens-colonial-marines-single-player/ Please do not waste your money, time or effort with this game. The AI is so terrible that the enemies/aliens will run away from you or will stand still and let youThis has to be one of the worst games ever released for PC. The most honest and true review I found for this game can be found here at http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/02/12/wot-i-think-aliens-colonial-marines-single-player/ Please do not waste your money, time or effort with this game. The AI is so terrible that the enemies/aliens will run away from you or will stand still and let you shoot them. You take more damage from enemy humans with guns than you do aliens. The level design is horrible, all you are allowed to do is open doors and hit checkpoints. You can literally play this game on the hardest settings and run from checkpoint to checkpoint barely killing anything. This does not feel anything like ALIENS.

    The graphics are circa 2005 and use Direct X 9, that's right... the game is very bright, and does not convey any sense of visual moodiness to it, at no point is there anything to shock or awe over as far as eye candy goes.

    Factor in that there are terrible bugs found throughout the game, no dedicated servers for a bare bones multiplayer mode and you can easily tell hands down that this is probably going to win WORST GAME OF THE YEAR 2013. But hey dont take my word for it, Youtube a few videos for yourself and see the vast majority of other critics reviews. A lot of good people got fleeced when they bought this game, dont be one of them.    … Expand
  86. DearthVader
    Feb 19, 2013
    2
    DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. It's the worst game in terms of gameplay that I've played in the last several years. If you're going to buy this game, wait a few months for it to plummet in price. I'm sure Valve will be selling it for pennies on the dollar soon enough. I've waited for this game for years, preordered based on the demos, and was really looking forward to it. What was released wasDO NOT BUY THIS GAME. It's the worst game in terms of gameplay that I've played in the last several years. If you're going to buy this game, wait a few months for it to plummet in price. I'm sure Valve will be selling it for pennies on the dollar soon enough. I've waited for this game for years, preordered based on the demos, and was really looking forward to it. What was released was a subpar shooter, with below average graphics and terrible netcode. The horror aspect? It really struck me as I realized my friends and I had spend $150 on this game.

    I am so irritated about the 3 hours of gameplay in this game and the awful multiplayer that I'm not going to be buying either Gearbox or Sony for a while.    … Expand
  87. Peaver666
    Feb 20, 2013
    2
    Everything has already been said, but i wanted to add my vote onto the negative pile. For me the problem here is context. My group of friends buy and play a lot of games online as a way of keeping in touch. We often buy games we think arent 'great' e.g. Payday, i bought 4 passes for £12. We played it for a bit then moved on with the overall feeling "We had got great value for a fairlyEverything has already been said, but i wanted to add my vote onto the negative pile. For me the problem here is context. My group of friends buy and play a lot of games online as a way of keeping in touch. We often buy games we think arent 'great' e.g. Payday, i bought 4 passes for £12. We played it for a bit then moved on with the overall feeling "We had got great value for a fairly solid game". But, if you put a game into production for 6 years and leak demo's that are misleading. Then try and sell the half baked outcome for top coin when the game graphics/gameplay/AI and mechanics are no better than budget titles like Payday. It makes me mad. I doubt i will ever pre-order another game again. The only silver lining is that this game fails so greatly that there is still a gap in the market for a proper Aliens game.… Expand
  88. RipperCaine
    Feb 23, 2013
    2
    Gearbox blew it here. This game is terrible. I won't spend a lot of time wasted here describing the problems this piece of garbage has but suffice to say Operation Raccoon City is WAY better, Save your money.
  89. Mullokad
    Feb 24, 2013
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I made a account just to write the review, This is by far one of the biggest letdowns i have ever experianced, even bigger than the time you find out santa wasnt real. For those that think this is a worthy sequel to the movies are dead wrong, the story is so garbage, and even when you find out about a main character from the Aliens movie about how they got there he says and i quote "Well thats another story" a HUGE slap in the face for fans of the movie. The aliens dont feel like aliens, they run on the walls, jump off and jump right in front of your rifle making easy kills and turning them into cannon fodder, infact i found them to be so stupid i found fighting the mercs more harder, until you reach the spitters, In fact you keep fighting the mercs more than the aliens, WHICH IS NOT WHAT I WANT TO FIGHT IN A ALIENS GAME! There are some positives in the game, One particular mission called The Raven i found to be fun and scary. In this mission you have your guns taken away and must escape a Large xeno which you cannot kill in any means until you reach the end, during this you are chased deeper into the sewer where you find what became of hudson and just after that you find tons of husks of zenomorphs only to find out that some are still alive and very dangerous, you must move silently and quietly through the sewer as these zenos are blind but will explode if they find you. The new guns they have added fit right in the game as if they were always there, the sounds are all genuine and locations are movie accurate...however that does not spare it from the horrible AI from both the enemy and your Ally team mates, not to mention the horrible story which should have never left the planning room, i hate to say this but this feels like a bait and switch if you saw the 2011 demo link here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7xFSYsy0rk 7:50 minutes in is the best example, when you do get to what could be that point in the game it is nowhere near as epic as shown in the demo.

    The only real fun you can have is with the multiplayer, lots of customisation for both marines and xenos, not to mention grusome executions when playing as zeno. However even this is not worth the ammount of money they are asking. My only wish is that they will somehow be able to drag this out of the toliet and give this the love and attention that was shown in the 2011 demo....    … Expand
  90. Rothy
    Mar 6, 2013
    2
    My opinion Very poor. The graphics (which do not make a game good) are dire here with textures that seem to hark back to 2006 if not earlier. The campaign is nonsensical with terrible AI on both sides of the player and a plot line that seems to just make things up as it goes along and fail (although promises) to provide explanation. The NPCs, you just end up hating them, especially O'NielMy opinion Very poor. The graphics (which do not make a game good) are dire here with textures that seem to hark back to 2006 if not earlier. The campaign is nonsensical with terrible AI on both sides of the player and a plot line that seems to just make things up as it goes along and fail (although promises) to provide explanation. The NPCs, you just end up hating them, especially O'Niel who is meant to be "your guy". He either does nothing and just watches you battling moronic aliens or when he does shoot he seems to have forgotten his real smart gun and brought along his nerf version utterly pointless. As for the voice acting, lets just say it's bad. I need to go back to the AI again here because it's so poor, so bad, you have no feel at all of suspense or terror. The aliens are dumb (not that you'll end up fighting them much in this game). Instead of the creepy, could come from anywhere alien, they leap into the center of the room and then barrel roll at you allowing you plenty of time to blow them away. If they actually manage to get close enough to you to hit you, they hit you once and then leap away, allowing you to blow them away what's the point?

    The multiplayer as long as you're a marine you'll end up ok as the controls are easy and pretty much what you'd expect. As the alien you're completely screwed, the controls don't seem to work and nothing is fluid about it. When I try and wall climb my alien has a fit and I end up being shot for trying to play as an alien!!!

    Good points They've got the sound and music right, but was that really difficult?
    - It works. It has yet to crash on me to be fair and everything seems to work the way it was meant too.
    That's it.

    There was so much opportunity with this game to offer up something great, the breath new life in to the Aliens franchise, but it was squandered. What could have potentially been Gearbox's best game turned out to be something they don't even seem to want to comment on except blame other developers and Sega. I think I can speak for fans when I say I would have preferred another 6 year delay and a good game rather than this copy and paste COD shooter that contains all the horror and suspense of a jar of pickled eggs.    … Expand
  91. Killerfrost
    Mar 21, 2013
    2
    This is NOT a game! Because games are funny and pretty but this game is terrible. Please anyone not buy this game. Sorry Gearbox, not well, so terrible.I think "hah is this a game?"
  92. UltimateCD
    Mar 13, 2013
    2
    The marriage of a first-person shooter and the Alien franchise should be a perfect fit, especially from Gearbox, a team rooted in the genre. And yet, the pairing eludes a happy ending once again. Aliens: Colonial Marines isn't disappointing because it couldn't live up to lofty expectations, it's disappointing because it turned out to be such an unfettered disaster.
  93. Simmox
    Mar 24, 2013
    2
    save yourself the frustration and money and buy something else,having pre ordered this i was expecting a reasonable quality game,considering all the hype and pre release videos,needless to say,i was conned.
    utter garbage from a top shelf company.
    the best thing about this game was the sound of the pulse rifle. even with the patch,its hardly worth playing. Tombraider shows what a quality    save yourself the frustration and money and buy something else,having pre ordered this i was expecting a reasonable quality game,considering all the hype and pre release videos,needless to say,i was conned.
    utter garbage from a top shelf company.
    the best thing about this game was the sound of the pulse rifle.
    even with the patch,its hardly worth playing. Tombraider shows what a quality release should be,and this is just second rate at best.

    A:CM to be avoided like the plague    … Expand
  94. armouredwaffle
    Mar 24, 2013
    2
    Waste of money. DO NOT BUY. Has the story of a fan-fiction, repetitive boring gameplay, annoying bugs, worst A.I ever, and the multiplayer is pretty bad. Entertained me a bit, but not before that experience being ruined by a crappy bug or just getting bored.
  95. DRiVER_helsinki
    Dec 28, 2013
    2
    Colonial marines is example of the player saddening infection of heavy preordering of games makes the games less needy to be polished and well finished.
    The more you preorder, the more you get unfinished games ,
    ruined with business.
    "hey guys finish this one fast, so we can sell another one already"
  96. keeling2008
    Apr 30, 2013
    2
    Was this one big joke to Gearbox? It certainly comes across that way to me and to think that I have followed this game for more than 6 years; this release feels like a massive kick in the teeth...

    Well, I guess we all saw those Randy Pitchford videos where he was creaming in his pants talking rubbish about how he is a massive fan of the Aliens movie that James Cameron directed. Well    Was this one big joke to Gearbox? It certainly comes across that way to me and to think that I have followed this game for more than 6 years; this release feels like a massive kick in the teeth...

    Well, I guess we all saw those Randy Pitchford videos where he was creaming in his pants talking rubbish about how he is a massive fan of the Aliens movie that James Cameron directed. Well Pitchford, you should be ashamed of yourself as this game is awful! If you loved the franchise that much, why is this game so S**T? Why did you not endeavour to make this the best Alien game available? All these questions will never get answered and really, we all should have known better because he talked up Duke Nukem Forever as if that was going to be some kind of genre defining game which also turned out to be S**T!

    Anyways, what we have here is a first person shooter set after the events of Aliens. The game follows a team sent to find out what has happened to the Sulaco and of course, what happened on the planet LV-426 (although that is not the same location the game goes too, it's LV-244). The game looks like Aliens if you ignore the poor graphics, awful animations and clippings, and the vast amount of bugs. It's funny but the E3 demo that Pitchford again was showing off with such Glee looks nothing like the product I have purchased??? False advertising most definitely as the released version looks 6 years out of date whereas the E3 demo was full of lovely shadows and lighting and had a much crisper visual and colour palette set (looked like advanced current gen).

    Gameplay wise, the story is a complete mess. It's hopelessly derived and should have been handled with much more care... where's the love Pitchford??? The guns sound great but feel underpowered. Locations feel samey with textures that are low resolution and adding to this is the minimal physics used on objects within these rubbish environments, the actual feeling of interaction is ZERO. It's just not that great to look at and my god it’s even worse to play.

    Enemy A.I consists of over erratic cover seeking morons that pop up and downs three times whilst shooting, then move to a different location, repeat the same process; and then move back to the previous location until you put their idiotic path finding body fodder down. Aliens sometimes move authentically but this immersion is broken once they glitch into a wall or turn 90 or 180 degrees in one motion... Its school boy error stuff and the question of this game getting through quality control is a bitter pill to swallow.

    It is hard to pick out redeeming moments from this game to be honest. It is not worth the time or money and unless you are a person that isn’t overly critical when it comes to games, you will have a tough time playing through to the end. With A.I that has the simplest of path finding code, aliens that act like drunks rather than predators seeking out their prey and a story line that is so redundant, you don’t really care; it’s hard to actually want to keep playing this game. The hardest part of the whole process of playing then reviewing a game based on my favourite movie of all time was the fact that I didn’t really have high expectations for it. I didn’t want a 10/10 game… I just wanted to feel like a bad ass playing in the boots of a Marine. Feel the feedback of the Pulse rifle when I offloaded a clip into a dangerous xenomorph. I wanted to seal doors with my hand held welder (you do this but it’s irrelevant and has no impact on the games mechanics) and lock down an area as if it’s a ‘last stand moment’… Using the motion tracker is pointless and is not even needed in game, yet they have included it… WHY? SO IT LOOKS LIKE AN ALIENS GAME!!! Pitchford you’re a fool and so is your team! This franchise has so much quality material you couldn’t go wrong yet you have churned out this disaster! If the game was not very good, why lead everyone down the garden path with the hype videos and e3 demo showing the quality that would never feature in the final product shipped? They should have just cancelled it or gone back to the drawing board…

    This game is not recommended 2/10    … Expand
  97. GenericGamer286
    Jul 7, 2013
    2
    No comment. Oh, wait. So review has to contain at least 150 characters. Well, then: No comment, No comment, No comment, No comment, No comment, No comment,...
  98. SupaScoops
    Jul 22, 2013
    2
    This game seems really unpolished when it comes to mechanics. The aliens are derpy and often turn around and jump over crates when completely unnecessary, but when they get to you they pack an annoyingly powerful punch. if something is fast it should not be strong, two or three hits later and you're nearly dead. the aliens clip through the ground, glitch out so they're behind you, and areThis game seems really unpolished when it comes to mechanics. The aliens are derpy and often turn around and jump over crates when completely unnecessary, but when they get to you they pack an annoyingly powerful punch. if something is fast it should not be strong, two or three hits later and you're nearly dead. the aliens clip through the ground, glitch out so they're behind you, and are far too challenging to be fun. but the aliens aren't the worst part, oh no, its the other marines that are the problem. their AI sucks, they do way to much damage, they can blind-fire, and if you try to take cover, they run up behind you and shoot you from behind. but you wouldn't know they where coming because you cant see over cover. seriously, the only way to shoot enemies is to stand up and expose half your body. but they also find ways to shoot you through cover, if you're behind a covered handrail, they'll shoot at your feet. seriously though, this is one of the only games i couldn't play because of how bad it is. i'm really reluctant to go back to playing this.… Expand
  99. BleedBlack
    Aug 29, 2013
    2
    I had extremely low expectations going in for this game. After being patched and out for a while, I figured five bucks wasn't a big risk but it was a complete waste. The graphics are horrible, might be passable four or five years ago, but they're really bad and even the art style is bad. The gameplay is worse...The first alien I encountered sort of just sat there with his back turned to meI had extremely low expectations going in for this game. After being patched and out for a while, I figured five bucks wasn't a big risk but it was a complete waste. The graphics are horrible, might be passable four or five years ago, but they're really bad and even the art style is bad. The gameplay is worse...The first alien I encountered sort of just sat there with his back turned to me while I shot him dead. The AI really is awful, your teammates are pretty useless. Aliens swarm at you in massive numbers, die easily, and look they've been hit by paintballs as they lie dead. I love the Aliens setting and thought I would give it a chance, but I can't even bring myself to play it, it's simply not fun at all.… Expand
  100. lukechristiansc
    Nov 12, 2014
    2
    a lot of glitching in this game the Sega did a really terrible job making the great effects for this game , the aliens need to improve especially when they die it's not gore the characters are not using their brains really Brad Thompson !!!!!!!!!!!! do you take us gamers seriously call of duty ghost did not take us seriously now your a bad writer you have no taste or you never understanda lot of glitching in this game the Sega did a really terrible job making the great effects for this game , the aliens need to improve especially when they die it's not gore the characters are not using their brains really Brad Thompson !!!!!!!!!!!! do you take us gamers seriously call of duty ghost did not take us seriously now your a bad writer you have no taste or you never understand for classic movies like Ridley Scott's alien and James Cameron's Aliens. Grade C-… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

26
#26 Most Discussed PC Game of 2013
37
#37 Most Shared PC Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
45

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 40
  3. Negative: 23 out of 40
  1. PC Master (Greece)
    Jun 10, 2013
    60
    Judging by the result, Gearbox could not handle the tremendous success of Borderlands 2. On the other hand, there’s this erroneous notion that franchises can exploit their name and are justified to produce mediocre titles for ever. Those two facts were enough to condemn Aliens: Colonial Marines. While it’s true that the console version is even worse, the competition in the PC shooter genre, is relentless. [April 2013]
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 15, 2013
    68
    I dared to hope, but was given a game so dull and average, that is an actual achievement itself. [March 2013]
  3. Hyper Magazine
    Mar 12, 2013
    60
    Not as bad as the wost Aliens games, yet it's also not in the same league as the very best, leaving ACM to meandering in the space system of mediocrity. [Apr 2013, p.69]
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