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. 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.
  2. JDM_Graphics
    Feb 19, 2013
    7
    Though Aliens: Colonial Marines is getting a huge amount of bad reviews, it’s not an extremely bad game. Some of you may be thinking the whole point of the game was to kill a bunch of Xenomorphs and defeat the Queen, but it’s a little more than that. It may be lacking graphically, which sadly a lot of games are nowadays, and the story may be short, but it has some great points ofThough Aliens: Colonial Marines is getting a huge amount of bad reviews, it’s not an extremely bad game. Some of you may be thinking the whole point of the game was to kill a bunch of Xenomorphs and defeat the Queen, but it’s a little more than that. It may be lacking graphically, which sadly a lot of games are nowadays, and the story may be short, but it has some great points of nostalgia.

    Yes, you have the Xenomorphs and the queen and every other iconic creature from the Alien movies, such as Facehuggers, but Xenomorphs aren’t the only threat in this game. There is also the Weyland Utani, and actually, the Weyland Utani play a huge role in the game, as well as adding some variety to the gameplay so that you’re not just fighting through hordes of Xenos. Easter Eggs, like Hicks’ shotgun, are sprinkled throughout the campaign and add a great deal of nostalgia, which I found to be quite entertaining. Sadly though, the story seems to end abruptly and seems unfinished, and considering the game was delayed that’s horrifyingly surprising.

    The gameplay is fast paced, with occasional tasks taking a little longer than most, e.g. the dreaded “fetch quests”. AI are horribly programmed, with teammates blowing up explosive barrels every once in a while and setting you back to the last checkpoint, and checkpoints aren’t very abundant. Oh, and enemy AI can shoot through walls, which is super fun! (If you couldn’t tell, that was sarcasm.) Also, I played the game on Normal difficulty and the enemies proved to be semi-difficult at times, so I’d imagine they’re pretty hard on the highest difficulty. The multiplayer is also pretty fun, especially playing as the Xenos, they have some pretty cool abilities. You can also level up and customize your weapons and loadouts in multiplayer which allows for some variety. The multiplayer includes 4 modes: TDM, Extermination, Escape and Survivor which can be played on 9 maps.

    “They’re coming outta the goddamn walls.” Hudson

    The games models, textures and animations are way behind the times. The cinematics are about 5 years behind and don’t seem to sync up very well, nor do they transition smoothly. While the rest of the game pretty much looks like it should have come out in 2008, oh wait, that’s when they announced the delay the first time… Although, I’d say the lighting is quite nice, and with the brightness turned down it’s a little startling when you’re pounced on by an unexpected Xeno.

    Ahh, the sound effects, they’re awesome. The sound of the pulse rifle has got to be one of my favorite sound effects in any game and the Xeno hiss is up there with the Predator click as one of the scariest sounds of all time. The rest of the sounds though weren’t very memorable, there’s nothing really special about them. The dialog was a bit weak especially outside of the cutscenes. But I did find the stories that Audio Logs tell to be interesting, especially the one about Newt’s family.

    “They mostly come at night… mostly.” Newt

    This game has little to no replay value when it comes to campaign, but multiplayer can be played for a while. With tons of leveling and customizing to do, the multiplayer rivals that of current games, especially the garbage that is MW3.

    So, with a seemingly unfinished story, not so cutting-edge graphics by any means, and a laughably easy last mission it doesn’t have much of a chance. But, for a fan of the Alien franchise, this is one of the more authentic games out there. The multiplayer redeems the game itself by offering a Left 4 Dead-like experience, with Marines vs. Xenomorphs. And, the nostalgia was enough to make me buy the game. Overall, it was a fun game, but nothing amazing.

    Game over, man!    … Expand
  3. 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
  4. Vercon
    Feb 19, 2013
    0
    Pros: You get to shoot Aliens.
    (That's the only pro of the entire game)
    Cons: -Split screen is horizontal only -Co op doesn't allow 2nd person to save their own progress and character for those playing together at home. -Pathing is horrible for mobs AI team mates, they tend to get stuck -AI is poorly developed and doesn't offer challanges -Graphics were not as advertised and seem    Pros: You get to shoot Aliens.
    (That's the only pro of the entire game)

    Cons:
    -Split screen is horizontal only
    -Co op doesn't allow 2nd person to save their own progress and character for those playing together at home.
    -Pathing is horrible for mobs AI team mates, they tend to get stuck
    -AI is poorly developed and doesn't offer challanges
    -Graphics were not as advertised and seem very dated like 6+ years -System was supposed to be built off "experience" idea. However Experience upgrades are limited and not very imaginative. You get a shot gun, now you have a shotgun with a scope...
    -mobs are cookie cutter and even human opponents tend to all look the same.
    -The tracker pinging for aliens when you aren't looking at it isn't very realistic. Being surprised would be nice, isn't that what all of the movies are about?
    -A map would come in handy.
    -Game is dark and turning up brightness doesn't help at all.

    Don't buy this game, and be wary of pre ordering Gearbox games going forward.    … Expand
  5. escalation666
    Feb 19, 2013
    10
    An enjoyable game for fans of the earlier Alien movies (especially the 2nd one), and while graphics are not groundbreaking they are still good enough to give you that creepy feeling of being on LV-426, except for maybe a few textures here and there that could use some polishing, I am a little disappointed that they didn't use DX11 but I can live with that. I've played about 15 hours of theAn enjoyable game for fans of the earlier Alien movies (especially the 2nd one), and while graphics are not groundbreaking they are still good enough to give you that creepy feeling of being on LV-426, except for maybe a few textures here and there that could use some polishing, I am a little disappointed that they didn't use DX11 but I can live with that. I've played about 15 hours of the game and still haven't experienced any crash or freeze up, sometimes there can be a little lag when going through a door opening into another room but that is minor stuff that easily can be patched. While the single player part is enjoyable I have to say that the most fun in this game is without a doubt the co-op campaign. People complain a lot about the AI and sure they are no Einsteins but I have seen far worse in other games, and also I'm sure they can be patched to perform better as well… Expand
  6. Deeperlook
    Feb 19, 2013
    1
    It is official, Gearbox has taken up 3drealms's bad habits. over-hyping, overselling, and didn't deliver at the end. hell, the demo that they showed was a complete fabrication which i think it should be illegal. If ACM only took 2 years to make it will be understandable for all the poor graphics, coding, crappy game play ect. but this "game" took 6 years to make?...like i said 3Drealms badIt is official, Gearbox has taken up 3drealms's bad habits. over-hyping, overselling, and didn't deliver at the end. hell, the demo that they showed was a complete fabrication which i think it should be illegal. If ACM only took 2 years to make it will be understandable for all the poor graphics, coding, crappy game play ect. but this "game" took 6 years to make?...like i said 3Drealms bad habits. only recommended for hard hard fans of aliens, or just wait for the $5 special the steam, ether way. I, personally will never buy a Gearbox game as long as i live. *taking my money else were*… Expand
  7. fxrsniper
    Feb 18, 2013
    7
    Most of these reviews are garbage because 90% have no clue what actually happened. I've played them from day one even after the graphic fixes this game is by far underrated
  8. Kuarinofu
    Feb 18, 2013
    3
    Visuals are weak, getting better on LV-426, but still bad.
    It's not about the graphics, it's the atmosphere.
    And it doesn't feel like an Aliens related game at all. Aliens are weak and they seem to be missing ragdoll physics whatsoever. They get stuck inside walls and they melt like if they were vampires. Stormtroopers attack was a surprise, silencers on pulse rifles were unnecessary.    Visuals are weak, getting better on LV-426, but still bad.
    It's not about the graphics, it's the atmosphere.
    And it doesn't feel like an Aliens related game at all.
    Aliens are weak and they seem to be missing ragdoll physics whatsoever.
    They get stuck inside walls and they melt like if they were vampires.
    Stormtroopers attack was a surprise, silencers on pulse rifles were unnecessary.
    Overall it's not a total disaster, the intro sequence was good, Henriksen and Biehn presence was also a good sign, but it all ended before it started. P.S. A good game for 10-15$.    … Expand
  9. Stianenko
    Feb 18, 2013
    5
    An average FPS, all the fun is due to the fact that you can enjoy the nice working radar and the good old pulse rifle.
    If you close your eyes you will feel like you're really into one of the Alien movies, but when reopening them you will be really disappointed by the stupid A.I., the poor storytelling and the bad presentation.
    Gameplay would be fun if not affected by all those bugs, the    An average FPS, all the fun is due to the fact that you can enjoy the nice working radar and the good old pulse rifle.
    If you close your eyes you will feel like you're really into one of the Alien movies, but when reopening them you will be really disappointed by the stupid A.I., the poor storytelling and the bad presentation.
    Gameplay would be fun if not affected by all those bugs, the enemies act like they're animals, the strategy that you expect from the creatures just does not exist in this game, the human enemies will randomly leave covering position and your fellow soldiers are more a pain in the ass than an aid (the worst thing is that most of the issues could be corrected by a proper debug phase).
    Graphics are 6.5/10, but the use of lights and shadows is light years far from the 1977 masterpiece and some of textures are so much low res for a 2013 game.
    Sound is good in complex, but some audio effects are missing and the music is simply trivial.
    The weapons upgrade system is nice and the unlockable add-ons are well distributed.
    In conclusion, if you are an Alien fan that can close one eye (or two), you will enjoy shooting some xenomorphs.
    Otherwise just run away without looking back.    … Expand
  10. brap0
    Feb 18, 2013
    0
    What can I say? Gearhoax studio, I mean, Gearbox studio and Sega took a crap and voila! ACM was born! It took them 6 years and this is the turd we get. Just dig around the net and you'll see why nearly 95% of all reviews say it's absolute garbage. Screw you Randy Pitchford (and Sega), screw you!
  11. 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
  12. 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.
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. Mojawk
    Feb 17, 2013
    8
    As a huge fan of the movies I've waited years to play a game where I can run around on LV426 with my favourite characters. The campaign was fun, the whole game is basically Call of Duty meets Aliens, nothing mind blowing or eye watering but decent. (And unlike CoD the the price wasn't £49.99) The multi player is great fun. I have no clue why this game is getting such a low rating, I foundAs a huge fan of the movies I've waited years to play a game where I can run around on LV426 with my favourite characters. The campaign was fun, the whole game is basically Call of Duty meets Aliens, nothing mind blowing or eye watering but decent. (And unlike CoD the the price wasn't £49.99) The multi player is great fun. I have no clue why this game is getting such a low rating, I found one haven't had any issues with bugs, crashes but I have seen the AI do some stupid stuff. However, I'm having a blast with it. I would probably give this game 10 out of 10 just for letting me live out my dream but that would be biased. So a solid 8 from me.… Expand
  16. MrWickstar
    Feb 17, 2013
    5
    Thus far i've put around 7 hours into this game and like many others i'm very disappointed. I don't think it deserves all of the 1s and zeros it has here but it is definitely not worth the 50 dollars I spent. Imo this is at best a 30 dollar title IF you're a diehard fan of the franchise. The AI is obviously its biggest flaw, some human enemies will literally stand there indefinitely whileThus far i've put around 7 hours into this game and like many others i'm very disappointed. I don't think it deserves all of the 1s and zeros it has here but it is definitely not worth the 50 dollars I spent. Imo this is at best a 30 dollar title IF you're a diehard fan of the franchise. The AI is obviously its biggest flaw, some human enemies will literally stand there indefinitely while I stare at them and the xenos don't do a whole lot other than charge directly at you or in the case of the spitters come to a dead stop while spitting long enough for you to kill them without any challenge. The graphics aren't as bad as some people are saying, they are just dated. They would stand out in 2009 probably. On the plus side I think it has some of the best sound effects in recent memory, at least with a 7.1 headset on. I also actually like the story as well as the pacing although I wish they'd have added more areas where you can't fire or rely on your weapons. This game isn't worth $50 and it may be Gearbox's lowest point thus far, but it doesn't deserve a 1 or 0, I think that is just spite and some people default to those scores automatically without thinking about it or in some cases without even playing the game they are reviewing.… Expand
  17. Maktone
    Feb 17, 2013
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Este juego te lo venden como si fuera una obra de arte, y cuando lo vas a jugar parece un juego en estado Alpha, no llega a ser ni una beta... Pesima calidad en todos sus sentidos. 1/10… Expand
  18. 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
  19. 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
  20. Sergeant_MarkIV
    Feb 16, 2013
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A game that had a lot of potential, but ended up terribly. Blame the casual players! This game was supposed to be an awesome survival experience, but to make the game more accessible to a larger public, the incompetent directors of Sega and Gearbox decided to make it a Call of Duty clone. You don't even need to use the motion tracker one single moment on the entire campaign even on the hardest difficulty, because no enemy will ever spawn behind you. But if you can go through the festival of bugs, and the awful ending, you will able to enjoy a somewhat fun shooter with an actually good soundtrack.… Expand
  21. UnderTheRain
    Feb 16, 2013
    0
    This is one of the worst first person shooters I have ever played its not the worst Gearbox's duke nuken forever takes that title but only just. Both titles are utter crap and gearbox should give up now. I will nerv buy another gearbox title again.
  22. sirblue
    Feb 16, 2013
    8
    Cannot understand horrible reviews all over the place 2-3 h into the campaign and a couple of missions done on coop multiplayer. so far had a good time with the game.
    Biggest issue for me is the alien animation movement. but seriously: this game does well by it*s standards. Atmosphere is decent and gameplay solid. Aliens without cheesy story? not happened once for any of the movies.    Cannot understand horrible reviews all over the place 2-3 h into the campaign and a couple of missions done on coop multiplayer. so far had a good time with the game.
    Biggest issue for me is the alien animation movement. but seriously: this game does well by it*s standards. Atmosphere is decent and gameplay solid. Aliens without cheesy story? not happened once for any of the movies. before hating this game take a good look at what happened to the franchise in the last 15 years this game is one of the 2 good things happening out there.

    Take a look for yourself and if the 2nd Aliens installment was giving you anything you cannot be completely wrong here.    … Expand
  23. dansl
    Feb 16, 2013
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Overall, this was a fun game. In fact, I'm going to play it a second time on a harder difficulty because I enjoyed it so much. I do have a few "issues" with the game though... Firstly the default PC controls are poorly assigned... Push "V" for melee combat... seriously!? Melee is meant to be quick and swift, I had to constantly look down at my keyboard to find the "V" key when an alien pounced on me. Also, making "F" key the alternate fire key... seriously!? I feel like the mouse should handle all the weapon controls. Primary fire is left click, secondary fire can be right-click, or middle-click. Not pushing "F" on the keyboard... That's like having to reach down and push a button on your Hip to make your gun launch a grenade. Just doesn't make sense... So anyways, I reassigned it so that left-click was primary-fire, middle-click was alt-fire, right click was melee-attack, "F" was flashlight. The game was much better from that point on.

    The next thing I noticed was a somewhat buggy AI... From time to time, I would see enemies running into walls or not moving at all while I shoot them. The "co-op" AI was also somewhat dumb, just standing getting shot in many cases... But I can look past some of it... Being a developer myself, I understand that building a good AI is super difficult.

    Lastly, the end Boss battle... SPOILER ALERT... The end boss battle was LAME! You run around, push 5 buttons, and its over... Never using any weapons... Seriously? All these weapons i've been upgrading, and customizing, and I dont get to use any of them for the final battle? Not even a couple times? Nope... You literally run around a room, avoiding the queen, while you push 5 buttons, that eventually eject her from the ship... Pretty lame... You dont even get to use the Power Loader suit. In fact, you only get to use the Power Loader suit ONCE in the entire game... Why go through all the effort to have the Power Loader when you only use it once... and its a crappy battle when you do use it... I feel like they could have done more with the Power Loader and the Final Battle. At least involved using your weapons somehow.    … Expand
  24. Solafein
    Feb 16, 2013
    6
    I looked forward to this game for quite a long time. As cliche as it is, I was a huge fan of Aliens since I was a kid, and I've always thought it would be great to have a quality game set in the universe in which you get to assume the role of a Colonial Marine. Anyways, this game really does nothing for the Aliens universe. The story has a lot of flaws. If this weren't hyped a canonicalI looked forward to this game for quite a long time. As cliche as it is, I was a huge fan of Aliens since I was a kid, and I've always thought it would be great to have a quality game set in the universe in which you get to assume the role of a Colonial Marine. Anyways, this game really does nothing for the Aliens universe. The story has a lot of flaws. If this weren't hyped a canonical sequel to a movie I held so dear, I probably wouldn't care. I didn't care at all about any of the AvP stories, I just enjoyed the games for their multiplayer game play. But again, this game was advertized and hyped as being some awesome canonical sequel but falls completely flat...

    The fact that the USCM and Weyland-Yutani Corporation "go to war" is ridiculous, as the company essentially owns the Marine Corp (as well as everything else in the galaxy) in the first place. I guess they just needed an excuse to have you shooting at other people alongside the aliens. The campaign took me only roughly 6-8 hours to complete on "Hardened" difficulty, and had one of the worst endings I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing in a video game. So much for the epic canonical sequel...

    The multiplayer on the other hand, is pretty fun. If you really like the idea of running around shooting Giger aliens and/or hunting marines (without predators of course), then you'll probably enjoy that aspect of the game. Despite its entertainment value, it does need some work as sometimes the aliens feel very clunky despite their speed, strength, and maneuverability. Furthermore, it also seems like an alien can charge directly at you, and manage to kill you somehow despite the fact that you've been spraying it with an automatic weapon for its entire charge. Then again, maybe I just suck at the game ;)

    All in all, I'd give the single player a 5/10. It's story, AI, and boss fights are absolute garbage (IN MY OPINION), BUT they do recreate with an intense attention to detail many of the areas from the Aliens films. The operations center is pretty much in the exact same shape the marines from the movie left it in. The floor panel that Hudson was pulled through can be seen exactly where it happened in the movie. The smart gun ammo counters are still reading "00" and "04," the exact amount of ammo remaining in them from the director's cut of the film. The ventilation shaft the survivors escaped through can be found with the vent lying next to the wall. Although I did notice after watching the E3 demo that although in the demo the door that had been sealed and subsequently breached by the aliens was busted open, in the released product the door was still sealed shut, even though aliens had bashed through it in the film. This is an absolutely trivial detail, however, and certainly does not detract from the game in any way. They also recreated the derelict space craft from the first movie nicely, allowing the player to encounter the space jockey (engineer) in its seat with its chest burst open. Finally, I definitely think they did a great job of recreating the sound effects of the weapons from the film. The pulse rifle also had a truly authentic feel as it actually...pulsed...unlike the weapon's portrayal in AvP and previous Aliens titles.

    Multiplayer, since AI does not control the aliens, is significantly better. I'd give it a 7/10. It's entertaining, and if you like the Aliens universe it will only add to the fun. Hopefully they add new game types, new maps, and various tweaks without charging for all of it...but that probably won't happen.

    I am disappointed overall because I expected more from the title, but I think most reviews are extremely harsh and tend to ignore any and all of the good aspects of the game. That, or they acknowledge them but still give the game a 1/10.    … Expand
  25. 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
  26. Maodox
    Feb 16, 2013
    1
    This is the most disappointing game I've played in a very long time. From big to small it fails on almost every level. The immersion promised in the pre-release video was stripped leaving behind the husk of a generic shooter. The dialog is awful with its forced, rehashed lines from Aliens. The corny try-hard attempt to recreate the attitude of the characters from the movie. A boring (DLCThis is the most disappointing game I've played in a very long time. From big to small it fails on almost every level. The immersion promised in the pre-release video was stripped leaving behind the husk of a generic shooter. The dialog is awful with its forced, rehashed lines from Aliens. The corny try-hard attempt to recreate the attitude of the characters from the movie. A boring (DLC READY! :D) story with a... well... I would've called it a cliffhanger ending but truth be told I simply don't care. The game play offers virtually nothing to offset any of the above. It's functional, usually, but that's where the praise ends. The alien AI feels like it was written by some poor intern that doesn't even like FPS games. It's pretty standard copy/paste game play beyond that. With the gratuitous weapon unlocks and totally linear map design.

    The worst offenders by far are the lifeless boring levels. The fact they took the source material of aliens and turned it into this is upsetting, if not flat out depressing. The animations are laughable (power loader anyone?) and the textures would make Ray Charles weep. The lighting? Mods to "help fix" the lightning were out in less than 24 hours. At least Duke Nukem Forever won't be lonely at the bottom of the barrel.    … Expand
  27. FeyrStorm
    Feb 16, 2013
    10
    I read the reviews and when my pre-order arrived late on the 12th I hemmed hawed about just going to Best Buy to return, but I love ALIENS!!! So what the heck...well so far so good, played the first few missions, the environment looks real, the story isn't the worst I've seen in a video game and frankly complaints like 'there aren't enough weapons' sounds like an American rant...yes,I read the reviews and when my pre-order arrived late on the 12th I hemmed hawed about just going to Best Buy to return, but I love ALIENS!!! So what the heck...well so far so good, played the first few missions, the environment looks real, the story isn't the worst I've seen in a video game and frankly complaints like 'there aren't enough weapons' sounds like an American rant...yes, yes, more weapons. Bottom line if you like the Aliens universe this should appeal to you. It's no Bioshock but it isn't Duke Nukem either.… Expand
  28. zkurk
    Feb 16, 2013
    1
    There is a lot of controversy surrounding this game most notably the blatant false advertising but let me just focus on the game itself here. Visuals and auditory: The game drags you through poorly modeled drab futuristic enviroments where the 3d assets are re-used far too often. Walking through corridors, corridors and more corridors you'll encounter roughly four types of enemies whoseThere is a lot of controversy surrounding this game most notably the blatant false advertising but let me just focus on the game itself here. Visuals and auditory: The game drags you through poorly modeled drab futuristic enviroments where the 3d assets are re-used far too often. Walking through corridors, corridors and more corridors you'll encounter roughly four types of enemies whose animations were apparently motion captured by a frozen corpse tied up with rubber strings. The textures that cover everything look like something I imagine artists send to each other as a practical joke. Lighting and shadows, probably the most important part of an ALIENS game is sloppily put together. Gearbox tried to sprinkle recognizable objects from the movies into the game in order to distract you from how god awful the game looks but that is a bit like drawing a smiley face on a fist that punched you in the face, it is still going to hurt.

    Meanwhile in the audio department we have mediocre voice acting, it is not going to draw you into the game any more than the graphics but perhaps that is a good thing. The iconic tension building motion tracker is in the game but only as a curiosity for movie fans since it servers no purpose whatsoever gameplay wise. Music is the only thing I consider somewhat decent even though there are very few compositions and they are re-used too often. Again, sound design is one of your greatest tools when you are designing a game based on Aliens but the creators miss the mark completely.

    Gameplay: When you think of the movie aliens do you conjure up images of pants fudging terror and struggling to survive or do you think of a handful of marines shooting for hours on end at corporate goons? The designers of this game seem to have thought of the latter since all you do is run through narrow corridors spraying everything you see with your pick of fast shooting pulse rifle, normal shooting pulse rifle or slow shooting pulse rifle. At the opportunities where the developers could have differentiated themselves from the rest of the flock in the putrid sea of brainless military shooters, stuff like planting turret defences or welding bulkheads shut they just put a scripted event where the maximum amount of player interaction is Hold E button. It feels as if the developers worked hard to puncture any feel of suspense the game might build up by accident so they added immortal AI teammates and flashing RANK UP exclamations (because nowadays the only way you'll get a sense of accomplishment is through gaining points in an arbitrary rank ladder). Longevity: The campaign will at the very highest of difficulty go on for about 5-6 hours and considering how easy the game is I doubt it is even possible to die at normal setting. Anyway you'll unlock all the additional attachments and pointless twaddle about halfway through the story so there is no incentive to replay it. The multiplayer is another peer2peer that I can't imagine anyone will still be playing two months from now. Conclusion: When you make a game based on a specific franchise your customers expect you to at the very least capture a sliver of the mood presented in the source material. Gearbox Interactive is either made up by a bunch of meatheads that don't understand the movies or they just farted out a failed abortion of a game to make a few quick bucks, avoid a lawsuit from Sega and urinate on alien fans. They failed miserably on every single level when making Aliens colonial marines and it is honestly one of the worst games I've ever played in my life.    … Expand
  29. 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
  30. Bradaz85
    Feb 16, 2013
    0
    Poor, dated visuals for this game isn't even half the problem, It has choppy game play that feels broken for the most part, unimaginable story and bad scripting. Don`t waste your money! Gearbox shouldn't be allowed to get away with this, People should check the comparison video on how it was and how it is now.
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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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