User Score
3.2 out of 10

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 856 Ratings

User score distribution:

Review this game

  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
  1. Feb 12, 2013
    5
    I would rate the first part of the game below average, That part is set on a space ship, and this is where you encounter human enemies besides aliens. The main problem of the game is the DUMB AI. This ruins the fight with human enemies, but ultimately ruins every part of the game where you are teamed up with human npcs. Team mates get stuck frequently, they are left behind, stay in front of you at the wrong times (basically they are useless and annoying...I would rather go alone, than with a marine that is not good for anything...). The second part is set on LV-426 (Aliens took place here). I would rate this part of A:CM average, with some better than average parts. It was fun to encounter the sets of Aliens (especially if you love the universe of the movies). Here the game focuses on the aliens. There is also a mission where you need to rely on stealth (it was a highlight of the game, with creepy lighting and sounds). There are some tense moment in the game, but I never felt scared (There were some intense moments, but I felt the game is lacking tension). The movement of the enemies felt clunchy. This is probably due to the small and closed spaces where most encounters with aliens took place. Many time they are spawned behind the player or just running around. Weapon customisation was a nice addition. The story is average, while characters are very "two dimensional" (with many cheesy dialogues....). Overall the game felt like a generic shooter, set in the Aliens universe, which would deserve a better game than Aliens: Colonial Marines. Expand
  2. Mar 15, 2013
    6
    SEGA have made a terrible presentation again. Was not that bad nor good. Good dialogue but terrible missions. Being this game on the human scale it would be Alienated, waste of $70
  3. 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 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. Mar 12, 2013
    3
    Such a disappointment coming from Gearbox Software, the creators of the Borderlands franchise. To keep the long story short; Aliens: Colonial Marines is everything I didn't want it to be.
  5. Mar 8, 2013
    1
    Hmm, poor gameplay, an intensive marketing campaign, a useless fat bastard as a CEO. yep, we have all been utterly scammed. People should post his home address on youtube. I seriously hope this scamming scumbag and his front company get everything he so richly deserves. I could go on to describe what this game has done to encourage piracy or damage the gaming industry etc etc. I will simply put it this way. To the development and publishing community. If you want to develop a revenue stream based upon sustainable growth. This is an example of how not to do it. Make sure this idiot and his company are relegated to the unemployment poverty stricken hell they so richly deserve. Expand
  6. 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 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
  7. 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, 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
  8. Feb 12, 2013
    1
    After 7 hours of playing I will have to write now or never. Some may complain that I haven't given the game a chance. You know what? It's not going to get any more than these 7 hours out of me and in retrospect that's probably 2 or 3 hours more than this game deserves. A dull traipse through badly designed levels with "rent and idiot" characters and so little in the way of gameplay above "it moves shoot it" that it might as well be Quake with better graphics. The difference being of course, that every game must be taken in context, and of it's time Quake was innovative and excellent but that time was 17 years ago. I was temped to give this a zero just becasue I'm so cheesed off as a massive Aliens fan. Why buy the rights to an iconic franchise and do this? Why Gearbox WHY? I got nervous when they said they were removing the single player squad system to make the game "more accessible" (i.e at best "dumbed down" at worst "we couldn't be bothered or don't have the skill to implement a system like this") But this game is just so DULL. It doesn't crash, the graphics are ok the sound, though taken from 26 year old samples it seems, is very good but that's the best I can say about the game. The old samples used for gunfire polish up well considering how old they are. That really is the best I can say about this game. The gameplay is as generic as "Jenny Generic and her Generic Geriatrics" cut and paste gameplay that is soooooooo old. How could this game have taken more than 6 months to cobble together from exising gameplay mechnics with a new lick of GFX on top? Anyway I'll give it 1 out of 10 which is 2 (yes 2... I considered minus one but I couldn't push the slider back that far) more than I wanted to give it 10 minutes ago. Expand
  9. Feb 26, 2013
    5
    This is the first time I have beaten a $50 dollar game in less than 20 hours. Even though the game is relatively easy (even for old guys like me), I still found it to be entertaining. My biggest critiques are: (1) too much down time between fights, even though cut scenes didn't interfere too much. (2) rather dim graphics (3) number of radio calls from the normally absentee players who always seem to be waiting for the protagonist to show up (4) highly forgettable plot; I can't even remember the hero's name. Expand
  10. Feb 25, 2013
    0
    I wasted $60 of my hard earn money and 30 mins of my life.I was expecting this game for many years so it comes up with such a great disappointment. The kills don't look realistic, there are motion glitches on the aliens, repetitive game play, terrible multiplayer system. The thing i enjoyed was a big alien startling me and being cautious at the sewers, of course reviving the places of the movie; but after that, its predecessor aliens vs predator, its way much better than this huge mistake that will sink the aliens franchise Expand
  11. Apr 17, 2013
    3
    This game is more like Call of Duty: Colonial Warfare. By the second level, they drop all horror and intensity and instead you are fighting HUMANS WITH GUNS. This is ALIENS: Colonial Marines. The AI are horribly programmed, they are suicidal, they charge at your position even on the highest difficulty setting. The graphics are just awful, even when you set it to the highest possible max settings, I still feel like I'm playing a game from 2004. The story is a joke, basically you return to LV-426 to investigate a distress signal sent by Hicks and that's it. That's your story. And then, suddenly, oh my god, Hicks is alive! As if that's going to make up for the crap story. The AI are constantly getting in your way and at the worst moments possible. Then, after beating this linear Call of Duty shooting gallery, you are greeted with a crap ending to a crap story. Most of the focus is in this game is on human combat. If I want to battle humans with guns I can just pop in Black Ops 2 into my Xbox I don't need to pay 49.99 for this. Disappointing, I expected more out of an Aliens game. Aliens VS Predator 2010 isn't even Marine focused yet does a better job proving a fresh Aliens experience. Do not buy this game if you're not a fan already, and if you are a hardcore fan of the Aliens franchise, buy it when the price drops to about 10. Expand
  12. 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 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
  13. 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.
  14. Feb 12, 2013
    5
    It's sad when a beloved franchises gets the "EA" treatment. I might be embellishing a bit, but it's understandable since i used to be a fan. The game is, for lack of a better word, "MEH". I didn't get to play much since i did so at a friend's house, but what i did get to play kind of left me wanting. What the hell was i playing? It certainly didn't feel like an "Aliens" game. Somewhat Clunky and Heavily scripted, the purpose of which, i'm guessing, is inspiring suspense, but it doesn't really matter because it fails to do so in any other way except for those moments of eerie silence when you're walking alone And those are nothing new. Outside of excluding the Predators as a playable race, and adding some menial reward mechanisms you see in EVERY OTHER FPS out there, i don't see how this can be viewed as anything other than a dumbed-down AVP3 clone. The optimization itself seems to be horrendous, as the already non-stellar gameplay suffered almost omnipresent lag spikes. IN SINGLE PLAYER. How the hell does that happen? This might be a huge issue with paying customers, since some of them coughed up quite a sum by pre-ordering. One other thing that seems to follow every game of late like the plague, is the over-dramatization of already "dramatic" events. I don't understand what the issue is there, and why does it happen so often, but it sucks to see marines acting as if this is some Aliens soap opera. How, in their right mind, would anyone take this game seriously after that fact is beyond me. I should have known, after seeing Randy Pitchford's smug little face on the trailers, that this game is going to bomb. The AI is pathetic. I've seen better enemy reactions in Wolfenstein. I give it a 5 out of sheer devotion to the franchise, nothing else. If this was any other generic fps, it wouldn't even sell at the bargain bin. My advice is, play something else. Until it gets a couple of well-deserved patches, you should forget that this "thing" even exists. Expand
  15. Feb 13, 2013
    1
    Oh god...7 years for NOTHING, this game has got some good features but besides it's a boring experience with bad AI, dumb Xenomorphs and Invisible campaign, the multiplayer feels like Call of Duty changing players for fool attack dogs (Xenomorphs) and an extremely boring gameplay. This is definitely one of the worst games of the year or the biggest dissapointment of the year.
  16. Mar 24, 2013
    5
    Aliens: Colonial Marines is a sign of what the gaming industry has degraded to: pure utter Not only does this so-called 'sequel' to Aliens takes a big piece of dump on the Alien film canon, it also demonstrates how deceitful the industry can be and how easily it is for gamers to fall for its web of lies. Not only does A:CM not have any of the graphical power seen in the 2011 E3 demo nor the interesting level designs, the entire game is essentially half broken. Enemy AI is ludicrously dumb and glitchy, the friendly AI is almost broken with some of the worst pathfinding Ive seen in literally years. The plot itself starts off well and actually has some interesting aspects to it throughout the middle but after a few levels, it just falls to pieces, as if they ran out of time and had to add in a horrible, poor-executed climax and conclusion. For fans of the franchise, you will be hooked by its generic xeno-killing gameplay but this excitement only lasts as long as your love for using the Pulse Rifle. There's a wide range of weapons but in all honesty, you'll probably only use 2-3 of them. Thankfully, the Smart-Gun and Pulse Rifles have been well designed and executed with their familiar sounds and impact (though the recoil for the Pulse Rifle is a big ridiculous). Another positive is the inclusion of legendary guns from the second film including Vasquez's Smartgun, Hudon's Pulse Rifle, Norman's Pistol etc. The NPC's you meet are generic as hell and have the worst lines (though the voice-acting is solid). The game cutscenes are poorly rendered and overall, the engine has a 2005 look with excessive lighting and poor textures. Multiplayer-wise, it holds up well but ultimately, compared Natural Selection 2, its inferior. Co-op just feels tacted on and is fun for a few levels for at the end of the day, its probably one of the worst implemented with player warping and a lack of Co-op features. Aliens: Colonial Marines is a total letdown and my biggest disappointment of a game since Mass Effect 3 last year. They have recently released a new patch that does enhance the AI and graphics as well as a solid Bug Hunt DLC but all in all its like adding extra icing and fresh seasoning to a chocolate cake gone bad: too little, too late. Unless you're a big Aliens nut like myself, than avoid A:CM at all costs. Its Game Over all right. Game Over. Expand
  17. Apr 27, 2013
    1
    Gearbox has really gotten on my bad side lately. They went from great games like Brothers in Arms and Borderlands, to A:CM and Duke Nukem Forever. With the Brothers in Arms Furious Four coming out i think i wanna punch Gearbox in the face. This game was a lying, false advertised piece of sh*t that pisses of die hard Aliens fans like myself. Avoid at all costs, nuke it from orbit! Its the only way to be sure! Expand
  18. 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.
  19. Feb 12, 2013
    10
    I don't know why there is so much hate surrounding this game....for what it is I had fun and enjoyed it thoroughly. It's just a simple scripted corridor shooter. If you wanted borderlands with aliens then yeah you'll be disappointed. I thought it was great!
  20. Feb 13, 2013
    9
    Please give this game a chance. That being said, I am not blind to the issues that this game has OK! I love the franchise and have been waiting for this game for some time. They need to fix the multiplayer issues even though it's still extremely fun and different. By the way that is what really get's me here people are pissing and moaning because it has not got what makes other shooters great. GREAT! GOOD!. I yearn for the time when people don't want the same rehashed Call of Duty game every single year!!!!!!!!!! This game is different and a refreshing break from the normal shooters. Expand
  21. Feb 20, 2013
    0
    I paid 25 quid for this game, and I can't play it. I looked all over the web and could not find a fix for the problem I'm having, the game literally cannot be played on my advanced gaming computer. I can't get a refund either. Well done gearbox, well done!
  22. Feb 13, 2013
    0
    When I first tried this game, I was appalled by how bad it was. All the hype and promises lead up to this pile of useless garbage? How can this even happen with a 50$ game, it's mind-boggling. It is so bad, unpolished, buggy, cliche... just thinking about it makes me nervous. The graphics are very dated, it's like the developers didn't even care. The textures look like they've been taken from a 2007 game on medium settings. Animations made me want to gouge my eyes out, the way a limping man just glides over the terrain? Aliens who just die into a stiff ragdoll? The way their wounds are just yellow blood textures on the models? Concerning the gameplay, it is nothing but another lame, generic FPS that is exciting for about the first two encounters. It is the same old s**t, clear a room, move on. Hold the button to weld a door. Rapidly press the button to punch an alien and stun it(ridiculous). Multiplayer? Oh look, suicide bomber aliens. How original. The story, you won't even care for. All the shock value of aliens, chestbursters etc. is gone for any fan of the franchise. It is slightly unsettling for the first 5 minutes before your first alien encounter, when you go back to seeing them as cannon fodder that walks up to you and slashes the air, cause that's how they attack, if they don't pounce on you and initiate the same quicktime event for the millionth time. I had that exact quicktime event 3 times during my first encounter with an alien. AvP 3 Marine campaign has better atmosphere than this worthless trash, which says enough. With all things taken into account, this insult to the franchise deserves nothing but a 0. Expand
  23. Mar 7, 2013
    0
    I won't waste time retreading the same ground everyone else and point out one simple fact, it's made by Gearbox.

    Gearbox is and always has been a mediocre game developer. Their big claim to fame is borderlands which is essentially if you put world of warcrafts boring quest system into a wasteland, put it in first person mode, then tout how it has millions of guns but the fact is 1 out o
    f 10,000 are actually an upgrade (repainting the same crummy pistol 5,000 times doesn't make 5,000 different guns) and finally start pimping DLC for the game before it even releases and then keep releasing more to nickel and dime your customers to death by turning a 60 dollar turd into a 100 dollar turd. They also made duke nukem forever which as we all know is a giant steaming pile of you know what and is a god awful abortion from start to finish. The best games they actually made were the brothers in arms games which aren't as terrible as those other two games but its still incredibly sterile, generic and uninspired. BIA is your basic mediocre WW2 shooter and nothing else. They have a few other games under their belt but they are all titles no one really cares about and faded into obscurity as soon as they were released. Bottom line is Gearbox is a terrible game maker and this is a terrible game.

    Now for a quickie about colonial marines.

    The story is nothing short of fan fiction written by someone who cannot write but still posts to their blog and believes themselves to be a great writer. It's kind of like how a young girl will take pictures of furniture sitting in a shadow in black and white and then think they are really deep and brooding for taking such artistic photographs when in fact it's just garbage. They tried to wink at the fans so hard their eyes have fallen out because of it. Everything about it feels very amateur, boring and forced. It feels more like they did a sci-fi channel original aliens movie, or something that went direct to video.

    The game is buggy as you can get. I've flown out the side of things and floated high in the air stuck. I've had allies that would stick in walls. Hell I found out in section you were supposed to be stealthy starting out and I just ran past every alien and once I passed them they forgot about me and I finished a level without firing a shot. I see environmental objects get stuck in things and so on.

    All the pretty and cool looking screenshots and videos I've been seeing for over a year from now weren't from the same game they released. You can easily find comparison videos showing the game released looks just awful compared to the "in game footage" they showed in the past.

    Multiplayer is very sterile and pretty much what you'd expect. It's so boring in fact that multiplayer will be a ghost town in 2 months.

    The game play its pretty much call of duty. It's just a mix of "it's the last stand....again" and "quick run through fast as you can" with some boring corridor stalking in between.

    I could go into great depth, I could go on and on naming other things I didn't like but you can read other Amazon reviews and see exactly what I've got to say.

    So really if you must play this, wait till its 10 dollars. Trust me it won't take very long before it gets there. And next time, don't pay full price for a Gearbox title.
    Expand
  24. 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 diffe
    rent 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
  25. Feb 14, 2013
    10
    The game is solid, the design is spot on and it is fun to play, especially in coop.

    So why is it that this game gets such horrid reviews? Sure, it does not have top notch state of the art graphics. Good for me, cause if it did I probably could not play it on my PC. It does not look bad, though. Sure the AI is not very bright, but to control shiny black critters that usually come straigh
    t at you it doesn't have to be. The most likely reason why this game is hated by so many people is because expectations were too high. Everyone wanted HIS personal perfect Aliens game and now everyone is mad that he just got a good game, instead of that.

    I guess many people also have not seen ALIENS for a LONG time. If you complain that the xenomorphs in this game are allegedly stupid, please watch the movie again and take a look how many of them get slaughtered by sentry guns. It does not get any dumber than getting killed by a stationary autocannon, wave after wave. The xenomorphs have always been rather stupid, but they are fast, fearless, strong, full of acid and individually they are cunning hunters. Being a cunning hunter just isn't any good if your prey has Pulse Rifles.

    So yeah, the game could have been better. It could also have been much worse. More easily than the other way around.
    Expand
  26. Feb 14, 2013
    1
    What a genuinely awful game in a series of awful games. An iconic franchise that is so simply transplanted to FPS meets mostly awful development time and time again. Expectations were pretty low coming in. I would have been happy if this long incubated title was 'Mediocre'. It's offensively bad, and that is not hyperbole. It is offensive on every level. Rebellion must be rolling with laughter right now after their middling AvP got raked across the coals. As far as finger pointing goes, the consistent iron in the fire is Fox Interactive. Flushing their franchise down the toilet in every medium possible.. Expand
  27. 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 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
  28. 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 in thhe 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
  29. 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.
  30. Feb 13, 2013
    6
    The short version is that IT'S NOT THAT BAD!

    Main problems are it's too simplistic and lacks polish. But it's no worse than all the others games based on this franchise. There is enjoyment to be had here, but no more so than with your latest Cowadooty game. I'd give this mid-60's rather than mid-40's. It really doesn't deserve the slating it's taken, although it can mostly blame itself
    for raising expectations so much at E3. Expand
Metascore

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 39 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 39
  2. Negative: 23 out of 39
  1. 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]
  2. 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]
  3. Mar 7, 2013
    50
    A lot of potential with disappointing execution. [March 2013, p.86]