This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. After playing for a few hours I've already kind of lost interest in the game entirely. I was really excited for this game because I loved the original movies, but this game is pretty disappointing. The visuals are rather outdated, which isn't a deal breaker for me at all, but some of the textures in this game are laughably low resolution. One think I really noticed was how the characters look slightly cartoonish. It almost reminds me of the Jurassic Park video game by Telltale; in regards to the visual style the characters are given. It isn't as pronounced as Telltale's style, but it's still noticeable. The game doesn't have much of a budget for poly count. A lot of models rely almost entirely on textures for intricate details (and do it poorly). Levels tend to have block syndrome as well. As far as the environment art goes, they nailed the old Aliens look pretty well.

The pacing of the story is awkward at times. Missions and cut scenes tend to start and end abruptly. There was one point in the game where I was on the bridge of a space ship and my crew and I watch helplessly as our ship explodes. We stand perfectly still, unaffected by the blast. Then the mission ends suddenly and at the start of the next mission, we're all lying on the floor of the bridge as if the blast had violently shaken the ship we were on, knocking us all off our feet. Very awkward moment. It's not a HUGE deal, but it's amazing how they overlooked this. There's more of it throughout the campaign. There's even a few glaring issues with the core gameplay. Some sites on weapons don't seem centered. Hit detection also seems off at times, especially around cover. If an enemy is behind cover but you can still see a little bit of their body sticking out, it's nearly impossible to hit them. But whenever you take cover, you frequently get hit by random bullets every few seconds. To top it all off, AI is pretty wonky in this game. Your companions CONSTANTLY walk in front of you as you're firing. I blew myself up at least 6 times because one of my allies walked in front of me RIGHT when I decided to fire a shell from my under-barrel grenade launcher. Very frustrating to say the least. This game had a lot of potential and you can even see it when playing, but it just falls completely flat on its face.… Expand

I would give the game a 4.75 but im rounding up, The game is disappointing, has some decent moments but is muddled down by terrible AI, stiff animations, and odd texture pop ins and lack of detail. not to mention the shooting is not really the best, and there is a lack of tension. This is just a shooting gallery with xenos.

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

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 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

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

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

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It is unbelievable that people are rating this game a 9 or 10 it blows my mind don't listen to them im sure the majority of them pre-ordered, unfortunate they are making it worse for us all letting the industry get away with this crap, so shame on them. This is just not a very good game.

The story is just bad and i refuse to acknowledge it as cannon. For one it fails to explain major plot holes, and don't even get me started on the ending. A marine from the first movie survives??? what were these guys smoking when they came up with that. Any true alien fan would be disappointing with this game and I believe we expect a certain amount of quality to be involved when it comes to this beloved franchise. Yes expectations where high and rightfully so. The sound is great, love the sound effects like the pulse rifle and others such as aliens dying. The AI is bad and ruined the immersion for me on more than one occasion. For instance aliens standing in front of my AI squad mate for seconds attempting to kill him or navigating around him to get to me or like on most occasions my squad mate just firing his smart gun for long periods of time doing absolutely nothing. The graphics are bad which is something that caught me off guard. textures are terrible and character animation is amateur. the lighting ,one of the most important features in anything alien is mediocre which is extremely disappointing. i could go on but you get the idea just not much of a game here multilayer is better but doesn't make up for the terrible campaign.… Expand

I really like the Alien films but it did not make me more fond of the game. When I play deathmatch in multiplayers it was great fun so 37 hours before uninstalling when you meet original kamapnjen after 8 hours so you can say it was worth the money.

Is Sega’s attempt at staying “true” to the Aliens Franchise really worth it? Reviewing Aliens: Colonial Marines

The is Back!! The Aliens franchise has been through numerous sequels and mash ups and with the most recent origin story, Prometheus, the series has only become more forgettable. With Colonial Marines, it is now Sega’s turn to take up the banner of this once glorious franchiseranchise. Read on to know more about their attempts to make the audience sit back and take notice.

Read More: http://gamingimho.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/is-segas-attempt-at-staying-true-to-the-aliens-franchise-really-worth-it-reviewing-aliens-colonial-marines/… Expand

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

First off, I'd like to say that I miss the absence of ironsights in games. Just leveling your crosshair over a monster and pressing the fire button was satisfying, and made you feel like a badass. Nowadays, firing from the hip is a sure way to never hit your target if you use anything other than a shotgun.

That being said, I'd like to add another preface. I LOVE the Alien and Predator franchises, and my first true 3D shooter (I don't count Doom as true 3D. It used 2D sprites) was Aliens versus Predator 2. I treasured that game. I played it over and over. When AvP 2010 came out, I almost messed my pants. I loved that one too, but not as much as AvP 2. The one thing those two had in common was the LACK OF IRON SIGHTS. Sci-Fi games that take place in the future shouldn't have iron sights. That mechanic is there to add a sense of realism to the game.

ANYTHING INVOLVING THE ALIENS FRANCHISE IS ANYTHING BUT REALISTIC. So why have ironsights in Colonial Marines? I didn't see anybody using a scope or sights in the movie. They all fired from the hip. So why inject a military shooter mechanic into a sci-fi/horror game? I'll tell you: To cater to the CoD jocks and Battlefield frat boys. I just need to say that this needs to stop. Some of us don't want realism or a cover system in our RPGs (Mass Effect 2 and 3) or iron sights in our sci-fi and horror games (Aliens: CM, Fallout: New Vegas)!

Anyways, that is my main complaint with this game. If there weren't any iron sights, this game would have earned an 8.5 in my books. A lot of people complained about the A.I, and when it comes to squad members, I totally agree. They are dumb as rocks. The Alien A.I wasn't as spotty as some professional game reviewers made them out to be. The lore states that the individual xeno is about as intelligent as an insect. Their tactics and cunning is derived from the Queen, and the further they are from her, the dumber they get. People were expecting that the xeno A.I would try to outsmart them, but the fact of the matter is, Gearbox got their behavior patterns spot on. I went into this game fully expecting the xenos to run blindly into my bullets one after another, in a primitive attempt to make me exhaust all of my ammo so I would be defenseless when the next wave attacked. Guess what? They did. I couldn't be happier.

The human enemies behaved typically enough. Run to cover, lean out, squeeze off a few shots, take cover, throw grenade if I'm in cover, move up closer, flanking, melee when I try to brain them with my rifle. Run of the mill stuff. Like I said: Typical. No different from any other FPS I've played.

Pre-Rendered cutscenes in Alies:CM suffered the same way the ones in Deus Ex: Human Revolution did. They were uglier than the in-game cutscenes and the developers could have made them better by using the game engine instead of the crap rendering they chose to use.

Now for the story and voice acting: The story had more holes than swiss cheese, and the only decent voice actor was Lance Henriksen, the original actor who portrayed Bishop and Bishop Weyland in the Alien and AvP movies. The rest of them sounded like they just got their certificate of completion from the acting class at the learning annex.

Finally, the gameplay. Action packed, sometimes suspenseful, moody as all hell, atmosphere was spot-on. Animations could have used a little more polish, but graphics were very pretty, even on low settings. Glitches weren't very frequent. A few clipping issues here, some A.I pathing problems there, spazzy ragdolls were present (always funny), but nothing game breaking. I didn't experience any crashes, even on launch day (yes, I pre-ordered) before the first patch release.

Weapons felt real, visceral, and powerful. Although there were a plethora of options to choose from, I found myself only using the Pulse Rifle and the Shotgun, only switching out when I ran out of ammo. That brings up a nice feature. Aliens:CM doesn't force you to choose only 2 or 3 weapons. You can switch out to ANY weapon you have unlocked at any time through the use of a quick-access wheel overlay without disrupting the action. I loved this feature the most, because it reminded me of AvP 2, where you could carry all of your weapons at once. Upgrading your weapons is a nice feature, but sadly, you can never upgrade your Pulse Rifle to carry 99 bullets per clip like in the movies and previous games in the Aliens franchise.

I never played multiplayer, but I heard its the only saving grace for this game.

My conclusion: Aliens: Colonial Marines could have been a great game. If there were no iron sights, it would have been a game worthy of Gearbox Software's legendary reputation. Instead, the game soiled it. Gearbox dropped the ball on this one simply because they felt the need to cater to the CoD and Battlefield fanboys. This title is worthy of a $25 dollar pricetag. NOT $60. I would only recommend paying full price if you are a die-hard Aliens fan.… Expand

The game was better than I expected (Thought it was gonna be as bad as DNF since the game was also stuck in hell for several years). Liked the collectibles and the fact I could carry all the weapons. Enemies were kinda stupid and the companion AI not that good (luckily he didn't get stuck anywhere). Locations where nice. I just wish they put more effort in the game. I gave it a 5 because I'm a fan of the movies and previous AvP games and as I said it could of been worse (like throwing on walls and slapping wall seriously)… Expand

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.

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

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 singerplayer in less than 10 hours, and a multiplayer thats hardly worth it as a alone light in the darkness.… Expand

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 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

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

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

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.

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.

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 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

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.

"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

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.

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

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 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

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

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 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