I have waited a long time for the video game "Aliens: Colonial Marines" but have not purchased or played it yet. I saw some videos of the gameplay on YouTube and I felt like it didn't have the spirit or feel of the Aliens movie. The player character is too badass, too magician-like with weapon handling. I used to compete monthly in local firearms competitions and got pretty decent with my weapons handling including emergency reloads and transitions, so when a game makes it too smooth and easy especially for a stressful situation, it ruins my sense of immersion. Especially since the Colonial Marines are supposed to kind be like Vietnam-era troops who didn't have the benefit of modern CQB training and ergonomic lightweight weapons. An Aliens game should be action/horror, and not feel like a latter day Call of Duty.

I've played a few games in the Aliens franchise and the first Aliens PC game, and Aliens vs Predator 2 both managed to scare me and didn't have the feeling of being silly badass when playing as the Marine or even the Predator.

I didn't like the more recent Aliens game where you can sneak up on NPCs and gorily execute them. The gory executions were so over-the-top that I felt kind of embarrassed to be playing that game. It felt a bit like watching porn. I played it in private but was self-conscious not wanting someone to walk into the room while one of the execution sequences was playing out.

Anyway, I'm thinking again of purchasing Aliens: Colonial Marines. Is it any good, as an Aliens game goes? Does it evoke the film? Or is it just "Call of Duty: Aliens Edition"?

I haven't played it, but the reviews are pretty bad (which is the main reason I haven't played it). Metacritic scores it at 43 for the PS3, 45 for the PC, and 48 for the Xbox 360.

Alien Isolation might be worth a look see on the other hand . .

Alien Isolation looks incredible. As for Colonial Marines... I highly recommend you watch the reviews on it. It was absolute dog crap.

How sad. How can a game that is in development for so long be such a let-down? I guess I will wait till I can get it for $5.

I don't think the length of the development cycle has any real bearing on the quality of a game.

It sounds pretty good. From Wikipedia:



Although I love FPS games I feel I can respect this decision. Lately it seems like Aliens have been more targets for a shoot em up than the scary things they should be.

In the context of the Aliens universe, everyone probably remembers how the Marines were firing caseless 10mm light armor piercing explosive tip rifle rounds in full auto at the Aliens and how a lot of the rounds would nevertheless deflect off of them. It would seem like after multiple hits a round or two would make it through the carapace and then blow off a chunk due to the explosive tip which is also why there was a problem with acid splash.

This is completely different than being able to casually blow away heaps of aliens with whatever small arms you want which is what has become the norm in the franchise. If anything, the vast majority of small arms wielded by an individual without anti-armor capabilities should indeed be ineffective against a xenomorph especially when deployed in the intervening second or two before the alien closes. The film Aliens showed up a shotgun fired into the open mouth of a xenomorph...but if you think about it a shotgun fired into the carapace of a xenomorph shouldn't penetrate if armor piercing rifle rounds often don't.

So, yeah, I'm excited by Isolation. It seems like a more thoughtful design, more true to the world.

There's a great 10 minute or so video I saw show casing it and just the atmosphere of the game alone is phenomenal. The lighting and audio in particular were very well thought out by the developers.

Also, I think by now we all know the most effective human weapon against the xenomorphs are flame throwers.

Colonial Marines makes Baby Gamers cry.

Wow Isolation looks fantastic. I'll be getting that one.


Colonial Marines sucked - and that really pisses me off. It should have been an outstanding game. It takes a special set of skills to ruin a setting like that.

Aliens doesn't really lend itself to FPS, IMO. Colonial Marines should have been a tactical game, either turn-based like XCOM or real-time like Ground Control.

AvP2 rocked pretty hardcore O.o

Turn-based like XCOM would've been neat but ultimately somewhat futile, I think. While the marines have a somewhat varied armory to deploy, all the xenomorphs you'd ever be shooting at would be face huggers and the more traditional ones. It would take a hell of a team to make that interesting enough.

Being able to play AS the dirty Xenos-Scum was a nice touch ^^