Aliens: Colonial Marines

[excaliburps]

I checked the multiplatform threads and I was surprised that I didn't see a thread for Colonial Marines (if there's one, please point me to it).

Does this mean no one here is excited for it? I just re-watched Alien and Aliens and I must say, sci-fi games or similar games borrow a ton of ideas from the Alien movies. Yes, I know this is common knowledge but it's surprising how much it's so. I mean, the original movies were released in what? 1979 and 1986 if I remember correctly.

Anyhoo, who's excited for the game? I was very skeptical of it, I admit but things are looking rosier than eve -- and the the fact that most, if not all, the hands-on I've read so far have been very favorable adds fuel even more.

To be honest, I don't mind it being a corridor shooter; as long as it's done well. Imagine Dead Space but with Aliens and as a FPS? How can that NOT be good, no?

For multiplayer. my only concern is how can they make the Aliens side compelling? I'd imagine there would be like 3-6 different alien breeds but can that sustain the game in the long run? I'm personally excited to play the game's campaign and going co-op through the whole gamut!

What are your thoughts, TAYers?

[Waldorf and Statler]

Looks interesting and I've heard good things, but the Alien brand seems to have a horrible luck with video games [and Predators]. So I'll remain cautious.

[Johnny]

I'm all for the idea of something in the Aliens universe.

Only issue is that I've still never played a fully gearbox-made game I enjoyed. Their games just feel weird to me. Opposing Force doesn't count because it was built on top of the already great Half-Life.

 

On the other hand I hear a bunch of people actually thought Borderlands was playable, so I guess I'm just being super-picky about control feeling as usual.

[TheMightyEthan]

I got all excited for the recent AvP game, and that burned me, so I haven't been able to get myself interested in this.

[Cyber Rat]

I hope it's good, but like Johnny said, it's Gearbox. And the only Gearbox game I thought was good was Opposing Force.

[TheMightyEthan]

Oh jeez, I'd heard of Gearbox but didn't really have them associated in my mind with any specific games. Just looked them up and that's not the best pedigree...

[Waldorf and Statler]

I'm honestly quite surprised. I thought practically everybody loved Borderlands.

 

And I wouldn't take Duke Nukem Forever into account here. That game was practically all done and they literally didn't touch anything to keep it like the original vision

[TheMightyEthan]

Borderlands was okay. A big part of the problem for me was that by the time I played it everyone else was done with it so I played alone.

[Johnny]

I got all excited for the recent AvP game, and that burned me, so I haven't been able to get myself interested in this.

 

I never understood what people had against this one. I loved it, particularly the multiplayer. The only consistent complaint I've heard about it was how much the execution moves left you vulnerable. The solution to which is to not use the execution moves too often.

[excaliburps]

Interestingly enough, I have yet to play Borderlands. I am aiming to rectify that situation though. I'm looking for a cheap GOTY copy that has all the DLCs. This is in preparation for Borderlands 2.

 

I actually hope Gearbox can pull this off, no? While the gameplay clips floating around aren't exactly mind-blowing, it's not exactly bad either. It seems A:CM might be one of those games where you need to play it rather than just watch one amazing trailer after another to 'get" it.

 

My main concern now is MP. How will they sustain players' attention?

[TheMightyEthan]

I got all excited for the recent AvP game, and that burned me, so I haven't been able to get myself interested in this.

 

I never understood what people had against this one. I loved it, particularly the multiplayer. The only consistent complaint I've heard about it was how much the execution moves left you vulnerable. The solution to which is to not use the execution moves too often.

 

I'm not much of a multiplayer guy unless I'm playing with people I actually know, and the campaign just felt all kinds of shoddy.

 

From what I did play of the multiplayer it was fun, but nothing to write home about.

[Waldorf and Statler]

@Ethan: there lies the problem. The brilliant aspect of the game was its multiplayer. I can't think of many games where the single player is practically made where co-op adds more to the experience.

 

I played the co-op with my cousin and just imagine two people in a car, running everything over and actually planning out how to storm bases and crap or beat bosses and crap like that. Once my cousin got rid of Borderlands, I stopped playing it as the singleplayer by itself is like playing Diablo II/an MMO by yourself. It can be done but it's not nearly as fun.

 

If I had played Borderlands I by myself I too would have only seen the game as ok.

[Maritan]

Those aliens from the videos look slow as fuck.

Edited April 13, 2012 by Maritan

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

I got all excited for the recent AvP game, and that burned me, so I haven't been able to get myself interested in this.

 

I never understood what people had against this one. I loved it, particularly the multiplayer. The only consistent complaint I've heard about it was how much the execution moves left you vulnerable. The solution to which is to not use the execution moves too often.

I've been playing through the campaigns, and it's pretty fun. It's not groundbreaking, but the Xenos and Preds' gameplay alone makes it a bit different from your standard FPS.

[deanb]

 

So it turns out the above discussion about Gearbox pedigree was moot since Gearbox shared the game with I think 3 other studios. Though Gearbox will likely take most of the brunt of the bad PR. 

As the video said Colonial MArines is a bit worrying as we learnt from Dead Island ignore the cinematic trailers  But now we learn to ignore gameplay ones too, and now with news demos hurt games, thus less demos, it severely limits sources to trust. Been a bit of a push in using it as a rallying point against pre-ordering too from TotalBiscuit. I'm not really an Aliens fan, but I imagine for those that had been following along for the past 6 years of development it must have been quite a kick in the jaw.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Honestly I see this and think to myself "even if Gearbox had a huge part of this, it is ONE bad game. Once they make two, then I'll be worried"

[toxicitizen]

Honestly I see this and think to myself "even if Gearbox had a huge part of this, it is ONE bad game. Once they make two, then I'll be worried"

 

[Waldorf and Statler]

Correct me if I'm wrong but they had little to no input on that. They basically finished the code hat 3D Realms had already made. I can't blame them for respecting the wishes of the original makers.

 

 

 

After ceasing internal game development, 3D Realms approached noted game developers Gearbox Software^{[note 2]}
and asked them if they were interested in helping Triptych Games polish
the nearly finished PC version and port it to the consoles.^{[note 3]} Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford, who had worked on an expansion to Duke Nukem 3D and very briefly on Forever before he left to found Gearbox, felt that "Duke can't die" and decided that he was going to help "in Duke’s time of need."^[58] He started providing funding for the game and contacted 2K Games'
president to persuade his company that Gearbox and Triptych can
complete the development of the game and get it released on all
platforms in time. Duke Nukem Forever was originally intended to be a PC exclusive game, however 2K and Gearbox had hired Piranha Games to port the game designed for PC to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and added a Mulitplayer in order to raise sales.

The game was officially re-announced at the Penny Arcade Expo 2010 on September 3, 2010.^[59][60][61]
It was the first time in the game's development history that gamers
were able to actually try the game—according to Pitchford, "the line has
gotten up to four hours long to see the game".^[58]Gearbox Software subsequently purchased the Duke Nukem intellectual property from 3D Realms, and 2K Games held the exclusive long-term publishing rights of the game.^[62][63]

Development was almost complete with only minor polishing to be done^[64] before the game was to be released in 2011.

Edited February 17, 2013 by Waldorf And Statler

[deanb]

Duke Nukem, Colonial Marines, Half-Life, Halo, basically have Gearbox as "that studio that happily has other studios sloppy seconds". The only two franchises they fully have to their name being Brothers in Arms (of which the upcoming one seems to have a rather low expectation, and ACM won't help) and Borderlands, where most of the fun is provided by you. Gearboxes general reputation isn't going to come away from this unscathed, and their upcoming games are going ot have to do hella good to repair it. Their upcoming games being the aforementioned BiA as well as a Duke Nukem sequel. SEGA are also highly unlikely to work with them ever again too, and are probably a bit miffed they went with Gearbox over Obsidians RPG.

[Waldorf and Statler]

Maybe. But if it had been me I would have gone with the guys who make Borderlands over the guys who are notorious for issues with deadlines and bugs.

 

Though Obsidian would have at least made a cool RPG hybrid. Either ways Gearbox won't come out shining from this yeah. If that new game that used to be a Brothers In Arms ends up being disappointing they'll basically only have Borderlands as their shining beacon.

[toxicitizen]

Correct me if I'm wrong but they had little to no input on that. They basically finished the code hat 3D Realms had already made. I can't blame them for respecting the wishes of the original makers.

 

I know, I just couldn't resist.

 

That being said, Dean is right. Gearbox's reputation is definitely going to take a major hit for this. Regardless of how much of the game was actually their work, they were the studio in charge of the project. So any screw-ups that happened on the planning or management level is entirely on them. And even though they probably had nothing to do with how PR and such was handled, that whole bait-and-switch thing with the preview demos is simply disgraceful and they can't really distance themselves from that.

 

Also, that Inglorious Basterds-inspired shooter might not be that well-received considering it was initially a BIA game and they had to back out of that because the fans were pissed. Not exactly the greatest first impression. The game looked kinda cool, though.

Edited February 17, 2013 by FLD

[Cyber Rat]

Don't worry, I expect good ol' Randy will tell everyone how they're shit for not liking Colonial Marines. Same as with DNF.

[deanb]

He's already said he profits from criticism (after his 2-3 day radio silence post launch) so he's clearly taking it in his stride.

[TheMightyEthan]

that whole bait-and-switch thing with the preview demos is simply disgraceful and they can't really distance themselves from that.

 

What bait-and-switch thing?

[deanb]

See the video I linked yesterday that sparked the recent bit of activity in this thread.