Aliens: Colonial Marines - Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen

[Lens of Truth]

Yeah, third person. IGN put sums up my expectations pretty well, 'It ultimately comes down to an unavoidable fact: the game has to show you the xenomorph.' And while that'd still be true in in third person, Dead Space manages to pull it off, probably because it's a survival horror with platforming and puzzle elements. I think Alien should have gone this route, not run and gun.

I agree that the franchise would be better served by a hybrid survival horror structure. I'm still hoping some of that feel makes its way into this. It could strike a balance, as Aliens does, between suspense and balls-to-the-wall action - trickier to pull off in a game though and in first person. I'd love for the early portions to be mainly clue finding/exploration. Really it should do it like ZombiU!

[Fierce_LiNk]

I think the classes are a great way to make the multiplayer more fun. Without them I think it would get stale very quickly.

 

But why even bother with a multiplayer? Why must everything have a multiplayer these days? The AvP games have a multiplayer, so what is there to distinguish between this game and those?

 

They have a supreme opportunity here to create something different to what we've had before. We've already had the opportunity to play as marines, so what is new here? We already have had single player missions where we head into the hive to rescue our compatriots, so what is different this time? The difference should be the depth in the gameplay and how it looks, feels and sounds like a video-game adaption of the films. Hell, some have even said it is a sequel to Aliens, in some sort of alternate universe. That is the game's selling point. From what we've seen, this is where the game seems to get so many things right. Initially, when we were told that this was a single-player videogame from the marine's perspective, I was so excited. This is what we've wanted for so long. Not for the ability to take part in missions as a marine. We were finally being able to (in a video-game sense) become the marine, a marine, a character, with the ability to interact with other marines as if we were almost in the films themselves.

 

It's a shame some of this original promise has been lost.

[Diageo]

Well we clearly have different priorities here because what excited me about this game was the multiplayer aspect.

[Magnus]

But why even bother with a multiplayer? Why must everything have a multiplayer these days? The AvP games have a multiplayer, so what is there to distinguish between this game and those?

Because multiplayer helps sell games, and as long as you're playing the multiplayer, you're not going to trade the game in.

 

That said, I really couldn't care less about multiplayer and think all games should just leave it out. :p

[Daft]

I think all games should just be cutscenes of around two hours in length.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Well we clearly have different priorities here because what excited me about this game was the multiplayer aspect.

 

You played any of the AvP games? Give AvP2 a bash. Really quite something in multiplayer. Loved it.

 

Because multiplayer helps sell games, and as long as you're playing the multiplayer, you're not going to trade the game in.

 

That said, I really couldn't care less about multiplayer and think all games should just leave it out. :p

 

True, that is a good point. But, the time they're spending adding a multiplayer could have been spent perfecting the singleplayer, or getting it out a lot sooner.

 

I think all games should just be cutscenes of around two hours in length.

 

MGS says hi.

[Daft]

MGS says hi.

 

Which MGS did you play!?

 

Those cutscenes were at least 8 hours long. Each.

[somme]

Why is co-op such a big issue? All of the movies were co-op, until the last 10 minutes or so.

 

And the different Xenomorphs don't bother me either. As the producer (or whoever) said, these aliens are broken. Either due to the radiation of the explosion of the base on LV4-26 or simply being alone with no food/prey for so long. Also the movies already showed us there are different types of Xenomorph, this game is simply expanding on that.

[liger05]

Is this confirmed to be releasing on the same day as the 360 version?

[Lens of Truth]

Is this confirmed to be releasing on the same day as the 360 version?

No, I'm afraid not. I can't imagine it would be delayed for developmental reasons because they've had plenty of time to get the Wii U version ready. Hope we hear soon.

[liger05]

No, I'm afraid not. I can't imagine it would be delayed for developmental reasons because they've had plenty of time to get the Wii U version ready. Hope we hear soon.

 

Hopefully as it just means I could end up getting the 360 version instead if we have to wait too long.

[dazzybee]

I heard it it's getting released later. Fuck me. Only a couple of days ago I was saying this game was the first multi platform release it is getting the same time as the other consoles and not gimped in any way. And then this news... Why the hell would they delay it? Its like 3rd parties are hell bent on making sure their games fuck up on the wii u!

[Lens of Truth]

The only thing I can think of is that it might be stuck in Nintendo testing hell. But then they let Sonic Racing through and that was a nightmare before the first patch (and still freezes on me a lot online). Surely Nintendo subjecting it to their cherished and often demented "space things out" policy wouldn't come into play?

 

I've just started going through the movies on blu in the run up! Hoping the inevitable delay is a matter of day/weeks rather than months...

[liger05]

Last night Gearbox Software announced that Aliens: Colonial Marines had gone gold on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. But there was no mention of the game on Wii U.

 

We asked Sega what was going on. The publisher told us the Wii U version is due out in the Wii U launch window which, technically, runs up to the end of March 2013.

 

Sega reiterated it had never announced the Tuesday, 12th February date for Wii U. That worldwide date only ever applied on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

 

Gearbox Software isn't developing the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines. That responsibility has fallen to Demiurge Studios.

 

That sux!!

[dazzybee]

If it'snot ready it's not ready. But yet again it's another reason for people not to get the wii u version, or get a wii u in general. All these (many) small things add up and it is extremely off putting!

[Cube]

Gearbox Software isn't developing the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines. That responsibility has fallen to Demiurge Studios.

 

I thought Gearbox were one of the studios who were extremely enthusiastic about the Wii U.

[liger05]

I thought Gearbox were one of the studios who were extremely enthusiastic about the Wii U.

 

Didnt they say the Wii U version would be the best looking version of the game?

[Lens of Truth]

I thought Gearbox were one of the studios who were extremely enthusiastic about the Wii U.

They were.

Didnt they say the Wii U version would be the best looking version of the game?

They did.

 

This is rather worrying. The Wii U version has gone from being talked up as the flagship version to seeming like an nuisance afterthought. Hope the extra few weeks results in a good product and not an Epic Mickey 2 job. =/

Edited January 17, 2013 by Lens of Truth

[Daft]

I'm puzzled as to why they've handed the Wii U version of to another studio. I actually can't think of any reason.

[The Bard]

Presumably has something to with resources being allocated to the Brothers in Arms sequel and ongoing Borderlands 2 DLC.

[Daft]

Surely that isn't cost efficient? Plus, you'd have to brief new people in toward the end of a project which almost always results in a cluster-fuck of problems.

[The Bard]

Alternatively you could follow suit with every one else and not give a fuck about the quality of the Wii U port.

[Daft]

I'm honestly just fascinated by shitty middle-managment logistics. I think the game will be arse on all consoles.

[Zechs Merquise]

Wow, this has turned out to be another total screw-up. All the hype about this being the 'best' console version.

 

I don't see it turning out well on any console, but now I get the sneaking suspicion that the Wii U version will be the poor relation!

[The Bard]

I'm honestly just fascinated by shitty middle-managment logistics. I think the game will be arse on all consoles.

 

Well, it's not the logistics I'm concerned about on that front. The fact is that their levels are ripped straight from sets used in the movies - angular design, narrow corridors and small rooms - which make sense from a filmic perspective, but I don't have that much confidence that it'll make for good level design.

 

At the same time though, Gearbox have never made a bad game (DNF being exempt - it's not theirs).