Many have tried, but few have succeeded. Despite the rich source material and the fact that most modern shooters have liberally borrowed from the films, you can count the number of decent Aliens games on one hand. The hand of a clumsy five-finger-fillet player.
Most recently, Rebellion tried to resurrect Aliens vs Predator, the original of which is still seen as the only credible game to star H.R. Giger's Xenomorphs, but it was a flop.
Even with all the fancy lighting tech and pin-sharp sound capabilities of modern consoles, no-one has managed to capture the brutal, foreboding essence of Aliens. That may be about to change.
Early signs are promising. The original teaser trailer set fan forums alight with mention of LV-426, the planet nuked during Aliens, and since then footage has really captured the feeling of being part of the Colonial Marines - right down to the kit they use, the way they move, and the banter they shout.
Gearbox have a whole group dedicated to accuracy called the Truth Team. Created in 2008, after the announcement of Colonial Marines, these testers regularly play through the latest version of the game, looking for continuity errors inside and outside the plot. If it doesn't belong in the Aliens universe, or feels too fiddly or tenuous, these guys report back to the devs. It's impressive commitment.
Colonial Marines is a spiritual successor to Cameron's Aliens, but we want new surprises...
CAMERON VS SCOTT
So, what of the game? The demo we played was a Call of Duty-style thrill-ride, with a wealth of references to the movies. There's no doubting its intensity in these heavy action sequences, and to Gearbox's credit, they've nailed the look and sound of the tools - the Pulse rifles, the Motion sensors - but for us the true beauty of Aliens is the stuff you don't see, combined with the feeling of being inside a terrifying place. Will there be slower moments with more tension and horror?
"Aliens Colonial Marines is much more a spiritual successor to Cameron's Aliens than the other films," says Cozzens. "But we also are big fans of the lone survival aspet of Ridley's Alien. We want the game to stand out amongst current first-person shooters so you'll see where we dial up and down action, suspense, mystery and horror throughout the game - we're aiming for a buffet of these elements."
It's here we get our first sniff of Aliens - a facehugger floats motionlessly in a tank until we approach, when it suddenly comes to life, banging against the glass to try and break free. A cheap scare, but it feels perfectly in context. We navigate another series of jumpy moments torn straight from Dead Space and emerge inside a control room. Here the entire wall is missing, leaving an uninterrupted view of the Hadley's Hope colony. Or what's left of it. It's a big, brash homage - a love letter to James Cameron - and it's what we've waited years to see.
Comments
13 comments so far...
mrsatan on 29 Oct '11 said:
I remember watching a video for this a little while back and I concur with most of the feelings here. The guns don't have the "oomph" expected and the marine has no head-bob or body movement which seems a bit jarring after playing a game like BF3. I don't have a problem with the introduction of new Aliens if they are done correctly. Didn't the original games have a few alien varieties?
The biggest problem I currently see is the Aliens are weak as hell. I think the animate pretty well (people fail to realize how hard it is to animate a quadraped in a game world) and I bet Gearbox has worked hard to get it right. They certainly look better than last years AVP game. I just hope they aren't so damn weak. It seemed to barely take any fire to take them down. In the Alien films they are tough bastards, taking several rounds and even crawling after you after being cut in half. They just need to seem more lethal.
Warrior24_7 on 29 Oct '11 said:
Wow! Comparing this to HALO, Gears of War, and COD is high praise considering those are the best shooters in the business! But I'll still take my usual wait and see approach when it comes to gaming.
boonattack on 29 Oct '11 said:
Simple answer to the question: no chance.
CoDs fan base is far too large to be toppled, and their annual release is likely to continue for many years with sales not changing.
HALO will be bought by at least 90% of 360 owners 'cause lets face it - there's not much else. (I am a 360 owner btw, and I mean 4 not the remake)
As for Gears, I have never seen the appeal personally, but its another big 360 favourite - especially in the states.
As much as I would love another FPS game (I'm so sad you cant see my sarcasm face) this game won't sell anywhere near as much even if it is better - just look at Borderlands, Bulletstorm or Rage.
Flamestrike on 29 Oct '11 said:
I haven't played a decent Alien game since Trilogy on the PSone.
Maybe this might change that.
Padua on 29 Oct '11 said:
Love Aliens. Would love a great Aliens game
I always got that Alien's were n't meant to be bad ass near indestructible - other than the royalty
Their strength is in their numbers - like ants.
Multiplayer would be so exciting if the Alien tactics were more stealth-based (with extra fast spawn times) and the Marines tactics were more run-and-gun.
As a multi-platform title it could topple Halo and Gears - if it was as slick and fun to play as Arkham Asylum/City.
ffcoppolla on 29 Oct '11 said:
Trilogy was awful, Resurrection was better on the PSone. It even had mouse support.
toaplan on 29 Oct '11 said:
"Most recently, Rebellion tried to resurrect Aliens vs Predator, the original of which is still seen as the only credible game to star H.R. Giger's Xenomorphs, but it was a flop."
Alien vs Predator on the Atari Jaguar was very good from what I've heard. Personally, I played quite a lot of Alien 3, both on the Megadrive and the SNES. Also, the 1990 Aliens coin-op game by Konami was very good. Sega's 1993 coin-op "Alien 3: the Gun" is fondly remembered as well.
Well, those are all old games. But the Alien universe should still be pretty good source material for a game. If they have just slavishly aped James Cameron's incredible 1986 Alien sequel, they should have done quite well.
Welsh Jester on 29 Oct '11 said:
The game looks too consoley for me so far, don't think it can really be that good even though i want it to be.
Beating Halo and Cod should be simple even if it's a decent game.. not very high hopes atm for this
Welsh Jester on 29 Oct '11 said:
Are you serious man? serious..?
Halo is the most overrated game EVER, have you never played any shooters on the PC at all?. Can't believe people say things like that.
razors edge on 30 Oct '11 said:
It's 'Bug Hunt', not 'Big Hunt'.
Oh and I'm Hudson sir, he's Hicks.
bamozzy on 31 Oct '11 said:
Having seen a 10minute plus video http://www.computerandvideogames.com/320918/aliens-colonial-marines-gameplay-gets-randy-pitchford-commentary/ of this demo as described, I am still yet to reserve judgement on whether this has the ability to topple any shooter let alone Halo, Gears, COD etc.
The overall look initially is impressive and it appears to have captured the world of 'Aliens' with some degree of accuracy - that is until you start to see everything in action.
The first disappointment comes from the aliens themselves. Apart from the look of them (they appear to have recreated the look of Gigers alien very well) but not the fluidity of movement. In fact I would go so far as to say the 'Aliens' have nothing in common with their celluloid counterparts apart from the way they look.
The most fundamental thing about 'Aliens' if you were trying to describe an attribute, would be their 'acid blood'. Who can forget seeing the crew members running to lower floors when they spill some blood to see how many floors it eats through, the splash damage on the walls and floors etc. Also when Ripley drives the APC in a rescue mission (aliens), an alien nearly gets aboard but gets shot causing splash damage to a soldier necessitating in the rapid removal of body armour before it gets eaten through by the Alien blood. (The close encounter bit in the video would result in a lot of splash damage to the character leading to massive injury - currently it looks pathetic and not in keeping with the already established behaviour and attributes!!). The aliens also appear incredibly weak and do not appear to use their 'tails' as weaponry. It appears that they are nothing more than cannon fodder that have bright green gloop for blood that disappears moments after shooting. How very disappointing
In fact the blood reminds me of and is no better than Turok on the N64 (so much for the graphics!!) 
.
What is the point of trying to get everything to 'look' authentic if the Aliens do not behave and move authentically too. We have seen many games where the human element (movement, guns, etc) has been created to feel 'right'. Alien v Predator tried hard to get the characteristics of each group but again failed to get the blood aspect of the aliens. The aliens also have the ability to blend in to their backgrounds and remain motionless (undetectable on motion sensors) until you get near to them. They didn't just stick to vents!!! They showed intelligence, planning, strategy, survival instincts, co-ordination etc. They are more than just mindless animals that attack at any opportunity!!
Maybe the developers should wait until the next generation of consoles are available - that may allow them the graphical power to be able to create the acidic nature of the blood, the fluidity of motion etc. As it stands at the moment - this game shows promise but is FAR from ready. I hope that the finished game redresses the 'Aliens' and sorts out these issues otherwise what's the point of creating the universe if the Aliens from it are nothing like their 'film lookalikes'
All aliens film fans, of which I am one, have been waiting for a game to deliver the 'Alien' experience. But it takes more than just looks and language. There has to be fear, tension, drama, feeling outnumbered, petrified of the aliens (who can be scared of the cannon fodder that just rolls over with a quick splash of green gloop and dies after being shot) and elements of problem solving - where to hold up, when to run, protect someone whilst they remote pilot a dropship, which doors to weld shut maybe to channel the aliens down a certain path for better killing opportunities with sentries but consider escape routes etc.
As I said before this game shows promise but unless these things are addressed then this becomes just another shooter. Certainly I would NOT be purchasing it if this is indicative of the final product. As soon as you have seen and shot your first alien, the whole of the Alien universe collapses as they are not characteristic of the aliens from the films.
The developers seem to have got the look right lets hope they can get the feel, tension and characteristics of the Universe right too. It will separate them from 'yet another crap Alien game' to 'an essential purchase for all alien and shooter fans'. At least they have time to rectify this.
As for whether or not they can topple game franchises such as Halo, Gears, COD, Killzone, Resistance etc. I certainly believe they have the potential to topple 1-2 them, but these franchises have delivered their believable universes consistently and accurately over more than one game (admittedly, their universes were created from scratch) - We are yet to have a decent and believable Alien game. It is tougher, I believe, for the developers to recreate a universe than to create a new one. Its the reason I am sure most film tie-in games fail as the audience already has an expectation and knowledge of every aspect - this leads to extra disappointment when these are not met. Subsequently Gearbox are likely to face tougher scrutiny than Bungie for example. No one can tell Bungie that the covenant wouldn't say/do what they do as they created them. But we have all seen the movies so know what the Aliens are actually capable of doing.
As they say time will tell, I will continue to watch the development of this game with interest but will reserve judgement until its released. Gearbox - if you are reading this - I hope you deliver!!
The world needs an authentic 'Alien' game and this could deliver.
Warrior24_7 on 31 Oct '11 said:
Don't give me that "PC" bull$h!t!! The PC is THE MOST overrated piece of hardware ever!
Nobody cares about the PC...nobody! Isnt the console version of BF3 outselling the broken @$$ PC version? Let me help you with that... yep, it is !!!
radiocat on 4 Nov '11 said:
I think the key to making the co-op scary would be to force players to split up. When the four players are on-screen together, they're going to feel invincible. But then make it so that they have to separate and go off on their own or in pairs. It could get well scary. Then get them all back together and have them face a massive wave of xenos.
It could be great. The only thing is that the Aliens are a bit samey as enemies. It could get quite boring unless there is a strong narrative driving it.