Aliens: Colonial Marines Review

1 out of 5 stars

Aliens: Colonial Marines had all the signs of a great game in the making. It was developed for the past six years by Gearbox Studios, the makers of Borderlands. Its world has been painstakingly crafted, with designers from James Cameron’s Aliens, the film it was inspired by, being brought in for its re-creation. Actors from the film and plenty of references were incorporated to add an extra bit of authenticity. Somewhere along the way though, things fell apart.

The final product, credited to a total of four different development teams, time and time again serves as a slap in the face to the franchise it represents. The fact that it’s also one of the most mediocre, visually unappealing shooters of this generation doesn’t help.

Aliens: Colonial Marines is set up as a narrative sequel to the second film in the Aliens series. Several months after the events of the film, the USS Sephora arrives in response to the distress signal of the space cruiser Sulaco.

Upon boarding, Corporal Christopher Winter and his fellow Marines find themselves caught between an infestation of ravenous xenomorphs, the parasitic extraterrestrial antagonists of the films, and a squadron of Weyland-Yutani soldiers, a shady corporate military organization. With their escape route cut off, Winter must lead his troops through enemy territory in a desperate attempt to find a way off the Sulaco.

For its many problems – which I’ll be getting to, trust me – Colonial Marines’ biggest failure is easily its story. Action aside, what made Aliens such a great film is the amount of personality and style it managed to give its Marines. They weren’t the deepest in cinematic history, but characters like Hudson and Hicks were far more interesting than the average screen leatherneck.

In Colonial Marines, “average leatherneck” describes almost every character. Winter, stuck in the role of player character, never really gets an identity beyond what gun he’s holding. Meanwhile, the rest of his squad fills in the standard roles, with a heavy arms specialist, technology expert and gruff squad leader all making appearances.

It doesn’t help that the story never offers anything new or interesting to the mythology. At best, this could have just been an excuse to go on a bug hunt and kill xenomorphs. But the game’s narrative, considered an official part of the franchise by 20th Century Fox, frequently contradicts or ignores the events of the previous films.

This would be a forgivable offense if the game wasn’t meant to be a love letter to Alien fans. However, every level is packed with familiar elements, most of the achievements are named after quotes from the franchise and a number of Legendary Weapons from the series can be found throughout the campaign.

There’s an odd disconnect between intent and execution. For every moment that’ll bring a smile to fans’ lips, there are a dozen that serve only to piss them off. There are just too many moments that make it feel like Colonial Marines shouldn’t be an Aliens game.

Most of these moments come down to the titular creatures themselves. The smart, deadly hunters that stalked Ripley in the film are nowhere to be found in this game. Instead, players come up against a group of AI op ponents that would have been embarrassing in shooters from over a decade ago.

Every xenomorph has one mode of attack: run at the player in a straight line and attack with its claws. Save for the occasional acid-spitting variant, this is all that one of science fiction’s most iconic monsters is capable of. They aren’t a threat; they’re a joke who are all too happy to cluster together and be mowed down by pulse rifle fire.

The gunplay is decent, but it’s no fun fighting enemies that barely fight back. There’s an upgrade system to explore, but nothing that offers any real change or im pact on gameplay. And while the guns look quite good, the slowdown and texture pop-in makes the graphics look like a game from early in the Play Station 2’s lifecycle.

There’s just nothing that works in Colonial Marines favor.

It all adds up to one of the biggest disappointments in gaming in a long while. Terrible gameplay, outdated graphics and a mishandling of one of cinema’s greatest monsters adds up to an insult to fans who have spent the better part of a decade waiting for this game. Instead of a fun ride at the helm of a power loader, Colonial Marines is more like a facehugger trying to strangle the life out of the Aliens franchise.