Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
hardcore_gamer

Aliens: Colonial Marines is out.....and it sucks.

Recommended Posts

hardcore_gamer said:

I guess nobody is willing to blindly throw 50 bucks at a game most people are claiming to be bad.

I originally read this post as sarcasm, but then I noticed this wasn't the Star Wars thread.

Share this post


Link to post
hardcore_gamer said:

I guess nobody is willing to blindly throw 50 bucks at a game most people are claiming to be bad.


DNF marked the only occasion where I was willing to do that.

Share this post


Link to post
Caffeine Freak said:

DNF marked the only occasion where I was willing to do that.

And that's what it feels like to get fucked in the ass.

Share this post


Link to post

So.... as I still wait for Colonial Marines to download (not the fastest connection right now), I play the marine campaign of AvP 2K10. After watching some video reviews and seeing people complain about regenerating health that goes in 3rds that's here. You can't kill friendly AI... that's here too, but at least you can't shoot at friendly AI. NPCs don't look at you.... that's here too.

On the plus side enemy AI seems good most of the time they run from your gunfire if they are far enough. If they're close they'll lunge at you until you spam the melee button. One xenomorph seems deadly enough on normal but seem okay on easy. Aliens go from walls to floors to ceilings and limp when injured. Shooting them in the head seems to take them out well... but seeing black on black even with a flashlight is difficult especially with such subtle crosshairs.

At the end of missions I feel like I'm done and need a break instead of OMG yeah let's get to the next mission! If there weren't blunt mission end screens I'd probably keep playing, but whatever. Oh and I pretty much forget that Predators are even in the game.

Now onto playing Colonial Marines :-)

Share this post


Link to post

I have that problem with almost every FPS game since Doom III. I can't play most games for more than an hour. Half-Life 2 and the Portal games are exceptions. Same goes for Elder Scrolls stuff. I wonder why this is.

Share this post


Link to post

I think because any kind of ending screen means break time. I think when I made the transition from HL1 to HL2 even a long loading screen made me want to stop playing. Elder Scrolls for me had brief loading screens where it wasn't as jarring. I ended up playing Final Fantasy 1 this morning for far too long just because there was no stop in the action. Plus the fact you need to go save and can't just quit.

Colonial Marines installing :-)

Share this post


Link to post
Technician said:

And that's what it feels like to get fucked in the ass.


Must feel good then because I rather enjoyed it. I paid for the special release (I forget...Balls of Steel edition?), but I liked it. I felt I got my money's worth and occasionally play it on Xbox Live, there's a decent amount of activity and the multiplayer is pretty fun.

Share this post


Link to post

THE GAME (no spoilers and I'll warn when there are slight spoilers) >>

The popup instructions are jarring if not archaic. With AvP 2K10 the popup instructions were subtle and you had a voice over telling you about them.

Blow torching through doors has a percentage of how far you are through the door and the bar just seems unneeded. AvP 2K10 had where you muscle open doors. HL1 expansion even had where you cut down doors. Both seemed like they belonged in the game. The percentage just didn't belong in the game. In fact the percentage meter shows for a lot of animations of you doing stuff. I guess that way you know when its time to take control again. Maybe these are nitpicks, but they just feel out of place now.

So what about map design? Uh straight forward tough to get lost. With AvP 2K10 it showed you your objective with a box you could see... it would be 3 meters away. The catch is you'd have to go around some clutter and junk to find your way to the objective. It wouldn't be as easy as walking straight. With Colonial Marines it is as easy as walking straight... over and over maybe turning a corner and walking straight again. Navigation can get marred by extremely dark areas (the flashlight isn't good enough). I did have to crank up the brightness. The environments are good, but AvP 2K10 environments are better and has more interesting lighting and environments. Its easy to be better when AvP takes place on a planet and CM seems to take place on a drop ship but maybe this ship goes down to the planet.

Xenomorphs feel like... boom right in front of you! They weren't there now they spring out! Then run toward you! There are uh background enemies that seem to really do nothing. Like they're no threat at all, they just run in circles and I feel like I'm okay with not shooting them to save ammo. The enemies are also big. Bigger than AvP so they require less aim. With AvP I felt like they were sleek and oh snake like with slender bodies. With this game they're big and bulky. Yet the face huggers feel tiny when they're away from your face.

Acid blood seems to do nothing. AvP 2K10 acid seemed to do something and had a nice effect on screen. You had to melee away from you and then kill. Plus if you run through an acid corpse it does nothing and AvP damaged you. That game made me want to stay away.

I was happy when human enemies appeared, because I felt like I had to use aim and or skill to kill some people. They hide behind things then stupidly jump out to get killed. In fact several times I didn't even have to move the crosshairs they just ran in front of it. Their other weakness seems to be flanking. They never notice someone that flanks them.

The section with humans of course (first section with human enemies of course) felt like my interest just dropped off a damn cliff. The music ended and stopped for what felt like 20 minutes. The tension ended. It turned into such a long boring level. Like zzz... I even decided to let my friendlies do the work but they just wouldn't. They'd literally bump into the enemies. There was no urgency. I'm falling asleep playing the game.

I felt too powerful even on normal difficulty. I was never surprised nothing comes to flank you or comes from the ceiling. They come from ahead or behind and always straight. Plus it only took a shotgun shell or 2 to put everything down :-( I never ran out of ammo in fact I was maxed out a lot of the time when with AvP I almost always had none even on easy.

There are times when my motion tracker is full of enemies... but they only attack one at a time. Friendlies are iffy on whether or not they'll even react to aliens coming out. If friendlies are in transit then they react and shoot at aliens but it doesn't damage the aliens from what I've noticed. In fact you can stand in their crossfire. Now I understand why the pro reviews complain about it. Its just glaring, constantly.

There is regenerating health like in AvP... but the catch is its not really a regen where it goes 10% 11% 12% this is like a huge jump where it will go 10% to 33%. It regens 1/3rd of your health with health packs to do the rest. Just like AvP, but I think they did it better without the health jump.

The weapons having a scope is nice and modernized I can actually hit what I'm shooting at unlike AvP 2K10 with its subtle crosshairs. Seeing xenomorphs even in a stage with human enemies would be nice. I'm sure it will happen. Hopefully the xenos will take on the humans with interesting results.

Oh and know what phrase I grew to hate... "hold em off while I get this open!" There was a time where the human enemies ran away and locked the door and I thought oh fuck... I'm gonna hear that line again. Nope the friendly just gave up. wtf? You blowtorch every other door open yet give up on this one without trying. Whatever.

This would feel at home in an Arcade... and the turrets sound like my grandpa's farm tractor.

SLIGHT SPOILERS THAT INVOLVE WHERE THE STORY STARTS BUT NOT ABOUT THE STORY >>

Dead or unconscious marine with his arm glitched slightly over the floor. Noticeably. Aliens in space. The game marines are on the same ship as the movie marines *I think* but there is some walkway that could be between 2 ships. Game marines are just woken up after the end of Aliens movie.

SPOILERS ABOUT HICKS AND BISHOP (used better than you'd think) >>

Hicks seems like a cameo that totally makes sense, but if he shows up in the game I'll let you know. Basically you quickly come across the cryo sleeping tubes from the survivors of the first movie pretty quick.

Bishop is in the game... but he's an android so this is like Bisop #2 of #100 or something.

IN CONCLUSION >>

Is it the worst thing ever? Nope. Is it engaging? Nope... but the last level I played was pushing my tolerance. When I start wondering what am I doing with my life playing this game, that is not a good thing. Will I play it to the end... sure. But after all of this being said I have an itch to go back and play AvP 2K10 instead.

Share this post


Link to post
DooM_RO said:

I had high hopes for this game. Oh well, let's hope Crysis 3 is good. Good PC games are few and far between.


I played C3 multiplayer demo and it is very nice. Graphics+gameplay rule.

Share this post


Link to post
Mr. T said:

I played C3 multiplayer demo and it is very nice. Graphics+gameplay rule.


Me too. Finally something that will put my PC on its knees (besides ultra modded Skyrim) speaking of which, there is a very interesting mod for Skyrim that dramatically improves FPS(yes it DOES work) and they promise they will use it for other games too and I am hoping it will also be available for Crysis 3. Here it is http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/15123

As for the new Aliens game... I had really high hopes for this one, considering the studio involved. I was hoping it would be like an improved Doom 3. Oh well.

Share this post


Link to post

DOH!!

I was looking forward to this game! I even stayed away from reviews as I find they nit pick about every little thing and by reading it you then notice it in game. If I had not read it I most likely not have noticed it.

I was hoping Gearbox would have done this properly!

Yea, im not expecting it to be the best game ever made, but at least a decent aliens game rather then all this AvP rubbish. (Though I did love the classic one)

My copy is in the post right now, so may as well install it and try to enjoy it!

I almost feel like giving up on games, nearly every game I have bought in the last 2 years has been totally pants! I nearly always play old games.....dont know why I bother upgrading my PC any longer.

I hope this changes when the new generation of consoles come out, but if anything that will just improve graphics and catch up with the power of current GPUs, but not necessarily make games any better to play!

Maybe some of the games being made on the 'Kick Starter' program will result in some quality stuff!

*sigh*


I feel depressed now, especially as I bought the 'SPECIAL' edition! That was a load of money I could have spent on something else. Im embarrassed now!!!!

Anyway, I shall post my thoughts here after playing the game. Maybe not all lost......though doubt it!

Share this post


Link to post

That's the catch. I really feel Gearbox didn't do this game they just finished it. In fact I'm starting to think this wasn't an Aliens game at all. This was a standard corridor shooter against human enemies. Then when Gearbox bought it they slapped an Aliens franchise on it. Maybe its the other way around where Gearbox slapped the human foes in.

I played a level with zero action for about 5 minutes. Then the action hit of course... At least the environments were nice, but there was decompression with no risk of lack of oxygen. The explosive decompression yet there was no pull.

There was a giant stretch of no aliens for 30 minutes. The humans haven't done any damage to me in that 30 minutes. Plus the armor seems way too abundant to pick up that you really can't get damaged. Then there was a giant stretch with 15 minutes of no action. Just wandering and soaking in atmosphere.

Its like you're on for a ride. There's no end. There's no interactivity with you and your squad. If anything you're just waiting for them to finish what they're doing. There's no risk of dying. I'm about 2 hours in and haven't died and this is on normal :-( Maybe its like a Mario game where you don't die until later levels.

It had to be a pain to map all of this. There are segments of nothing that are perfectly detailed with rubble here and there. But there's no real thought to map design just straight ahead with a ton of details.

There was a cut scene that was clearly a movie and not rendered in game. It was a drastic drop in quality and felt like PS2 era.


>> EDIT 3 and a half hours in >>

Out come the acid spitters. Its been the same Aliens for 3+ hours... I felt unstoppable when I had 2 people with me. Now I have a giant squad with me. Enemies need to amp it up and start coming in waves. This shit is getting so tedious.

I haven't died yet :-( The cut scenes are a blend between PS2 and PS1 quality. Guys what am I doing playing this game? It stopped being fun a long time ago :-( Why is my squad so afraid? Shouldn't they say marines 1,000 aliens 4? I stopped looking at my motion tracker hours ago. Wanna know a good reason to not use your motion tracker? Because the 2 - 5 other people you're with open fire before anything can sneak up on you. Why don't I have to cover our 6? Why don't aliens pop up from behind more? Or the walls or grates or ceilings? Or would that be too much like Doom 3 with its monster closets? Why aren't there different aliens?

Its starting to feel never ending. You just keep walking. There are no puzzles. There is no amping up in the story... Its just keep going. Any tension was blown long ago. There are long parts with no action. I just want to run through it all but I'm saddled with 2 NPCs that ruin everything.

How many doors do I need to fucking cut through? I guess its not as bad as I make it seem but when I have to torch open a door and find nothing on the other side it feels like a gameplay flaw.

One of the characters says 'that was much easier than I thought it would be.' Yeah no shit... This game is getting to me. ... and then I got a smart gun that pretty much auto aims for you. In AvP 2K10 it felt so useful in darkness with enemies that are tough to hit. In this game it seems useless. Like giving a crutch to a truck.

A NICE TOUCH >>

They have weapons from characters in the movie.

LAUGHABLE SPOILERS >>

There's a part where someone has an alien in them about 90 minutes into the game. She's told and everyone just seems cool with it. No emotion just 'you're going to die...' 'ok lets go.' There's even an emotional bond between this character and another character. No one cares.

I like how in Hadley's Hope the marines setup a base of operations in a room that DOESN'T HAVE A CEILING.

>> EDIT >> PROBABLY A BIGGER SPOILER >>

Yeah I think Hicks is in the game...

Share this post


Link to post

Thanks for updates Geo,

Im thinking about sending it back when it arrives. Its sounds dull and something I most likely will not play again. I bought the 'special' edition which is double the amount a normal game, so it will just depress me more seeing that sat on my desk lol

I should go back and try Farcry 3, but I just dont like the save system, especially at the moment as it keeps spawning me in a camp I have not cleared yet! I hate being dictated on were I start and what will be saved! I want to play to a certinaly pont, and continue from 'that' same point!........anyway, going off topic.

I shall stick to modding Doom, at least thats fun!!! :)

Share this post


Link to post

I asked my friend about it today (he's the one that let me into the Steam account to play it). He said he quit when there were 20 minutes of human soldiers. Then he pointed out he had to work 4 hours to buy a game he didn't want to play beyond 1 hour.

What comes with the special edition?

Oh and for all 40 doors I've needed to cut through (real number 20+) why haven't I needed to seal one of them? In fact a lot of doors don't even close behind you. What? Maybe that's a design choice so players don't think oo this is is somewhere new.

Share this post


Link to post

See, now we have a properly informed opinion from geo and it does indeed seem to suck. This is helpful information for somebody who was genuinely interested in buying the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Phobus said:

See, now we have a properly informed opinion from geo and it does indeed seem to suck. This is helpful information for somebody who was genuinely interested in buying the game.

so the gamespot video review posted early in the thead wasn't helpful information and/or properly informed opinion from the reviewer?

Share this post


Link to post

I think the poster that questioned if anyone had actually played the game was right to question if someone played it. I hear how awesome Fallout 3 is.... yet I play it and its just dull. But I can play Morrowind and Oblivion for hours on end. I could have easily played Colonial Marines and thought wow this is the best thing ever and I totally thought it was in the okay to good range... until 20 minutes of never ending room sweeps then it went into the boring tedious area :-(

The game may still pick up like people say about Final Fantasy 13 gets good after 10 hours.... or stay consistently meh the entire game like Final Fantasy 8. I just don't want to give that much time before something gets good. Especially when I can play TF2 and be instantly entertained.

Share this post


Link to post
Phobus said:

See, now we have a properly informed opinion from geo and it does indeed seem to suck. This is helpful information for somebody who was genuinely interested in buying the game.

You're not really making sense.

Share this post


Link to post

Here is some explanation from someone claiming to work at Gearbox, who posted on Reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/LV426/comments/18ewf4/a_lot_of_you_are_rightfully_upset_at_the_final/

The more I think about this situation the more disappointed I am. This game wasn't something I was salivating over, but it was one of those things that I knew would come out some day and I had every reason to believe it was going to be amazing. I'm a big fan of Borderlands, and I respect(ed?) Randy Pitchford et al because of the really cool stuff they've done for their fans (Claptrap proposals, memorials, personal messages, and so on). I remember the first big media blitz a couple of years ago. This game could have been so awesome. What a shame.

Share this post


Link to post

yup hicks turns up later on in the game. outrage. can't wait for the new terminator game, where it turns out kyle reese was just holding his breath for the entire last act so he didn't have to bang linda hamilton ever again.

Share this post


Link to post
darknation said:

yup hicks turns up later on in the game. outrage. can't wait for the new terminator game, where it turns out kyle reese was just holding his breath for the entire last act so he didn't have to bang linda hamilton ever again.

This made my night! haha

Share this post


Link to post

So Sega had 3 teams working on the project? Why was GBX concerned with lining up BL2 and ACM at the same time when GBX only did multi-player? So GBX was far behind and TimeGate was far behind on the single player campaign? But GBX had to tell TimeGate what to do? So this was GBX's game that TimeGate was sub contracted or assigned to work under GBX?

Gearbox probably blew all of its money for the low bid to get the game so they had to fire the talented people because they couldn't be paid... actually wait a second why does GBX have control over who gets hired and fired at TimeGate? If you're outsourcing you can't really do that can you?

A last minute decision to add female marines? I know there were a fuck of a lot of female marines in the beginning AvP 2K10. So much that I wondered are there men?

So someone made a last minute choice.... needs women. Like that would really throw off the time table. I only saw 1 woman and she's got a main protagonist role that involves a past sexing relationship with the other main protagonist. And I mean main protagonist as in the 2 chatter boxes you're stuck with that pay no attention to you, but they're stuck in their own little bubble. Wouldn't someone read the script and wonder.... hey shouldn't there be more chicks? Oh wait I do remember 1 other female at the beginning actually 2, but I think 1 is a pilot. Both could have easily been voiced by women.

So Randy Pitchford says GBX did 80%... Timewhatever says they did 50% and now this employee says Timewhatever did the single player. references Pitchford >> http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/of-course-gearbox-made-aliens-colonial-marines-sega-insists/0110827 Timewhatever >> http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/timegate-claims-seem-to-contradict-gearbox-s-aliens-colonial-marines-assertions/0110839

I pity the guys from the 3rd company in charge of making DLC. There's no way now to profit off of that.

Why didn't Sega just go with the guys that made AvP 2K10? They already have everything. Why start from scratch? But I guess it would be difficult to make 2 Aliens games at the same time when Sega could have waited 2 years.

I'm watching the beta now.... >>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyebULYg_vc&feature=youtu.be
'its all driven by sophisticated artificial intelligence' ... the beta level isn't in the game. The dynamic lighting on the marines actually shows in the demo. There's also no HUD.

Share this post


Link to post

No. Sega had GBX working on the project. They lined up other projects in front of it while delaying it and then pushing it off to TimeGate. Come back and be unhappy with what Timegate had made and then take it back to finish themselves.

Share this post


Link to post
Chronohunter45 said:

Two months early it seems.
You secretly sabotaged the game, didn't you kaiser? ;)


I have nothing to say only that I did my job and did what I was told to do. Nothing more.

Share this post


Link to post
Kaiser said:

I have nothing to say only that I did my job and did what I was told to do. Nothing more.


Are you happy with how the game came out? What was your job while working on the game? What would you have done differently?

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×