Aliens: Colonial Marines Details

[Green Man]

This franchise plays host to the DNA of every sci-fi shooter ever put to pixel or cel. The dimly lit corridors, the unseen enemy, the lashings of gore and the chunky near-future weaponry and it’s all centered around space marines. The original space marines too, not those Turok rip-offs. So Sega has the daddy of all sci-fi shooters, and it’s not likely to cock things up. The game has been hidden away in development at Gearbox, the dev with a solid track record in first-person shooters, and is most famous for its Brothers in Arms squad-based series.

Best known for realistic presentation and tactical accuracy, Gearbox is the ideal developer to turn the Aliens franchise into the perfect space marine game. You’ll control a squad of six pumped-up marines sent on a mission to search the ghost ship USS Sulaco after the crew has vanished. Now we know Ripley escaped and her crew of gun-toting marines ended up as meat for the off-world critters on Hadley’s Hope terraforming colony, but the Colonial Marines (to give them their proper name) don’t know what to expect.

The game’s story is being written by Battlestar Galactica’s writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle and is set after the events of the Aliens and Alien 3 movies. The game not only features the adrift Sulaco, but also the Fiorina ‘Fury’ 161 prison facility and the derelict alien spacecraft from the original movie as backdrops to the action. One aspect of the story that ties neatly into the Aliens universe is the use of the Weyland Yutani Corporation as an over-arching evil, a puppet-master pulling the strings behind the action. Though your immediate survival against the Sulaco’s alien infestation is your primary concern, the game will build in a conspiracy story behind the gunplay. And who knows, maybe an unexpected betrayal.

Each mission will put you in the space armor of a different marine in the six-man squad. You’ll use commands familiar to Brothers in Arms players to guide your troop through the maze of acid-blasted corridors, trying to stay ahead of the critters. By focusing on one squad member at a time, Gearbox has been able to create an episodic feel to the action. Back stories, plot details and characters gently expand and you’ll get a deeper perspective on the action. It also means that the game will have a very immediate feel – you can dip in for an hour at a time to play out one episode of the full story arc.

Before you reach for the keyboard and start hurling abuse at Gearbox, this is no casual blaster. There will be more than six episodes to wade through, including some revelations that could affect the Aliens canon. The game builds slowly, emulating the slow burn pace of the movies. Your first foray onto the abandoned USS Sulaco is a tense affair with few aliens to be seen and only the ominous pinging from your handheld motion detector for company.

When that first confrontation does arrive it’s not the guns-blazing, space marine frag-fest you may expect. Instead the alien bursts out of the shadows and drags you kicking into an air duct where it prepares to cocoon you in slime. You guessed it - this is a Quick Time Event where button presses have to be hit as the event unfolds. It works well, as the directions mimic the action perfectly. For example, pressing right smashes open a vent casing to the right, or pressing up raises your gun and blasts your captor, forcing it to retreat.

The influence of the movie is all over this shooter, with Quick Time Events ensuring you never know what’s around the next corner. The famous white-knuckle tension you got from the movie is central to Aliens: CM. You won’t know what’s coming next. Scripted events blend into corridor shootouts, with your goal being to stay alive.

Keeping each team-member safe is at the heart of the game. Each member of the squad has a unique skill needed to get through a mission. One marine will be able to hack security doors and another will be able to set up portable gun turrets. If you’ve seen the extended version of Aliens, you’ll recognize how these skills fit into a scenario. Also, each marine you play will have a different weapons loadout. The officer carries a pistol, while other squad members have flamethrowers, grenades or even an RPG.

Tactically, the Brothers in Arms influence is all over the gameplay. Not just in relaying orders to the squad, but in adding realism to the combat. The question is, how do you flank an alien that can attack from above and below, as well as airducts and service pipes? The answer, for now, is partly by using familiar tactics. One mission emulates the alien attack on Hadley’s Hope, with you setting up portable gun turrets. It’s in this mission that the game’s tactical clout hits home.

You can not only set up turrets but use technicians to hack and lock or weld doors, order your team to push tables and cabinets against windows, and set up strike teams to cover weak areas of a room. You can even set booby traps to cover air vents if your explosives guy is still alive. The pulse rifles feature a ticking ammo level, Hicks’ Remington shotgun is here for close quarter escapes and the Smart Guns, as carried by Vasquez and Drake, make a welcome appearance.

The action resembles Call of Duty in style, with down-the-scope targeting and a rechargeable health system. The big difference is the AI being implemented. Aliens will crawl out of every nook and cranny, scramble up walls and scurry across the ceiling. Aliens Colonial Marines could be 2009’s biggest challenge.

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In Gearbox I trust. Though I have a feeling that all these projects they're taking on are going to start stretching things really thin. God I hope this and Borderlands are really amazing

[drew]

The action resembles Call of Duty in style, with down-the-scope targeting and a rechargeable health system.

WOO

[fistfulofmetal]

I like Brothers in Arms

but i don't really want Brothers in Arms: Colonial Marines :\

[drew]

ill take anything aliens in fps

i dont give a fuck

[The Sceneman]

If they nail the atmosphere this could be an awesome rental

edit: fuck yeah QTEs

[tiesto]

Konami's Aliens arcade game was the shit back in the day...

[duckman2000]

Gearbox is like the worst possible choice for developing an Aliens game. These motherfuckers can make dull paste out of anything, and I doubt their take on Aliens will be any different. Fuck Gearbox.

[dammitmattt]

I'm not excited about the QTEs and I highly doubt the AI will consist of anything but "rush the player from all directions," but I'm still hopeful because it's one of the best IPs around and there's a decent developer behind it.

[Phoenix Dark]

edit: fuck yeah QTEs

(Image removed from quote.)

[Tabasco]

did you make that jarosh?  it's amazing

[cool breeze]

edit: fuck yeah QTEs

(Image removed from quote.)

 

[y2kev]

The inverted color is amazing

how do you do that blur effect, jarosh?

[demi]

It is a good thing I am an awesome gamer, my save will not be deleted.

[drew]

awesomely amazing

[fistfulofmetal]

fuck, i gotta plug in a goddamn gamecube controller to complete the QTE?
gearbox is HARDCORE

[drew]

one nitpick i have is that the alien looks ridiculous up close.  the head looks like it got a couple coats of chrome spray paint where it is supposed to be barely translucent, under the right light you can see human like eye sockets

[chronovore]

"... is this going to be a stand out title ,Sir, or another bugged punt?"

There will be more than six episodes to wade through, including some revelations that could affect the Aliens canon.

i paused for a second and then remembered that Alien series has been humped and better humped since it ceased being good (i could let Alien 3 pass, it wasn't that bad...)

Aliens 3 was unforgiveable, in that it was a mediocre movie that had the gall to piss in the face of an excellent movie in the first scene, before moving on to its own mediocrity.

Aliens 4 is fun for what it is, but where Aliens took the original suspense movie and turned it into an action movie, it's not clear what Aliens 4 ever wanted to do. French people.

[chronovore]

Let's get one thing straight: Aliens 2 had CHARLES FUCKING DANCE in it. The man is the only possible reason to watch The Golden Child, outside of losing a bet.

And it was directed by Fincher. That Fight Club and Se7en guy.

Even so, it is crap. Just... so horrible that it got dumped on Fincher after -- what was it, five other directors?

[drew]

Alien > Aliens

[patrickula]

Jarosh
Awesome gif.

I am hoping for the best with this game, but I'm not holding my breath 

[Stoney Mason]

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[Madrun Badrun]

Alien > Aliens

Yep.

[Diunx]

Didn't this came out already?

[Mr. Gundam]

First person or third person shooter?

[Cravis]

Oh man glad to see this is still alive. I've been wanting a Colonial Marines game since Fox announced and canceled the one on the PS2.

Also looking forward to Wayforward's Aliens game.

[maxy]

[youtube=560,345][/youtube]


hmm

[Cravis]

Could go either way. It looks good so far. I groaned when the crusher alien was revealed. Still they nailed the atmosphere and sound.

[G The Resurrected]

I'm all for their "new aliens" let us not forget about the awful Kenner Aliens toys that were just awful and never in the movies. Acid Goo anyone?

Gearbox has brought back to life two projects now that I have held a flame for in the past decade. Between Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens. You can see the amount of passion they have for this franchise and respect. I know they are basically starting fresh but Colonial Marines has been in development limbo for a long time now. Even before this generation there was the PS2 game that was going to be a RTS Hybrid. Since they've started with a fresh clean slate I think they'll have much more polish than DNF.

[duckman2000]

Looks boring, which is what you'd expect from Gearbox.

[chronovore]

"Make the sequel that we all wished for, in videogame form..."

Randy

I like how he moves from saying "somehow they trusted SEGA and us" to saying outright what every fan has ever thought while trying to convince themselves that post-ALIENS movies were good.

[Stoney Mason]