Aliens: Colonial Marines

by Sega

• Get tooled up with classic Marine weapons including pulse rifles, sentry turrets, arc welders, motion trackers, flame-throwers, powerloaders, and more
• Explore environments inspired by the film series, including Hadley's Hope, the Sulaco and LV-426, and others
• The whole campaign can be played with a squad of up to four players, dropping in and out as necessary
• An extensive upgrade system allows players to customize their characters to play the way they want, including perks, new weapons and new looks for your squad
• Battle against the full class of aliens including: the Facehugger, the Chestburster, the Drone, the Warrior, the Queen, and the new 'The Crusher'

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B005THAX60
• Item Weight: 8.2 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: February 12, 2013
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,624 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #98 in Video Games > PC Games > Games > Action > Shooter

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard Edition

Amazon.com

Aliens: Colonial Marines is a First-Person Shooter set in the Alien movie franchise universe in which the player takes on the role of a member of a squad of colonial marines sent to the planet LV-426. The game is designed as a true sequel to the 1986 movie, Aliens, done in video game format, and features iconic locations, weapons and alien varieties from Aliens and other movies in the series. Additional features include: four-player co-op functionality, a new alien type, and customizable weapons.

A True Sequel to Aliens in Video Game Form

You and your friends against the deadliest killers in the galaxy. Another glorious day in the corps.

Return to LV-426 and the Hadley's Hope colony as a colonial marine in a true sequel to the Aliens movie.
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Buckle up, soldier. Welcome to Aliens: Colonial Marines. Created by Gearbox Software, the critically acclaimed and fan-favorite developers of Borderlands and Brothers In Arms, this first-person shooter is steeped in the eerie, claustrophobic and terrifying atmosphere that made the Aliens films successful worldwide. You and your friends will become the most badass military outfit in the galaxy - the US Colonial Marines. It's down to you to not just survive, but wipe out the Xeno infestation.

Key Game Features

• Enlist in the Marine Corps - Bringing you a true sequel to James Cameron's classic Aliens, get tooled up with classic Marine weapons including pulse rifles, sentry turrets, arc welders, motion trackers, flame-throwers, powerloaders, and more.
• The Most Authentic Aliens Experience Ever - Using authentic environments inspired by the film series, including Hadley's Hope, the Sulaco and LV-426, players will be immersed in an eerie, atmospheric world where any moment could bring death.
• Drop-in / Dropout Co-op Gameplay - The masters of co-op bring their expertise to the Aliens universe. Xenos getting too tough? Call up your buddies so they can drop in with extra firepower. The whole campaign can be played with a squad of up to four players, dropping in and out as necessary through self-contained missions within an overarching narrative.
• Loadouts and Upgrades - Create your perfect killing machine. An extensive upgrade system allows players to customize their characters to play the way they want. Earn experience to get perks, new weapons and new looks for your squad.
• A Variety of Aliens to Face - Battle against the full class of aliens seen in the first three movies -- together known as xenomorphs -- including the Facehugger, Chestburster, and Drone alien from Alien, the Warrior and the Queen aliens from Aliens, as well as the Runner alien from Alien 3. The game also features an all-new heavily-armored alien variety, known as "The Crusher."

Additional Screenshots

An authentic Aliens experience. View larger

Drop-in / dropout co-op play. View larger

Classic and new alien varieties. View larger

Familiar, powerful hardware. View larger

Product Description

Bringing you a true sequel to James Cameron's classic Aliens, get tooled up with classic Marine weapons including pulse rifles, motion trackers and flamethrowers.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Felonious Marines! February 13, 2013

By Hydra[SpOoN]

Platform for Display:PC| Edition:Standard Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 1.0 out of 5 stars   

Releasing this game at $59 / $49 price point should be a crime because:

1) Great graphics.... if it was 2003! I have games that are almost 10 years old that have better graphics

2) AI's are AWESOME ... sorry, i mean AWFUL! They seem stoned/confused half of the time, spinning in place or getting stuck.

3) Gameplay extremely linear... you get to play on the Sulaco and LV-426, but are confined to predetermined paths... should have been an open environment.

4) Most of the time, the Aliens don't sneak up on you.... they appear in front of you and rush at you open-armed.

5) LAME scripting.... conversations seemed forced as they try to simulate (and fail) ALIENS.

6) Inclusion of a usable powerloader should have been awesome, but the controls are horrible and you get ejected as soon as the intended fight finishes

7)NONE of the creepy ambience that made the Aliens movie so awesome is present.

8) I ordered this game 2 years ago, and THIS is what Gearbox delivers? This piece of garbage is on par with Duke Nukem: Forever (Duke actually had much superior graphics)

9) Just listing the previous 8 fails has depressed me.... i could go on and on, but my will to type (and live) have been drained by this piece of gos se!

The ONLY thing good about this game was that Lance Henriksen does a few lines for Bishop....

Do yourself a favor: pick this game up if you find it on the side of the road (It is probably my copy i threw out of a window in my rage). Do NOT pay for this horrible game (get Dead Space 3 instead... you can thank me later).

Thanks for making me feel violated, Randy Pitchford.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent shooter...but misses the point of the Alien franchise February 12, 2013

By Carla G. Dávalos Rdz

Platform for Display:PC|Edition:Standard Edition

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

When you think Aliens, it brings you feelings of shadowy corridors while being chased by a horde of silent killers who pick one by one your companions, or being swarmed by silent waves of enemies while your ammo is running low.
These concepts have become so popular that they form the basis of almost all modern shooters and even survival games (like RE used to be...but that is for another discussion) but somehow its well used formula has missed the point completely on this new game. It has all the nostalgia tingling elements, like the spot on movie sound effects and epic music, but it somehow lacks soul.
For example, the titular Colonial marines have almost no personality; there is no character that stands up or even holds a candle to the characters of Aliens, hell they could be substituted for tough sounding red shirts from Star Trek for all intents and purposes; they are there to serve as cannon fodder and you will be hard pressed to remember any of them when the main campaign is done. Speaking of the main campaign the game is really brief, with some on rails scripted events but nothing as cinematic as the CoD series. The game basically goes from corridor shooter, where the Aliens mindlessly jump in front of you (even the monster closet scares of Doom 3 where better done almost 10 years ago) or try to swarm you in wide open corridors while you switch from 8 fully loaded weapons and coolly pick them off.
Is it fun? Yeah in a mindless sort of way but this game could have been so much more, they could have given you limited ammo and weapons to carry, so you would actually feel some tension as the Alien swarms attack, or made the corridor shooter scenes actually scary with the enemies popping out all over (once again Doom 3 does it better).
The graphics are fine, the gameplay is ok, the multiplayer is ok...you get the idea.
All in all it is a average game and you might have some fun with it, but the franchise deserves so much better, especially since the fact that developer Gearbox could have done so much better.

Edit: If the PC version is ok in the graphics and performance department the console versions get a 1 out of 5...it is a disgrace how the it looks on the XBox. And speaking of the graphocs after seeing a shot by shot comparison between the demo (as in work in progress of the game) from 2011 it looks WAY better with much better yse of lighting, particle effects such as fog, viewdistance and even the frikkin AI of the Aliens! I cannot believe it! A demo is supposed to be a work in progress looking to get better not worse...I dont know if they did that to acomodate the console version but I even feel more ripped off now! The game was mediocre but fine for a few good sessions, especially the multiplayer (supposedly the area where Gearbox had the most input) but this is even worse now. I blame Sega for not properly supervising the development of the game and Gearbox for getting such a hi profile project and seemingly outsourcing the heck out of it. Other than the TW series Sega wont be seeing my money again

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid let down with some redeeming qualities February 14, 2013

By Sanden Shelton

Platform for Display:PC|Edition:Standard Edition

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I pre-purchased on steam purely for the SHARP Stick otherwise I probably would have purchased it here. I am a huge fan of GearBox and of the Alien franchise. I watched all the demo videos, and followed the words of Randy Pitchford like a sweet siren's call. Now I see that the basket of warm delicious bread I thought I was getting is in fact a basket of cold door knobs and I've followed that voice to just get lost in the woods.

To get my rig specs out of the way, everything stock:

AMD A-8120 - Asus Sabertooth 990FX - 16 Gb Corsair DDR3 @ 1800 - Evga GTX 670 - 2 Intel 520 SSDs non raid OS on one, programs on the other - Windows 8 Pro 64 bit

I've played through most of the campaign single player and co-op only on the highest difficulty (Ultimate Badass). I can't speak to the other difficulties. This is where the bulk of criticism is due. When I heard that the IP was licensed from Fox and the game was supposed to be a canon direct sequel to the Aliens movie (my favorite by far) I about joy puked. What follows is why the game is such a disappointment.

SIGHTS:
The maps are fairly true to the movie environments and mostly everything is relatively pretty. Compared to notable releases in the past 6 months the graphics of A:CM are dated. However there is a glaring disconnect in the level of quality and detail in the demo that has been stripped bare for commercial release. You won't get the product in the screen shots or the old teaser videos because sadly that product no longer exists. Textures are good but models and animations are lacking. Get ready for lots of fog.

SOUNDS:
They were able to get all of the original Foley assets from Fox Studios and use them in the game and you can tell. The sound effects and musical score have the incredible quality that you'd expect. The dialogue on the other hand is a ceaseless train wreck. They aimed to reproduce that late 80's tough hombre machismo, and missed sorely. When you actually feel some of the tense moments coming on (more on that below) you are jarred right out of them like a slap to the face. The voice acting is mediocre and receives no help from the awful script which fails spectacularly at being in any way believable.

FEELS:
This is where things get confused. I want this game to be good so bad that I can't rely on myself to consistently make objective judgments on the feel. The campaign is utterly linear and strictly scripted. There are many places where the "AI" appears to have a melt down and leaves NPCs incapable of rendering aid or threat (whichever is intended). It is very easy to out pace your companions, and you will find they suddenly "pop" in front of you instead of trying to catch up the sane and non magical way. It is also possible to eliminate all of the threats in an area before your companions can "realise" it, and they take cover from a non-existent threat regardless only to be perplexed by the lack of said threat and spiral into what I assume is some kind of virtual existential crisis which you can only fix by plowing ahead in the map. It's not always such a hot mess, but when it is the distraction is too great to thoroughly enjoy it. There are moments when you get swarmed by enemies on all sides and it feels very intense. It's too bad they are few and far between.

For what this game is and has to offer, the multi-player is where it shines in my opinion. Even this aspect is not without its faults but at the end of the day this feature will keep me playing as long as there are others to get matched with. Both the versus game modes and campaign co-op prop this shambling mess up to the level of just being a let down.

The Good:
- Frantic fast paced combat in a healthy mix of open and closed environments
- Combat is challenging and takes skill for both marines and xenomorphs to execute effectively
- Good teamwork is rewarded on both sides
- Marine weapons and xeno abilities feel balanced and the weapon / ability unlocks feel like earned rewards that aren't super over powering

The Bad:
- Lengthy match making
- Horrible built in voice chat. I can't express how truly awful it is with words. "e..t soh... soh... t. ek.. the sulaco was... ed.. s.. t" Someone with a microphone is speaking words but the game will never let me understand them all. Over a dozen different people in single and multi, it was all the same. Use mumble or vent or anything but what the game offers.
- Host driven multi-player. The first player in the lobby is the "host" and their internet connection determines the experience for the rest.

CONCLUSION:
Decisions were made. It was a bad call. Maybe someone needs to be nailed right to the wall for this one. I am getting some entertainment from this title, but not what I expected. I am disappointed but that doesn't keep me from staying frosty.