Information

Platform
Coop Players	4
Max Players	12
Developer	Gearbox Software
Publisher	Sega
Engine	Red Ring
Release	Feb 12, 2013
Genres	Action, First-Person Shooter, Survival Horror

Ratings

Features

	Cooperative Campaign
	Drop-In/Drop-Out Multiplayer
	Local/Split-Screen Option 2 players, console only
	Online Multiplayer

On Steam

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Aliens: Colonial Marines

Aliens: Colonial Marines is a first-person shooter developed by Gearbox Software. It takes place immediately after the movie Aliens and features locations from the movie, character cameos and references, and similar plot elements.

Grit: There was never a time in this game where we did anything but run straight at the enemies and shoot mindlessly (and melee attack). Even so, the only times we all died were when we actually tried to get ourselves killed. I know I was barely paying attention for most of the game, and still had no problems beating everything and killing every enemy that bothered me. The grit is pretty much non-existent. On the other hand, we played it on the default difficulty level. I generally prefer to play games on the highest difficulty right from the start, but one of us insists that we play on the default difficulty, so we did. I don't know how the grit would have changed on higher difficulties, but in fairness, the default difficulty should be the way the developers intend their games to be played.

Synergy: Working together in this game is virtually useless. You might think that the game could have some great synergy in the form of one person using the motion detector, but it doesn't. You can't even hear the motion detector when another person uses it. Aside from that, the motion detector is pointless anyway, because there's never a time where you need to be wary of enemies. All attacks are scripted and involve tons of enemies coming from every direction, so there's no point in communicating to each other about approaching hostiles. The only noticeable thing that changes with multiple people is the fact that only one of you gets to use the cool guns when you find them, which could be made into a case for negative synergy. The only bonus this game gets for synergy is the fact that you can revive each other if someone is about to die.

Implementation: We were split on how to rate this game's implementation. Most of the games at the bottom of our implementation hierarchy were pretty good overall, but had a couple flaws that massively pissed us off. Colonial Marines was basically the opposite. It didn't really piss us off (except the stupid ending), but it is an incredibly poorly made game overall. It came out in 2013, but it looks and feels exactly like Doom 3, which came out in 2004. The AI was stupid. Half of the time the enemies didn't even attack us. The game ran so poorly that we had to opt out of doing a Let's Play of it, because the frame-rate was unplayable. The sad thing is that the graphics did not match the slow frames. Like I said, it looked nine years old. The atmosphere was decent, but the action did not match it. The game is obviously meant to be survival horror, but it wasn't scary or intense at all. Overall, any modern game developer should be embarrassed to have made this game.

Longevity: The game is very short. We beat it in two brief week-nights. On top of that it has no replay value. They gave it achievements, ranks and unlocks in a futile attempt to add replay value, but the game is just so bland that it doesn't work. The others have no interest in playing it again, but I might do it just to see if the experience changes in solo play or a higher difficulty. I don't have high hopes though, and it's unlikely I'd bother to play it all the way through.

Depth: Along with pretty much everything else, the game is also devoid of depth. There is no strategy in the game at all. There's no reason to use one weapon over another, as they are all just as unsatisfying as the next. There are weapon upgrades, but they are pretty much all unnoticeable. The missions are all bland too, with no strategic decisions to make things interesting.

Fun: Despite this game's many flaws, it wasn't a complete waste of time. Most of the problems were more amusing than anything. They didn't destroy our experience with the game. There were no crashes and no bugs that made us restart. We were able to laugh about all the terrible aspects of the game as we played it, and then we kept playing it until the end. That's something, at least.

Other Reviews

• No subject by Doug on Feb 19, 2013