The Case

Touted as the triumphant return of the Aliens franchise, Colonial Marines boasted an entirely canon script, a direct sequel to the second and third films in the series no less. We all know how heavily the game was slated by...just about everyone on the planet. But is that the whole story?

The Trial

No, no it isn't. Don't get me wrong, it's not a great game and it certainly falls far short of its pedigree. 2001's Aliens Vs. Predator 2 was a powerhouse of a game that set the bar so high it would’ve taken a stroke of genius to surpass. But this goes deeper than simply falling short of pre-conceived expectations, especially coming so soon after the flawed, though still reasonably sold Aliens Vs. Predator 2010. Many were left strongly reconsidering the free ride it was given at the time. But those are stories for another time.

Now bear in mind that I played through it after the rather hefty texture update arrived, which brought with it a lot of what really should have been there from the beginning. It still comes in on the average side as far as visuals are concerned, but it runs incredibly smoothly. Still, it's far from terrible in that respect; some of the lighting and specular effects are quite atmospheric, which allows for the titular antagonists to skulk around and launch themselves at you from the shadows quite effectively.

Sadly, the enemy AI is decidedly on the uninspired side. Whilst not out and out terrible, it is clunky and cringe worthy at times, with the Human enemies being the most interesting interactions. Though even they are on the disappointing side. Oddly, the way they act doesn't seem to change at all even after adjusting the difficulty settings, which can be seen as a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it. The only real difference is in how easily they can be dispatched, but even that doesn't make all that much difference apart from during the scattering of 'boss' fights. Speaking of which, of all the complaints you've heard, that fucking power loader is not one I will dispute. It was appallingly bad. Who in their right mind would ever think it was a good idea to make a twelve ton, bipedal forklift a toy for a fistfight. It just doesn't work.

The rest of the game plays well enough. Pretty standard stuff actually. You have your fire and alternate fire, aim down sights, sprint-everything you'd expect from a first person shooter. Some could see this as a massive disappointment, expecting and even demanding huge innovations, but it should be remembered the game is all about the marines themselves. There isn't all that much you can do with a first person shooter that's, well, about shooting things...apart from throw in a clunky as hell power loader section but let's draw a line under that one.

On the other hand, the multiplayer was extremely well done. Even though it only has four game modes, with all but one limited to four on four; it is superbly well done and allows you the opportunity to play as the aliens themselves. It's a little clunky at times and when playing as an alien, the animations seem to ignore the environment but it does add a lot more variety in the shape of alien specific actions. Each of the base types has the ability to run up walls and such. There are also some special types unlockable in the environment, such as the slow but explosive boiler and the behemoth charger.

The customisation options are unlocked by earning experience points that carry across between single and multi-player profiles (a very good thing for people like me) though it is managed separately for the alien and marine archetypes. EXP can be earned in the usual ways: number of kills (which stacks even after death in the campaign if you want to hit a high spawn area and just repeat ad infinitum) levels finished and perhaps the most underappreciated aspect of the game. The challenges, which unlock custom paint jobs for your weapons and new customisation options for your alien and/or marine personas. There are dozens of them, with a wide variety of conditions that must be achieved in order to unlock them, covering both single and multi-player, with the inclusion of marine and alien specific ones too. Only three can be worked on at any one time, which are unlocked rather than arbitrarily chosen through menus. This offers a strong incentive to complete multiple runs of the story and to pump many hours into the online mode. This is Something which is sorely lacking in a lot of games these days.

The story is also fairly strong overall, but has a number of loose ends left unresolved which could put some people off. I expect these will, or are at least planned to, be addressed in future titles in the series. This is clearly not intended to exist in a vacuum, though the highly negative response suggests any sequels are unlikely to see the light of day. The voice acting is decent for the most part, not stellar but decent, though there are some performances that stand out. The sound effects are excellent, offering everything you would expect, with music taken almost entirely from the outstanding James Horner soundtrack.

The Verdict

In short, this game is heavily flawed but it’s still a solid game that fits into the Aliens mythos perfectly. And that's a damn shame because there is so much potential here even with all its flaws. In fact many of the complaints I've heard, such as the sedate pacing and the fact your squadmates will do a lot of the fighting for you, are things that would be applauded in something else. No, it isn't the game we were promised and it certainly isn't the game we wanted but it's still a really good game. I'm not advocating we let Gearbox off the hook. Not by a long shot. Only that we should criticise, not vehemently hate. The vitriol will not make future Aliens games better - it will kill the franchise. Nobody wants to make games that everyone will hate.

Case Review