It has been years in the making but the new title Aliens Colonial Marines is finally here. the colonial marines must fight against the xenomorfos.
Seven years have passed since the creation process began for Aliens Colonial Marines , a juicy Sega license obtained from the hands of Fox and it would take place between the events of the films Aliens and Alien 3 . Although the heroine of the series (at least until the arrival of Prometheus ) has always been Ellen Ripley , this story focuses on the body of the Colonial Marines , who have to investigate what the hell happened ship Sulaco and the planet LV-426 .
As we said, there have been few storms that have gone through this title to see the light, but eventually the developer Gearbox (specialist in long development times like Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever ) has given the game for good. Has it been worth the wait? In part, yes and partly no. But, as xenomorph would say, you better see everything inside …
Stunt Alien surprised bleated
The Campaign focus on leading the Winter a marine through hostile environments: inside the Sulaco , the refuge of Hadley’s Hope , facilities Weyland-Yutani … As we move into subjective perspective, we have to fulfill many tasks, from placing the known automatic turrets to rescuing some of our fellow Marines. Of course, do not miss the welder and the legendary motion detector, which we can use at any time to see if someone approaches us quietly …
We also use another icon of Aliens , the exoskeleton forklifts, although only in a couple of brief occasions. All imagery, from artifacts to the stage, are identical to those seen in the film, and we can even see some details such as the name of the characters of the film on box office of the Sulaco. There are a couple of characters who reappear in the game, namely the synthetic Bishop (actually, it’s another “copy” of that model) and Corporal Hicks . They have a significant weight in the plot, while Ripley is mentioned only in passing. But the real spotlight falls on the aforementioned Winter, as well as his fellow Marines. Especially O’Neal , who joins us for most of the adventure and is controlled by the CPU.
“Get away from her”
Action Now, that is what we want, right? If we talk about weapons, we have all seen them on the film, from the classic pulse rifles to the flamethrowers or smart gun that “magnetizes” the grid to the nearest target. As we accumulate experience points (to eliminate enemies, find special items as ” dog tags “or perform tasks such as” kill more in one shot “) you can level up, giving us points to improve our weapons. Actually, the only significant improvement is to put a different secondary fire, including electric shocks, incendiary grenades. Most completion will want to find the toys also worn by characters in the film. These weapons are far more effective than we have by default.
We also have an armor that protects us from a couple of attacks. If it is spent, we have to find items that regenerate. Without it, we have a health bar divided into three bands. When each of them is not completely exhausted, it will regenerate over time, but we need to recover kits which we can find along the game. Picking up these items or ammo refills is a bit annoying in the console versions, because you have to look down to very precisely target object and press a button, so you lose a few tenths of a second that are vital in combat .
Our main enemies, unsurprisingly, are the deadly aliens , who often seek the melee to make us more harm. They are extremely secretive, so it’s good to get our detector occasionally. Of course, while you are scanning, you can not shoot. Returning xenomorfos , these include the “standard model”, but other variants like spittlebug (distance throws acid), the stalker (surprise attacks and has a long tail that can hurt us) or the now iconic alien queen , giving us enough grilled in the last third of the game. Why not, occasionally disgusting attack us facehuggers , which we take away from the face to base pounding a button.
The human soldiers Weyland-Yutani are also a large and constant enemy, but the truth is that the confrontation with them is far less fun, in part because they are smart and don’t stop screaming what they will do, like, “I will flank!”, “ammo, reloading”. What school taught them to disclose their actions to the enemy? Jokes aside, the fact is that although the game starts with the ideal atmosphere (soldiers baffled by alien attacks, shadows moving in the distance, cracks that open at once), development is going slowly becoming more explicit and there are quite monotonous.
As we say, this is especially due to the numerous clashes with humans, but also becomes a secondary tasks that dosen’t contribute anything to the gameplay and all of them are crowned by a confrontation at the end of the game quite silly and disappointing. Yes we would save an act in which we survive without arms and part of the story that plays with the possibility that a character is “incubating” a chestbuster . They’re not new ideas, or anything, but they provide some variety. Nevertheless, the feeling that, as playable, not over take advantage of this universe, but the story, to be recognized as canonical by Fox (ie, it is accepted that the facts of the game ” actually occurred “between the second and third films) is a must for fans of the series.
No group should be separated
One of the points that the promotion of the title has been more focus is on the multiplayer . It includes both the cooperative and the competitive option. The first is for the campaign mode. If we play on the same console (split screen) only allowed two simultaneous players, but online mode up to 4 people can be saved each other’s ass. Use the System drop-in, drop out , so that other users can enter and exit the game at any time. Experience is good, but it is unlikely at certain times when the role of argument rests entirely in Winter . In any case, it is an option grateful.
The competitive team develops and supports up to 12 players in total. It has 4 modes: Battle (a team deathmatch, in which one side is aliens and another Marine), extermination (the Marines have to detonate a bomb in the alien nest and have to stop xenomorfos), Getaway (the Marines have to serve a mission, but as time progresses the dangers accumulate) and Survival (with one life, you have to survive 5 minutes in an alien infestation in which more and more enemies). The Marines have the same skills and control in the campaign, while the aliens are controlled in the third person and have very specific advantages: they see their prey through walls and are able to climb any surface.
Except for, the aliens usually specialize in the short distance. So when a match is against the clock and considering that their attacks are not as precise than we would like, we have been given the impression that the Marines are far more effective than the aliens in multiplayer. It is true that the experience of controlling a xeno mola and his playing style is more “technical”, but found heading a bit unbalanced between one side and another. Pick your side that you choose, you will be able to accumulate experience that will serve to unlock weapons and gear for both multiplayer and campaign.
“Now we only need a deck of cards”
Go for the technical side of the equation. Apart from the campaign rather short (less than 10 hours), we do not know if it’s because the numerous delays, the rush or for some other reason, but the truth is that we have “deflated” a little emotion as they are outdated graphics. Characters expressionless, quite birriosas textures, “jagging”, “tearing” and forced animations do justice at all to an artistic design, on the other hand, is really good. Too bad as comprehensive reproductive elements of the film (and infestation hive ship included) is marred by graphics that almost look like the previous generation. As we know that you like the comparisons, I will comment that the PS3 version only reaches resolution 720p , while the Xbox 360 does reach 1080 . In any case, the only one that looks a little better is the PC (the development of all three is identical), which spec butt does offer a more convincing impression, with much lower load times and better textures, but retains the same mistakes in the animations.
As we where saying at first, there are many lights and shadows in this Aliens: Colonial Marines . It is a solvent game, fun and flashy moments, but that does not escape the feeling of being late, being somewhat dated for a few days when a shooter takes more than a good licensed to highlight. If you are fans of Alien, no matter what I say, you’ll enjoy the game but if your not you might want to skip this an wait for Crysis 3.
Score 6.5/10