Aliens: Colonial Marines

Ok, so this is a first person shooter developed by Gearbox studios (developers of Borderlands/2) which is counted as canon in place of a sequel movie. The script was actually written by James Cameron and multiple members of the original cast were brought in to record their voices for the game. This game had a lot going for it, developed by a reputable game company, based off of the unused script written for a movie sequel to Aliens...so what happened? This was one of the most anticipated games of the year, I was waiting for it since it was first mentioned years ago, I was there on the day of release to get my copy, and I was one of the many other gamers very disappointed by it. The game's story is agreeable, it fits the series properly, the weapons look and sound right....then it all falls apart.

Where should I begin in how this game makes my butt ache? Lets start with the obvious, visuals. The game is properly dark, but I think they might have hoped that it hid all the ugly textures surrounding you. The first level is literally the best, after that the graphics just...leave? I don't know what they were using to work the textures in this game but they must have been from a decade ago. Light doesn't always work too well with the textures, smoke/fog effects look choppy, NPCs and objects alike glitch into walls and the ground. Lets say you're playing a game and you enter a new area where everything is out of focus and fuzzy and the ground is higher or lower that the physical ground your character is on, all because the game hasn't loaded the area yet, well that's Aliens: CM. I've actually had a face-hugger sit inside some alien goop on the floor and I couldn't shoot it because the game allowed the face raper to pass through it but my bullets weren't allowed inside. As for A.I. I can say it's ridiculous. Your squad mates seem to never notice the alien(s) trying to rip your face off, but instead spend their time shooting at a box, really. that and the aliens can be found running into walls, getting stuck on railings, or just standing in front of you waiting to be shot. That is if you have any ammo left. Throughout my playthrough I noticed a pattern, either I couldn't find ammo or I couldn't find health/armour. Apparently you only need one at a time, and what you do find is far from the next occurrence.

The multiplayer seems to be the only redeemable aspect to this game. It's not amazingly fun but it isn't terrible. I never got the hang of it truly but I was actually having fun, it seems the game is good when you remove the A.I. and replace them with people.

So I guess my verdict would have to be a 2.5/3 out of 10. I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you are a big fan of the series and/or are a big achievement hunter because the achievements aren't very hard to get for the most part.