Aliens: Colonial Marines

“To Gearbox Software and its peers throughout the industry, ALIENS is one of the most influential science fiction properties of all time.”

 

Developer: Gearbox
Publisher: SEGA
Release Date: Spring, 2012
Platform(s): PS3, 360, PC
Genre: First-Person Shooter

Aliens: Colonial Marines is a game with a long history of development. At one point a game with a similar name was in the works for last gen consoles before it was abruptly canceled. Now the game has been resurrected and as would be expected of a gaming title with the word “marines” in it, it’s very much a squad-based shooter. Despite the strong Alien license and the years of anticipation, the best thing Aliens may have going for it is its developer Gearbox, makers of the hit FPS Borderlands.

Much like Borderlands the game will feature drop in and drop out co-op, so friends and strangers can join your game at any time. Up to four people can slaughter Xenomorphs together. While there is no mention of the game’s difficulty scaling a la Borderlands, it wouldn’t surprise me if that feature returned. The official site also mentions customization for your squad members, such as loadouts, new weapons, and perks, which will hopefully add depth to the gameplay.

Gearbox plans to use the license from the much-loved film franchise to their advantage. The main plot centers on some marines from the U.S.S. Sulaco – a fictional spaceship first seen in Aliens - exploring LV-426 – a colony from the same film - in search of Lt. Ellen Ripley and any signs of what may have happened to the planet. The game will be chronologically placed between the second and third films and feature strong horror and action elements that the series first became famous for.

 

 

Enemies will come at you from all directions, and the games built in A.I. will determine if they will come from above, behind, in front, or just about any other direction in order to throw you off your guard. In order to make the experience more immersive, Gearbox has eliminated the use of an on-screen HUD. Furthermore, when Facehuggers get close to you during a close encounter, a quicktime event will occur in which you must fight them off using a series of button combinations. From what game footage has been released so far it looks these events will pop up during various other points as well. As for your marine, damage is shown via blood splatter on the screen, a staple of the genre in recent times.The Aliens will also hinder your vision as they explode in a thick, satisfying splatter, leaving green blood everywhere, and there have been hints at it containing a level of acidity that may be harmful to your character.

In addition to returning enemies from the series, such as the aforementioned Facehuggers, and the infamous Queen Aliens that will feature as bosses, Gearbox has announced Crushers, a new species of Alien. Thick in stature, with a large head, they will tower over the player and charge like a stampeding elephant; immune to ordinary ammo. While it’s not shown for sure how the player will defeat them, Power Loaders are shown, so expect the possibility of fighting at least a few Aliens in this manner, or possibly luring them into some kind of trap a la the famous Alien 3 running sequence. Either way it looks to mix up the standard FPS formula with a little more variety.

 

 

One sure thing about Aliens: Colonial Marines is that Gearbox is very passionate about the project. Randy Pitchford, Company President, spoke recently of the undertaking, "ALIENS is one of the most influential science fiction properties of all time. Aliens: Colonial Marines, designed as an interactive successor to the landmark films from Twentieth Century Fox, is a dream project about which our studio is deeply committed and passionate." From what we’ve seen so far, Colonial Marines looks to be pretty faithful to the setting of the movies, but let’s hope its release lands a little closer to Aliens than Alien: Resurrection.

No official release date has been given at this time; but with the official website [UK] stating spring 2012 you can expect it sometime soon.

 

Jerry Kline, NoobFeed