<em>Aliens: Colonial Marines</em> offers respect, no praying mantis Xenos

<em>Aliens: Colonial Marines</em> was created by very enthusiastic fans of the series, and it showed in the game's demo. The game runs on a brand-new engine, and it looks great. Things are looking up.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/gaming/news/2011/06/aliens-colonial-marines-offers-fan-service-no-praying-mantis-xenosaliens-colonial-marines-offers-respect-no-praying-mantis-xenos.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[joehonkie]

During one action scene the lights go out inside a room, which caused Pitchford to yell, "What do you mean they cut the lights? They're animals!"

Oh good, he can quote things we all remember from movies. I guess he's in touch with his target audience, or something?

 

[Matt_H]

If they're ripping off Aliens shouldn't they be meeting with James Cameron?

 

[Falien]

Everything sounds pretty good! I just hope the technical side of things is flawless, as an unstable framerate would definitely spoil the fun.

 

[Troublesome Strumpet]

If they're ripping off Aliens shouldn't they be meeting with James Cameron?

Cameron's too busy rolling around naked in a big pile of money.

 

[Falien]

If they're ripping off Aliens shouldn't they be meeting with James Cameron?

No disrespect intended to Mr. Cameron or Aliens, but I'm glad they went for Mr. Scott - after all, he was there first!

 

[St.John]

During one action scene the lights go out inside a room, which caused Pitchford to yell, "What do you mean they cut the lights? They're animals!"

Oh good, he can quote things we all remember from movies. I guess he's in touch with his target audience, or something?

There's always something amusing about a person claiming to be a huge fan - then misquoting one of the most famous lines, just as Randall Pitchfork now seems to have done in a very public manner.

 

[garapito]

If they're ripping off Aliens shouldn't they be meeting with James Cameron?

Cameron's too busy rolling around naked in a big pile of money.

I just pictured this Scrooge McDuck-diving-into-Money-Bin-style and lol'd at work!

 

[Sulla]

St.John wrote:
There's always something amusing about a person claiming to be a huge fan - then misquoting one of the most famous lines, just as Randall Pitchfork now seems to have done in a very public manner.

Is it not possible that Ben noted the exclamation down incorrectly?

 

[Ben Kuchera]

During one action scene the lights go out inside a room, which caused Pitchford to yell, "What do you mean they cut the lights? They're animals!"

Oh good, he can quote things we all remember from movies. I guess he's in touch with his target audience, or something?

There's always something amusing about a person claiming to be a huge fan - then misquoting one of the most famous lines, just as Randall Pitchfork now seems to have done in a very public manner.

That was actually my mistake. I just pulled up the audio to be sure, and corrected the quote. Apologies.

 

[St.John]

St.John wrote:
There's always something amusing about a person claiming to be a huge fan - then misquoting one of the most famous lines, just as Randall Pitchfork now seems to have done in a very public manner.

Is it not possible that Ben noted the exclamation down incorrectly?

It would appear so!

Good job I made sure to use weasel words like "seems to have done", as I know how very, very difficult it is for journalists to actually bother to check their quotes before publishing, eh Ben?

 

[Ben Kuchera]

I admit, that's the last time I try to quote a movie from memory, especially on this little sleep.

 

[St.John]

I admit, that's the last time I try to quote a movie from memory, especially on this little sleep.

Playing as a marine in the original Aliens vs Predator game might prove an efficient solution to the pesky problem of sleep!

 

[pokrface]

Ben, your write-up just set my expectations for this game somewhere in the stratosphere. I'm a huge fan of this universe and you're right: this sounds like the game we've been waiting for.

 

[St.John]

I love the idea of the motion tracker display being on the controller screen for the Wii U, with the sound effects for it coming from the controller itself.

 

[Enkinan]

I stopped reading when my favorite quote ever was mangled.

 

[thekaj]

So this takes place after the gigantic nuclear reactor blew up? I would have thought being a few miles away from that thing would make it rather non-existant, along with whatever aliens might have still been there.

 

[jgtg32a]

I love the idea of the motion tracker display being on the controller screen for the Wii U, with the sound effects for it coming from the controller itself.

Those damn things were scarier than the Aliens ever were.

 

[M4EOzzy]

I love this universe, and the fact that there might finally be a truly great title set in it. But that first picture, I mean really? I know fan service and everything, but Ripley was improvising when she used that Power Loader to fight the queen. How many damn games have we played now where random marine gets the idea to fight another queen with another Power Loader? There's fan service, and there's recycling tired ideas. I don't need anyone except Ripley in one of those things...

 

[Arsinius M]

Ben, your write-up just set my expectations for this game somewhere in the stratosphere. I'm a huge fan of this universe and you're right: this sounds like the game we've been waiting for.

This!

 

[Mortus]

I love the idea of the motion tracker display being on the controller screen for the Wii U, with the sound effects for it coming from the controller itself.

Those damn things were scarier than the Aliens ever were.

I still hear that *tick bweep* sound in my head sometimes and I get all twitchy.

 

[dferrantino]

I love the idea of the motion tracker display being on the controller screen for the Wii U, with the sound effects for it coming from the controller itself.

Those damn things were scarier than the Aliens ever were.

Pretty sure that's exactly what they wanted.

 

[nandreetta]

Strictly speaking, they should not be called xenomorphs. The only person who used the term was Gorman and this prompted Hicks to reply knowingly, "it's a bug hunt." This of course implies that the Marines are familiar with these creatures and have dealt with them before in some capacity, but they subsequently demonstrate that they have no idea what those things are when they cry like little girls (mainly Hudson I suppose) at the sight of them. So in all likelihood, Gorman merely meant to grandstand a bit by using an academic but generic term for aliens in general or slightly more specifically as a term for aliens that go through some kind of metamorphosis to reach adulthood as do many "bugs," which prompted Hicks to mistakenly equate the creatures with previous, less dangerous bug-like alien encounters.

Another possibility is that it was lazy writing by James Cameron who thought it would be more interesting if he made it seem like the Marines encounter all sorts of aliens on a regular basis as also he seemed to want to do with the line about "Arcturian poontang." This is a likely scenario as well since Cameron played it fairly loose with the source material so he could make his own action-packed version, inventing various concepts like the queen alien in the process. Now, of course, we generally accept his movie as canon, but there is little real basis even in that movie for the xenomorph term.

And yes, I realize this is incredibly pedantic and the term has been so widely embraced because it's convenient to have something to call them other than aliens and its use has since been reinforced by many games and comics.

 

[Rommel102]

So this takes place after the gigantic nuclear reactor blew up? I would have thought being a few miles away from that thing would make it rather non-existant, along with whatever aliens might have still been there.

I agree, the biggest insult to the canon here is that there IS a Hadley's Hope, or really any Aliens left at all on Acheron.

Ripley: [looking at the colony from a window] It's very pretty, Bishop, but what are we looking for?
Bishop: [emergency venting goes off] That's it. Emergency venting.
Hudson: [knows what it is] Ho, that's beautiful, man. Oh man, that that... that just beats it all...
Hicks: How long 'til it blows?
Bishop: Four hours. With a blast radius of 30 kilometers; equal to about 40 megatons

The distance is never explicitily stated but from the scale on the maps in the movie when they show the tunnel being used to move between the atmospheric processor and the colony it certainly looks less than 30km.

Also, while it never happened on-screen, I was 100% positive in my mind that they would have used the Sulaco to nuke the original crash site before going to hypersleep. Maybe Ripley couldn't figure it out with Hicks out and Bishop disabled.

 

[Newsbot9]

Playing as a marine in the original Aliens vs Predator game might prove an efficient solution to the pesky problem of sleep!

Bzzt!

AvP is a different licence entirely from Aliens.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Those damn things were scarier than the Aliens ever were.

When I played AvP years ago, I *always* used the night-vision mode because it disabled the tracker. I also muted the game, and hid in a corner cowering in fear.

 

[St.John]

Playing as a marine in the original Aliens vs Predator game might prove an efficient solution to the pesky problem of sleep!

Bzzt!

AvP is a different licence entirely from Aliens.

Yes, I know that - it didn't stop the marine section being pant-shittingly scary at times when the aliens were around!

 

[hobgoblin]

I admit, that's the last time I try to quote a movie from memory, especially on this little sleep.

Playing as a marine in the original Aliens vs Predator game might prove an efficient solution to the pesky problem of sleep!

That game engine was perfect for its day, destructible lighting and all.

 

[M4EOzzy]

So this takes place after the gigantic nuclear reactor blew up? I would have thought being a few miles away from that thing would make it rather non-existant, along with whatever aliens might have still been there.

I agree, the biggest insult to the canon here is that there IS a Hadley's Hope, or really any Aliens left at all on Acheron.

Ripley: [looking at the colony from a window] It's very pretty, Bishop, but what are we looking for?
Bishop: [emergency venting goes off] That's it. Emergency venting.
Hudson: [knows what it is] Ho, that's beautiful, man. Oh man, that that... that just beats it all...
Hicks: How long 'til it blows?
Bishop: Four hours. With a blast radius of 30 kilometers; equal to about 40 megatons

The distance is never explicitily stated but from the scale on the maps in the movie when they show the tunnel being used to move between the atmospheric processor and the colony it certainly looks less than 30km.

Also, while it never happened on-screen, I was 100% positive in my mind that they would have used the Sulaco to nuke the original crash site before going to hypersleep. Maybe Ripley couldn't figure it out with Hicks out and Bishop disabled.

As far as nuking, she was only supposed to be there as a consultant, likely she wouldn't have any knowledge or info on how to pull that off alone, so yeah. I was also kind of surprised when they said it'd be taking place in Hadley's Hope, even a 'ruined' or destroyed Hadley's Hope. As cool as it kind of is to back to that place in theory, as it's so iconic, couldn't they come up with another scenario in Cameron's universe that would have worked as well?

I mean, if you want it to look like Hadley's Hope that shouldn't be hard. One Weyland-Yutani prefab camp is probably very similar to another (Hi Mass Effect!). The only reason I would think the Marines would be given clearance to go back would be The Company thinking they could still salvage an alien...

 

[Rommel102]

Also looks like they are really throwing out Alien 3 and beyond.

Aliens: Colonial Marines begins with an ostensibly abandoned ship, the U.S.S. Sulaco, recovered in orbit around LV-426. Players lead a group of highly trained United States Colonial Marines as they board the deserted craft to uncover the fate of the crew. They will have to fight to survive unspeakable horrors and their own anxieties as they chase down the truth behind a galaxy-spanning deception that places humanity at the mercy of the most murderous and deadly species in the universe.

 

[ronelson]

inventing various concepts like the queen alien in the process.

You know, except for, "In the initial cut of Alien, the Alien possessed a complete life cycle, with the still-living bodies of its victims converted into eggs. However, the scene showing this final stage was cut for reasons of pacing, leaving the ultimate origin of the eggs obscure," you might be completely right. However, Cameron simply tweaked it a bit and I think it is better for it. How do you go from a ship full of eggs to "victims converted into eggs" and still have an enjoyable idea?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS5MtzrW1vU

Facehuggers are just so much better.

 

[Strabo]

Ok, we get it, Gearbox loves Alien and Aliens. They respect the property. They don't want to piss off the fanboys. Great.

How about some fucking news about the game play? Give us an extended (5 minute plus) video of pure game play. No cinematics. No developers talking about how much they love Cameron's Aliens and what an honor it is to get to program the lighting system in an Aliens game. Just game play.

Do it. Do it now.

 

[bojesphob]

It's going to be on the Wii U?? Anybody else envisioning the controller being the motion sensor, beeping from your hands while the Aliens come at you on the screen?

Sweeeeet

 

[M4EOzzy]

It's going to be on the Wii U?? Anybody else envisioning the controller being the motion sensor, beeping from your hands while the Aliens come at you on the screen?

Sweeeeet

Pitchford has already talked some about this, and it will be used for just that. As well as being able to pull up a map like Hudson does that can be zoomed around in, as well as a hacking mini-game that'll come up when hacking doors. Of course, this is all pretty early, but yeah, that does sound pretty cool (not that'd I'd buy a WiiU for it).

 

[HedonismBot]

I was really disappointed in the last AvP game.

It was great until the aliens show up. The tension was great but once they start coming at you the illusion was smashed.

They didn't move properly and they didn't attack properly. I never felt like I was shooting at living thinking things. They were just targets.

 

[JamesHulsmann]

"This was not the first time he interjected famous quotes during the demo of his game, and it was far from the last."

Ladies & gentlemen, your regularly scheduled, video game trainwreck is scheduled for departure sometimes in 2012!


EDIT - I might have snarked too soon, is this oft-quoting in the game or just being puked out by the guy at E3 in the room with you? (how did you not rolls yours eyes starting with at latest the second occurence?)

 

[JamesHulsmann]

Someone will have to explain why the second movie seems to get so much more love than the first... The movie isnt even really all that good until after it starts to sort of parrot the first one (after the drop ship crashes and they are all fucked).

The extended finale', a first for cinema I think (at least in action movies), is pretty sweet though. Am I the only one cheering for the alien queen?


(by "extended finale", I mean where the movie seems to already climax, and probably COULD end and be satisifying, but then there is another 30-45 minutes of awesome to REALLY finish things off. And no, LoTR doesnt count. Maybe this is just an action version of the what the first movie did at the end)

 

[cobra libre]

Strictly speaking, they should not be called xenomorphs. The only person who used the term was Gorman and this prompted Hicks to reply knowingly, "it's a bug hunt." This of course implies that the Marines are familiar with these creatures and have dealt with them before in some capacity...

Your comment made no sense to me until I googled for "xenomorph" and saw that fans of the series apparently use the word to refer to the "Alien" species specifically. This strikes me as an unfortunate back-formation that makes nonsense of the briefing scene in Aliens, because it ought to be clear to anyone with a basic knowledge of word roots that the screenwriters intended the word to just be a bit of jargon meaning "non-humanoid alien" generically. The idea is that, yes, the space marines have fought aliens on a regular basis and are even a bit jaded about it... but they've never encountered anything like these aliens.

 

[nandreetta]

However, Cameron simply tweaked it a bit and I think it is better for it. How do you go from a ship full of eggs to "victims converted into eggs" and still have an enjoyable idea?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS5MtzrW1vU

Facehuggers are just so much better.

Oh I'm not saying Cameron failed to improve upon the source material in any way. The queen alien isn't bad per se and everyone loves facehuggers. I'm just saying he clearly wasn't so worried about remaining entirely loyal to the first film, which I guess is stating the obvious since it goes from the creeping horror of a solitary alien to a slaughter-fest action movie. But in his defense, it wasn't a franchise with a whole host of immutable lore when he made his sequel; there was just one film.

Your comment made no sense to me until I googled for "xenomorph" and saw that fans of the series apparently use the word to refer to the "Alien" species specifically. This strikes me as an unfortunate back-formation that makes nonsense of the briefing scene in Aliens, because it ought to be clear to anyone with a basic knowledge of word roots that the screenwriters intended the word to just be a bit of jargon meaning "non-humanoid alien" generically. The idea is that, yes, the space marines have fought aliens on a regular basis and are even a bit jaded about it... but they've never encountered anything like these aliens.

Yeah, I was referring to the way it has become the de facto term for the creatures specifically even though that in no way matches up with the use of the word in that scene. I only brought it up because Ben used the term in his own write-up and in quotes from the game's developer. It wouldn't be so annoying if it were just an easier way to talk about the unnamed alien species versus, say, the aliens from Independence Day (shudder), but more often it seems to be invoked by people who want to nerd out with their privileged knowledge of the series, when in fact they don't even remember how it was used in the original source material. "The aliens from the Alien movies? Oh, you mean xenomorphs? Plebe."

 

[cavesitter]

So this takes place after the gigantic nuclear reactor blew up? I would have thought being a few miles away from that thing would make it rather non-existant, along with whatever aliens might have still been there.

I agree, the biggest insult to the canon here is that there IS a Hadley's Hope, or really any Aliens left at all on Acheron.

Ripley: [looking at the colony from a window] It's very pretty, Bishop, but what are we looking for?
Bishop: [emergency venting goes off] That's it. Emergency venting.
Hudson: [knows what it is] Ho, that's beautiful, man. Oh man, that that... that just beats it all...
Hicks: How long 'til it blows?
Bishop: Four hours. With a blast radius of 30 kilometers; equal to about 40 megatons

The distance is never explicitily stated but from the scale on the maps in the movie when they show the tunnel being used to move between the atmospheric processor and the colony it certainly looks less than 30km.

Also, while it never happened on-screen, I was 100% positive in my mind that they would have used the Sulaco to nuke the original crash site before going to hypersleep. Maybe Ripley couldn't figure it out with Hicks out and Bishop disabled.

I remember in the 1991 Uncut the chief of Hadley's Hope said that Newt's parents were way out on the fringe and out of sensor range. Also I think that in the original Alien they discovered the other side of the craft(remember the big ass thing in the chair of the turret?). They did say it was huge and I doubt that far in the future sensors are limited to today's ranges on radar. Maybe the blast knocked the aux power out on the alien craft.

IDK all I do know is every hair on my body stands on end thinking about a true Alien game and no Predators. Been a fan all my life and my first taste of AVP was the Atari Jaguar version. Tough game playing an alien with the molting and impregnating. The human experience was nightmarish. The motion sensor, the aliens, the preds were a joke but the aliens more than made up for it. Great game!

I had a cool shirt from a comicon many moons ago that read:

"LV-426 Vacancies Now Available"