Aliens: Colonial Marines Preview

By Martin Robinson Published 9 June, 2011

Another bug hunt.

There's something refreshing about a sci-fi first person shooter which doesn't have to be coy about its influences and disguise the fact it's stealing from one of action cinema's finest offerings.

Rebellion's Aliens vs. Predator first enjoyed that privilege in 1994, and again for last year's reimagining. But it was tempered by impurity. The more recent game's three-class system, with an alien, a predator and a Colonial Marine all coming into play, made it a mongrel. Its dated gunplay was also a bit of a dog.

Now, Gearbox Software is seizing the opportunity to exploit the franchise with both hands. "I have been stealing from this game my entire career," says Randy Pitchford, a man who is spending his E3 darting between three different publishers, what with Duke Nukem Forever yet to release and Brothers in Arms: Furious Four just announced.

"I think most of the industry has. Aliens has influenced all of us," he continues. "When you think of the founders of Gearbox, Brian Martel and I, working at 3D Realms on Duke Nukem - you can see facehuggers and alien walls influenced by Giger.

"Maybe that's why we loved Halo so much when we helped Bungie and Microsoft bring it to the PC; you can see Aliens' influence in their dropships, and the Sergeant who's basically Apone." Here's betting Randy likes to play dress-up with a full Marines outfit he keeps stashed away for weekends.

The faithfulness of Gearbox's Aliens: Colonial Marines to the 1986 original is breathtaking. It's not quite the game of the film but it's as near as could be. Set directly after James Cameron's Aliens, it explores the aftermath of the film. The planet's atmosphere processor has been destroyed and the barren wastelands of LV-426 are, unbelievably, that little bit more barren.

A lot of love for the film is visible in the game. It's the world glimpsed in countless worn-down VHS tapes brought to life, from the torn-steel corridors of the colony to the flickering CRT screens of its hardware. In some ways this is a period piece, a replica of an eighties vision of the future, at once both quaint and iconic.

The Marines are fleshed out in brilliant detail, their character models built with close reference to film props and stills. It's the little touches that stand out; most of hour heroes have their battle-scraped armour personalised with characterful scrawls, while one has a pair of playing cards wedged into the brim of his helmet.

Their chatter is also authentic. It's the Dirty Dozen in space - a premise which may have been worn thin over years of like-minded games, but one which is integral to nailing the Aliens atmosphere. Squad mates are ever-present companions, providing a sweary soundtrack to the action.

Sadly, the squad-based play hinted at when Aliens: Colonial Marines was first announced over five years ago, and which has been a part of Gearbox Software's oeuvre in the pre-toilet Nazi Brothers in Arms games, is entirely absent. This is a straight-up, run-and-gun shooter.

But at least it's a run-and-gun shooter with an iconic toolset. Gearbox Software doesn't pass up the opportunity to make the most of weapons such as the M41A Pulse Rifle or, for that more homely touch, the shotgun.

The motion sensor's as well executed here as it's ever been. In one interesting twist its use looks to be limited in a fashion similar to Doom III's flashlight, with the player slinging their weapon over their shoulder when the sensor's in use.

Although Aliens: Colonial Marines is more interested in the noisier components of the franchise's make-up, it does pay some attention to those moments of quiet horror. An exploration of Hadley's Hope, one of LV-426's deserted colonies, is tightly directed, taking explicit cues from the film - at one point, a seemingly dead facehugger suspended in a jar of liquid suddenly bursts into life.

But once the xenomorphs arrive there's little room for suspense. The aliens glimpsed in the strobed panic are well animated and devastatingly agile. They attack in large numbers, crawling across walls and slinking through air ducts. If they're allowed to get too close they'll leap on top of the player, kicking off a canned melee attack on their slobber-soaked chins.

As almost every moment of Aliens: Colonial Marines seems to have been plucked straight from the film, the occasional deviations from the script are jarring. A boss fight with a Crusher, a rhino-like alien pitched as a brutal counterpart to the queen, sits particularly awkwardly with the rest of the action.

There’s no HUD in the game, though the Pulse Rifle’s ammo counter and the motion sensor are a suitable replacement.

But the game soon returns to more familiar and fertile turf as the Marines retreat to a cargo bay under heavy attack. Here they find a stash of ammo and some brief respite, enabling them to install sentry guns at each entrance before the assault recommences.

The wave-based play which follows is perfectly suited for Aliens: Colonial Marine's four player drop-in/drop-out co-op. This element exploited well by Aliens vs. Predator's Horde-like Survivor mode, and though there are no details yet on multiplayer for this game it's likely have a Gearbox twist.

The E3 demo comes to an inevitable climax as a fellow Marine straps himself into the Power Suit before duelling with an alien queen. It seems unlikely that any of the films set pieces will be left unplundered by this game, and for aficionados of the movie much of Aliens: Colonial Marines will be manna. All the same, there's room here for a little imagination to complement the game's rampant enthusiasm.

Picture of Martin.

About Martin Robinson

Martin is Eurogamer's features editor with responsibility for commissioning, editing and often writing our feature and preview content. He's also passionate about driving games.

Read more articles from Martin by visiting the Martin Robinson archive page.

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Comments (54) Latest comment 11 months ago

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  • coolbritannia #1 12 months ago

    The greatest game ever. Please don't fuck it up.

  • coolbritannia #2 12 months ago

    "most of hour heroes " Please fix.

  • rudedudejude #3 12 months ago

    Hmmmm sounds bit like a AvP re-hash and that was pretty awful.

    Last decent Aliens game was AvP2 on the PC.

  • Deathbysoup #4 12 months ago

    hope its not too buggy....

  • Phantom_Dynamite #5 12 months ago

    Gutted there is no more squad mechanic, hope its good.

    Allow I'm still miffed at what Gearbox has let happen to Brothers in Arms.

  • RodHull #6 12 months ago

    High hopes for this, just a bit disappointed the squad mechanic has gone. I fondly remember playing Republic Commando and thinking how well it would work with the Aliens licence.

  • mr_pink #7 12 months ago

    Hmm. I've been excited about this for 5 years, now I've read the preview I am feeling a bit more cagey about it. I just hope it has enough to distinguish it from every other sci-fi shooter that's come before. As cool as the Aliens film is, leaning on that heavily in lieu of any new gameplay mechanics isn't going to be enough.

  • geeza2020 #8 12 months ago

    Surely with no squad mechanic this might as well be a graphically updated middle portion of the PSOne game Alien Trilogy? Hopefully Gearbox will add something to the mix to keep this entertaining all the way through. Stay frosty people!

  • coolbritannia #9 12 months ago

    You always were an asshole*, Geeza....

    *Please note quotage, not actually implying Geeza is an asshole, before anyone goes running to the mods....

  • GAmbrose #10 12 months ago

    Sounds good, though there is HUGE amounts of artistic license here as Hadley's Hope (The colony in Aliens) was essentially nuked when the Atmosphere processor blew up, there would be nothing left of it.

    Bishop says in the Aliens movie that it would destroy everything within a 30km radius. That would even include the derelict ship they originally found in Alien so there wouldn't even be Alien eggs there.

  • frostcircus #11 12 months ago

    I'm curious to see why the marine gets in the powerloader, since it would only really make sense to people who have seen Aliens

    (the story potential if it turns out he's seen Aliens is pretty vast though)
    Edited by frostcircus at 09/06/11 @ 12:39

  • -cerberus- #12 12 months ago

    "This is a straight-up, run-and-gun shooter."

    Yes because being given the chance to do something different for once is stupid.
    Edited by -cerberus- at 09/06/11 @ 12:41

  • robbiejc85 #13 12 months ago

    Imagine this for the Wii-U version - you're exploring Hadley's hope in teams, like the amazing opening act in the film - the U controller screen acts as the iconic motion tracker (so you have to nervously take your eyes off the corridor!), and in online coop, you get a (deliberately sketchy/scrambled) video of what your partner sees in the corner, just like in the film.

    Pipe dream probably - But how incredible would that be? I'm hoping that they really ratchet up the quiet/loud mechanics of the first two films as they are masterpieces in building tension. A lot of combatless but characterful exploration (think Far Cry or Bioshock) could be key here.

    Here's hoping

  • coolbritannia #14 12 months ago

    With squad mechanics this could have been almost tower defence in its nature, this could have been awesome. I don't think it will be awesome now though, and that makes me sad, please prove me wrong gearbox.

    Also, someone give Robbie £40 million and a Wii U dev kit, I'd buy hat game. Doesn't mean we're engaged or anything.

  • Mattattattatt #15 12 months ago

    I find it hard to get excited about another Aliens FPS, but it will be interesting to see what Gearbox do with it.

    I'd rather see the franchise handled in a survival horror way for a change. After all, only one of the films heavily relied on space marines.

  • glaeken #16 12 months ago

    I lost interest really once they said its just a straight-up, run-and-gun shooter. I am sure it will be very slick but shooters that have me moving between scripted sequences really don't do it for me these days.

  • LowEnergyCycle #17 12 months ago

    @GAmbrose

    That's exactly what I was thinking. Still, I suppose there wouldn't be a new game if they didn't fudge the story a little, so I can let it slide.

  • AcidSnake #18 12 months ago

    @GAmbrose:
    The films never mention how far out the derelict alien craft is though, could be a long way out...In fact that will most probably be the final levels...
    What worries me is that the preview states that Hadley's Hope is one of the colonies on LV-426...

    Of course they need other colonies to have some possible levels to play, but that would go against the film as well...Losing contact with the colony on LV-426 wouldn't mean "send in the marines" but would become "call the neighbours and have them check"

    Prove me wrong, Gearbox!
    "I got a bad feeling about this drop"

  • rojjer #19 12 months ago

    hmm. this sounds a little pap now, if there's one thing that games of movies have taught us (other than the fact that 80% of them are shit) is that - if you break from the script of the film you're basing it on, you're dead in the water.

    :-( I'm still holding out hope, but its not sounding too good at the moment

  • Retro_ #20 12 months ago

    I love the franchise, hope this lives up to the hype building up in my head.

  • Snufkin #21 12 months ago

    They've either got to stick with the original creatures only (pleasing the faithful fans) and provide varied scenarios and side tasks to perform while battling them (e.g. using the Powerloader to load up a ship while being defended by the other three; leading a bunch of colonists out of the bowels of the colony while defending them from being picked off by the aliens) or else they need to introduce new creatures.

    I'd be happy for them to do both, as long as the new xenomorphs are in keeping with the general aesthetic. Is HR Giger still alive? Can he design something for this?

  • makeamazing #22 12 months ago

    Everything i've seen so far looks decidely low quality... not sure what has happened to Gearbox recently, i dont understand how they can make something nice looking as Borderlands and then (from what i've seen in trailers so far).. sub par animations/graphics. I'm hoping they are just too busy making a quality game, but i do worry that 5 years may have taken its toll on the game.

  • coolbritannia #23 12 months ago

    The fact we're fighting on Hadleys Hope is a bad sign. That place should be a crater.

    Also, if we're on the Sulaco, Ripley and co should be on board, as it must be before the fire?

  • Dynamize #24 12 months ago

    It's over five years, they've stripped out the squad mechanics and gone straight shooter, which presumably meant redesigning the whole thing; sounds like development hell to me. Not a good sign.

    Speaking of squad things, since they're important characters and all, I guess that means they'll have to be invincible, right? Can't have an important character die in a fight since they need to do a scripted thing or crack wise later on. Or will the approach be a sudden "Mission Failed - You let one of your dudes die"? Or the inexorable trope of Aliens games (and most shooters where you have 'allies') - "You go out there and do the thing, we need to stay here to press Ctrl-Alt-Del when you're ready to do the thing. It takes all of us to achieve this."

  • superflyninja #25 12 months ago

    @Geeza Alien Trilogy was fucknig brilliant!

  • GAmbrose #26 12 months ago

    @AcidSnake

    Nothing conclusive but:
    [link url=http://time.absoluteavp.com/alientech.html
    ]http://time.absoluteavp.com/alientech.html
    [/link]

    The Ilium Range:
    Located approximately 20-30 km* in an easterly direction of Hadley's Hope lies an unremarkable mountain range, that has been volcanically active during the mid 22nd century.

    The Derelict:
    Just east again of the Ilium Range, on a high plateau, is a gigantic Derelict spacecraft of unknown origin, that was investigated by the crew of the USCSS Nostromo in 2122 and again by the Jorden family in 2179. Discovered on board was a fossilised Alien organism (type unknown) and thousands of Alien 'eggs'. One of these 'eggs' infected Exec Officer G.W. Kane in 2122 and another infected Russ Jorden in 2179 with xenomorph spore. The Derelict was destroyed after Hadley's Hope was obliterated in 2179.

    *The 20-30 km distance from the colony to the Ilium Range is based on the fact that Bishop said the blast radius from the exploding AP station was about 30 km. The 'Alien Resurrection' novel says the Derelict was destroyed in the AP station explosion, so logically, the Derelict must've been within the blast radius.

  • mcreddie #27 12 months ago

    Hmmm, I don't trust Sega anymore...

    I'm thinking it'll be another AvP.

    And @Phantom_Dynamite, I really really hope they're joking

    Edit: "No details were available for the Wii U version, though it’s quite obvious how Nintendo’s strange new controller will be integrated."

    That's got me a bit excited actually. I hope the blip noise comes out of the controller!
    Edited by mcreddie at 09/06/11 @ 14:18

  • flaming.carrot #28 12 months ago

    Arrgghhh no! This is not sounding so good now. Anyway didn't the M56 smart gun have a built-in motion tracker? Maybe some nerds can answer that.

  • AcidSnake #29 12 months ago

    @GAmbrose:
    I see...
    I'm just basing my idea on my understanding of the canon...I see the 4 alien films as canon, and that's it...I've never read any of the novels...
    It's like the toys that came out between Aliens and Alien3 for instance...Rhyno alien, flying queen alien and a particularly interesting Scorpion alien...(No idea how a face hugger can impregnate that)

    I doubt the game will accept the novels as canon either, but then again it doesn't seem it's that strictly tied to the film canon either...Whatever the distance of the derelict might've been we can all agree Hadley's Hope should be obliterated...
    They might go with the "But the colony was behind a nuclear bomb proof rock formation" or something but in the film they can clearly see it out of the window...

  • coolbritannia #30 12 months ago

    I agree, this is displaying little respect for the source material.

  • Bander #31 12 months ago

    I'm hoping for a multiplayer mode where a player can give directions and info to other players based on their camera feed and motion sensors. The old 8-bit Aliens game worked a bit like this. It was unique and very intense when marines' life signs would suddenly vanish when not observed.

    Gearbox, if you're reading and it's not too late, or technically implausible, try to add this!

  • andywilkie35 #32 12 months ago

    Wonder if they'll submit the review code in time when this is finished

  • Bander #33 12 months ago

    Oh yeah, as for animal/alien hybrids, strictly speaking the Alien 3 one was supposed to be part-dog. Not that it was noticeable when it's a dark shiny thing hiding in the shadows. The original script had sheep aliens! Can't explain the scorpion though; I assumed the cat wasn't of interest because of its size also.

    Alien Resurrection appeared to take the whole hybrid DNA thing too far as it wasn't obvious that it had been done before. Alas the crap dialogue and directing certainly didn't help...

  • tincanrocket #34 12 months ago

    @robbiejc85...

    Imagine this for the Wii-U version - you're exploring Hadley's hope in teams, like the amazing opening act in the film - the U controller screen acts as the iconic motion tracker (so you have to nervously take your eyes off the corridor!), and in online coop, you get a (deliberately sketchy/scrambled) video of what your partner sees in the corner, just like in the film... .... .....

    And then Bowser jumps you from behind and carries off Princess Peach, before Mario and Luigi appear and have to smash some blocks and jump on some koopa troopers, whilst you waggle the controller to power up your special move, whilst balancing precariously on your wii fit balance board, all the while blowing the dust from the top of the console? Meanwhile your granny is wondering when she gets a chance to do some ten pin bowling

    ;)

  • Barkotron #35 12 months ago

    @coolbritannia "it must be before the fire?"

    Fire? The last we saw of the Sulaco it was heading home with everyone in stasis. Are you thinking of one of those planned sequels which were never made?

  • Deckard1 #36 12 months ago

    Four player co-op?

    Fucking sold.

  • coolbritannia #37 12 months ago

    @Barkotron, yes, my mistake. I had this idea for a sequel, where Ripley lands on a prison planet, and we kill off everyone we were bothered about in the 2nd film, but I canned it, cause it was such a shit idea.

  • hiddenranbir #38 12 months ago

    Like Doom 3 flash-light? Stupid. Hudson would only raise his rifle when looking at the scanner, it didn't mean he was incapable of using it if he had to.

  • X3Entente #39 12 months ago

    if you want to play this game now, play counter strike zombie mod, with xenomorph skins for the zombies

  • Tryhard #40 12 months ago

    As bad as AvP matchmaking was.Just experiencing walking down a dark tunnel with the ping,ping ping of your motion scanner getting faster,just gave me goose bumps like nothing else.Hopefully Gearbox can put it all together for us.

  • B1G_D #41 12 months ago

    "We're in some pretty shit now man!"

  • sega #42 12 months ago

    Get the pulse rifle and smart gun sounds right, please!!

    @Bender - the Alien 3 alien was actually supposed to be part Ox, which was actually filmed and is in the assembly cut of the film. The dog scenes were shot after due to studio interference (no dog appears in the assembly cut at all).
    Edited by sega at 09/06/11 @ 20:34

  • mbuff1 #43 12 months ago

    Will it be as good as this?
    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4qd-9CvnlU&feature=related
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4qd-9Cvn...[/link]

    Or this?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8A2xWRv_I9Y

  • varkdm #44 12 months ago

    I really dont care about the "source material".

    Aliens is one of my favourite films of all time. I absolutely love it. However, I dont need a game that faithlessly recreates it - its not necessary.. the film was a combination of suspense and action.. if you faithfully recreate the film.. not realy going to have any suspense.

    None the less, Id like to play a game that offers a similar "experience" as the film. So setting the game in the colony, havign collonial marines arrive to find out wtf has gone on... great as far as i m concerned. As long as the gameplay is solid and they introduce an entertaining story arc and survival aspect then I'm looking forward to it. The coop aspect to the gameplay is the main draw .. i used to love playing the original avp on its survival mode with a friend.

    Also.. with regards to the motion tracker.. its a pretty lumpy piece of kit, its not part of the smart gun and if you look in the movie noone ever has the motion tracker out with a gun ready to fire. However.. I hope they still have the tracker sound going, even when not equipped.. as they deffinitely did have them on and thumping away even when not looking at them.

  • randompanda #45 12 months ago

    Alien 3 was an excellent film considering what the terrible developmental cycle it had. It's also a great early example of David Fincher flexing his directorial muscles.

    Sure the script killed off some much-loved characters, but without Cameron behind the wheel - the third film in the series was always going to have to be drastically different.
    Edited by randompanda at 09/06/11 @ 22:21

  • Bander #46 12 months ago

    More footage of Sega's Aliens sequel first person shooter:

    [link url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLSuw3jTPQo
    ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLSuw3jTPQo
    [/link]

    The 1993 one.

    I'd love for this to be included in Colonial Marines, or released as a download game.

  • Raconteur #47 12 months ago

    In a meeting room at Gearbox several months ago........
    Dev 1: "...and that's Aliens: Colonial Marines"
    Mktg 1: "I see. So this is going to be available on the PS3, 360, Wii, and something called a PC?"
    Dev 1: "Yes"
    Mktg 1: "It will be the same on all platforms?"
    Dev 1: "No"
    Mktg 1: "No?"
    Dev 1: "well due to some hardware limitations the Wii version will have limited functionality compared to the other platform versions"
    Mktg 2: sharp intake of breath
    Mktg 1: "Cut the nerd jargon Professor. You're telling us, we are going to have to sell to the gamers multiple versions of the same game?"
    Dev 1: "umm, yes"
    Mktg 2: snorts
    Mktg 1: "Do you have any idea of the number of complaints by gamers online? Well I do mister. This, this, this is not acceptable"
    Dev 1: "but we can't change what the machines are capable of.."
    Mktg 1: "Look. Gamers view the myriad of machines using the doughnut principle"
    Dev 1: "the doughnut.."
    Mktg 1: "A doughnut is a doughnut is a doughnut."
    Dev 1: "what are you.."
    Mktg 1: "I'm getting there. Not all doughnuts are the same. Right?"
    Dev 1: unsure "yes"
    Mktg 1: Some have jam, some custard inside. All different types of sprinkles. But gamers only see the doughnut. So, whatever runs on some else's doughnut must be able to run on 'my' doughnut. It's kind of a security blanket because they are scared they wasted money on a less powerful doughnut."
    Dev 1: unsure "So, umm, what do you suggest"
    Mktg 1: "what we need to do is reprioritise the focus of the products retail accessibility.... and those funky-notionalities you spoke of."
    Dev 1: "umm, we spent a long time working on this and the game is nearly finished. I..."
    Mktg 1: "yeah, yeah, sure, and all that work stuff is appreciated. But you obviously don't understand the business geographic demograph. No I thought not. Let me look at that feature list."
    Mktg 1 & 2 Study feature list
    Mktg 1: "ok, so if we get rid of squad-based play, and focus on the more popular shooty gameplay style, that'll make it like the wii version?"
    Dev 1: "umm, yes. But it will take several more months of work to change."
    Mktg 1 & 2 sit back in chairs overly expressively relieved.
    Mktg 1: "Good work. Looks like we just increased sales by several million percent!"
    Dev 1: "Err, ok."
    Mktg 2: "Just one question. Any chance we could make a PSP version?"

  • Bandatta #48 12 months ago

    "...a part of Gearbox Software's oeuvre in the pre-toilet Nazi Brothers in Arms games..."

    What the hell is a 'toilet Nazi'?

  • AcidSnake #49 12 months ago

    @sega:
    Actually Spike the dog does appear in the assembly cut as well IIRC and gets eaten by the Ox-alien...

    As for the earlier poster asking why the alien didn't impregnate the cat, no face-hugger has ever been near that cat...

  • bodypopper #50 12 months ago

    Shame they ditched the BIA play mechanic but at least they have a chance to learn from Rebellion's mistakes. That said, when the new film launches next year this will seem out of place.
    Edited by bodypopper at 10/06/11 @ 11:35

  • joe90 #51 12 months ago

    The Aliens mod on the Doom engine (the original Doom) was excellent.. 'game over man' soundbites etc...

  • scuffpuppies #52 12 months ago

    Any other developer than Gearbox, and I'd be really looking forward to this. But taking into count that they're...erm...what's that word...oh yeah, SHIT, doesn't bode well.

    Unfortunately, they will fuck this up. That's what they do.

  • Code_R #53 12 months ago

    But they nuked the site from orbit.... what colony?

    Hopefully this lives up to the series name unlike the last AVP game though.

  • Doctor_What #54 11 months ago

    This game appears to have been rebooted so many times I'm amazed it's not called Colonial Marines: Forever by now.