Aliens: Colonial Marines

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Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens colonial marines logo.png
Studio Gearbox software
TimeGate Studios
Publisher Sega
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 February 12, 2013
platform Windows , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360
Game engine Red Ring (modified Unreal Engine 3 )
genre Ego shooter
Subject Science fiction , horror
Game mode Single player , multiplayer , co-op mode
control Gamepad , keyboard and mouse
system advantages
preconditions		 Windows XP (SP3) or newer, dual-core processor with 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB graphics card ( Nvidia GeForce 8500 or ATI Radeon HD 2600, DirectX 9.0c), 20 GB storage space, Internet connection for one-time Steam activation
medium Blu-ray , DVD-ROM , download
copy protection Steamworks
Age rating
USK from 18
PEGI from 18

Aliens: Colonial Marines is a video game developed by Gearbox Software and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows , PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 . A Wii U version was announced, but has been discontinued. The first person shooter is based on the characters and creatures of the Alien franchise, essentially on the movie Aliens - The Return of James Cameron .

action

The Story of Aliens: Colonial Marines was written by Battlestar Galactica authors Bradley Thompson and David Weddle. The events in the game take place approximately 17 weeks after those of Alien³ . A Colonial Marines search and rescue team was dispatched to search for Ellen Ripley, Corporal Dwayne Hicks, and the other missing Marines sent to planet LV-426 on the USS Sulaco starship. The Sulaco was last sighted over the planet Fury-161 known from Alien³ and has returned to LV-426 for reasons unknown. LV-426, the Sulaco and the wreck of the alien spaceship from Alien as well as other locations serve as locations in the game.

Gameplay

Single player

Aliens: Colonial Marines is a first person shooter in which the player takes control of the US Colonial Marine winter. The marine can use various weapons such as flamethrowers, pulse rifles, smart guns, pistols, rocket launchers and various types of grenades.

The self-firing systems known from the Director's Cut of Aliens - The Return are used. Aliens: Colonial Marines was originally not supposed to have a HUD that gave the player information about health or ammunition stocks. However, this concept has been discarded and displays for health, armor and ammunition are displayed. In addition, however, devices are used to localize enemy movements, for example, as they are known from the film Aliens.

The main opponents are aliens, who usually sneak up on the player or flank him. Different types of alien appear, each with its own attack tactic. "Facehuggers" try to jump on the player's face in order to insert an embryo, which then kills them. "Warriors" are the predominant genre, as they are also known from the movie Aliens. "Runners" are a faster species that observes the marines' actions and attacks in small groups or alone. This type of alien is based on the creature from Alien³. Drones carry and place the eggs in the queen's nest. This alien queen appears as the final boss in the game. The "Crusher" are a new and much larger type of alien, which has an armored shield at the back of the head, which normal projectiles cannot break through and with which they try to ram the player or destroy obstacles.

In addition to genre-typical actions such as running, jumping and shooting, quick-time events are also used in hand -to-hand battles against individual aliens, among other things to defend themselves against the facehuggers.

Multiplayer

The game has a co-op mode for the campaign for two players in split-screen mode or for up to four players via the network or the Internet.

development

As early as 2001, Check Six Games was developing a game entitled Aliens: Colonial Marines for the PlayStation 2 , which was supposed to be published by Fox Interactive and Electronic Arts , but was abandoned prematurely. Some parts of this project are similar to those of the future Gearbox title, including the Marines rescue team in search of the USS Sulaco. Gearbox emphasized, however, that the current game is completely independent of Check Six Games' version of the time.

On December 11, 2006, Sega announced that it had acquired the electronic rights to the Alien franchise from 20th Century Fox . On December 15th, Gearbox announced it was collaborating with Sega on an all-new title in the alien universe. In February 2008 the title Aliens: Colonial Marines was mentioned for the first time .

The development team went to great lengths to recreate the setting as well as the exterior and interior areas of the Sulaco and LV-426. For this purpose, originals from the film set were also used. In addition, the concept artist of Aliens - The Return, Syd Mead , was hired to design areas of the Sulaco that were not shown in the film but appear in the game.

extension

In July 2013, the last DLC for Aliens: Colonial Marines was released with Stase Interrupted . In the single player campaign you can find out what happened between Aliens - The Return and Alien³ and what Corporal Dwayne Hicks experienced. The DLC plays two characters from the ship Legato, Lisbeth and Stone, who have awakened from their cold sleep to find out why their ship should intercept the Sulaco. In addition, the employee Levy of the Weyland Corporation, who tries to bring aliens into their possession for the development of weapons. The DLC ends with Hicks and Levy sending off the distress signal incompletely and they watch as Ellen Ripley takes her own life on Fury-161, which then flows seamlessly into the actual game Aliens: Colonial Marines .

reception

Meta-ratings
publication Rating
PS3 Windows Xbox 360
Metacritic 43/100 45/100 48/100

Reviews

Aliens: Colonial Marines received mediocre to poor reviews from the trade press . The metascore for the PC is 42 based on 25 reviews. The Xbox 360 game received a rating of 50 points based on 28 reviews. The German computer magazine GameStar awarded 59% and criticized, among other things, the outdated technology and the gameplay. The PC Games rated the title with 75% and also criticized the weak graphics, however, praised the atmosphere. Aliens: Colonial Marines was picked up more negatively by the gaming website Gamona , which only awarded 40/100. The Eurogamer portal gave the game a 4/10. GameRankings has an average rating of 43.0% for the Gearbox first-person shooter. The Swiss magazine Gbase gave it a rating of only 4.5 / 10 points and also criticized the many errors and the poor graphics.

Allegation of misleading advertising

Shortly after publication, customers complained that the quality of the finished game did not correspond to the promotional materials shown (trailer, screenshots). This led to a class action lawsuit against Sega and Gearbox in April 2013. In May 2015, the online magazine Polygon reported that the lawsuit was limited to Sega and the class action lawsuit was converted into an individual lawsuit by the two initiators.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ GameStar: Final hardware requirements on GameStar.de , accessed on January 14, 2012
  2. ↑ a b Aliens: Colonial Marines: Not as creepy as Dead Space. on gamezone.de from August 26, 2011
  3. ↑ Wii U version is no longer available, Sega announced on PC Games , accessed on April 6, 2013
  4. ↑ Aliens: Colonial Marines in the preview: When the motion detector rings twice on gamestar.de from June 29, 2011
  5. ↑ Aliens: Colonial Marines in late 2008, 4-player co-op . Joystiq.com , February 21, 2008.
  6. ↑ “Aliens: Colonial Marines” in the test . In: Stern.de . February 13, 2013. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013. Retrieved on May 20, 2020.
  7. ↑ Game Informer , March 2008, Issue 79, p. 49.
  8. ↑ a b Game Informer , March 2008, Issue 79, p. 53.
  9. ↑ Game Informer , March 2008, Issue 79, p. 54.
  10. ↑ Aliens: Colonial Marines - Brand new pictures show the "Crusher" mutation in detail for the first time on pcgames.de on October 22, 2011
  11. ↑ Game Informer , Issue 79, March 2008, p. 52.
  12. ↑ a b Official Xbox Magazine , Issue 86, August 2008, p. 32.
  13. ↑ a b Game Informer March Cover Revealed ( Memento from February 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ). Game Informer , Feb 13, 2008.
  14. ↑ Game Informer , Issue 79, March 2008, p. 55.
  15. ↑ var Matt Wales: SEGA Hunts Down Alien, `` IGN UK '' . Xbox360.ign.com. December 11, 2006. Retrieved July 20, 2011.
  16. ↑ Game Informer , Issue 79, March 2008, p. 47.
  17. ↑ Meta-evaluation Aliens: Colonial Marines (Windows). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed April 21, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Meta-evaluation Aliens: Colonial Marines (PlayStation 3). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed April 21, 2015 .
  19. ^ Meta-rating Aliens: Colonial Marines (Xbox 360). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed April 21, 2015 .
  20. ^ Metascore from Aliens: Colonial Marines on Metacritic , accessed February 12, 2013
  21. ↑ Aliens: Colonial Marines - shooter flop in the test of Gamestar , accessed 12 February 2012
  22. ↑ Solid shooter action with a great atmosphere, but poor technology from PC Games , accessed on February 12, 2012
  23. ↑ Gamona: "Is that supposed to be some kind of bad joke?" at gamona.de, accessed on February 12
  24. ↑ Aliens: Colonial Marines - Test by Eurogamer , accessed February 12, 2013
  25. ↑ GameRanking: Aliens: Colonial Marines on GameRankings.com, accessed February 12, 2013
  26. ↑ Aliens: Colonial Marines - Test on Gbase.ch
  27. ↑ Misleading Marketing at Aliens: Colonial Marines - The Aliens Farce
  28. ↑ Gearbox and Sega falsely advertised Aliens: Colonial Marines with press demos, according to lawsuit (update)
  29. ↑ Aliens: Colonial Marines lawsuit loses class status, Gearbox dropped from suit