Sitrep: How Aliens: Colonial Marines exposed everything terrible about games
By Toby McCasker on February 20, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Because I try not to be mean even when someone is being mean to me, let us just say that Aliens: Colonial Marines is somewhat… divisive. In that it has divided the patience of many an expectant fan. You can’t win ‘em all, although some people like it. That is cool for them and their happiness is my happiness.
More people do not, though. Metacritic collate-paints a fairly unflattering picture, and I must admit that after less than ten minutes with it I had the same impulse that I’m sure lots of other peoples did: I just wanted to find Randy Pitchford and ask him why.
What happened? Why are the aliens drunk? Why can I put a silencer on my pulse rifle? Why are the textures from the Jurassic period and why can’t the game recognise a graphics card I’ve had for two-hundred years? Look into my eeeeeyeeee.
Subsequently, a lot of backroom details we’re not ordinarily privvy to started to surface: ACM had been in production at Gearbox for six years, continually pushed back in favour of Borderlands 2 until Sega began to suggest legal action was in order.
There’s a very interesting account of all that on Reddit by an alleged former employee.
Nothing will make a publisher (or anyone) move faster than the law, so Gearbox reportedly outsourced the bulk of the game’s dev-work to Section 8 studio TimeGate in a last-ditch effort to stave off Phoenix Wright.
Sega would go on to contradict Gearbox themselves and deny this, but it’s a spurious denial at best. This is not the handiwork of the men and women who gave us Pandora to play on.
ACM is not just a window into the tumultuous juggling act of publishers, studios, big expectations and bigger licenses, but also into the nature of the games press. This guy has clearly not, in my opinion, actually played the game. That is not an assumption, it is clear and present fact: the vagaries of everything he mentions were all covered to the exact same hollow extent in every bit of preview coverage ever.
I don’t believe he was “paid off” but rather that he banked, like so many of us did, on ACM being a great game and thought yeah, let’s get those clicks early. Beyond unethical, but if he’d been right, no disservice would’ve been rendered (that you knew of).
Unfortunately for him, no one could’ve predicted this, and further to that is the fact nobody has been able to convincingly answer why ACM seemingly got worse during development and not better. This video, hey. You’ve seen it, but it’s still a mind-fry:
Development, press, and also the press as given by the developers themselves has not been spared by ACM. Randy Pitchford has worked as a magician IRL and some are starting to feel he’s still an illusionist over at Gearbox too. It’s true, he talked up some things that were simply not in the game (slashed, so they say) and the demo he flaunted in his pre-show runs at the media (see above) looked a lot more impressive than what hit storefronts. Death threats are taking it a little far. Don’t do that.
I interviewed Randy, in person, prior to the game’s release. He genuinely loves Aliens. He does. He knew more about its intricacies than anyone in that room. Not stuff media training would teach you; stuff a fan from way back would know. He looked like a big sad kid when he told me ACM director Brian Martell got to meet Ridley Scott to talk LV-426 and he didn’t. The passion is there and real, but Pitchford works with what he’s got, like any CEO stretched thin.
The whole thing has shone such a piercing light on just about all sectors of the industry it feels like it might actually have been good for something in that context. Gearbox are still suffering tremendous backlash and no doubt will for some time, but all’s not completely lost for ACM itself – because you know who’s going in to save the marines who went in to save the other marines? You guys are.
Click here for our Aliens: Colonial Marines review, and click here for our editor’s thoughts on Aliens: Colonial Marines as our ‘Game of the Month’.
Header image courtesy David Rayfield.
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I don’t think user’s should be relied on to save the game. If user’s kept on fixing developers games, then we will keep getting these crappy releases. It should be gearbox trying to fix it
and randy obviously loves borderlands more than aliens
I wasn’t really buying into it that much going it’s the typical over hype that happens, but after watching that video I’m stunned.
just looked at EGM’s review score from metacritic…. lol
looks like they have 90 macro’d on their keyboard.
Sad to say, they were working on what would have been a great PC game. Then they were ordered to dumb it down. Now we have another piece of generic console trash as a result.
As stated in the review the final release was vastly different to what previewed prior to launch. I don’t think it has anything to do with being multi platform.
This is eerily similar to the duke nukem failure except this is now the second failure in a row with AVP and now ACM.
It really puts a spotlight on the industry when GB have been equally passionate about BL2 and ACM but they are polar opposites on the fun/quality scale.
I’m starting to think game developers are great programmers but shit project managers.
Let’s be honest – the chances of making an Aliens game that actually satisfied the fanbase is probably not worth taking the risk. The whole point of the original Alien (and to a lesser extent the sequels) was that the fear of the Aliens was because they were never fully revealed. Now they’ve been so over exposed in movies, games, comics etc that it is impossible to actually scare people with them any more.
I haven’t played ACM but I can’t help thinking that they knew it was a stinker, but pooped it out anyway in the knowledge that a lot of people would preorder on the basis of hype and they could make their money anyway even though they’re burning the fans in the process. Short-term I guess this seemed like good buisness sense but hopefully it will mean people will be a lot more circumspect in commiting cash to any future Gearbox titles until the reviews are out.
Wow. That looks absolutely awful. Its even more depressing that it was looking so good too. Really disappointing.
ralphwiggum,
This is pretty much the case for everyone in IT. They know what they’re doing. They can do it, but planning is definitely not their forte. They need a strong leader/planner to keep everything on track. The fact that Gearbox had huge distractions from the development of other games has clearly resulted in the neglect of A:CM and it just looks awful. Couldn’t be happier that I didn’t pick this up.
I seem to recall that this was originally going to be a tense, PC-focused game, more like a squad-based horror game than a straight action shooter. Unfortunately that was in 2006 when the console market was ramping up bigtime.
I can almost imagine the meeting with jerk producers – no, it’s too slow! In this bit, can you add, like, 300 aliens? It’s too easy to die, can you make the aliens slower? The squad stuff is too confusing, get rid of it! We want people to really SEE the aliens, can you make them sort of come around the front and move more slowly towards the player? Etc etc.
The graphics certainly have some serious console-itis, too.
the disgusting thing is that this is top seller in the UK atm
Top 10 UK Software Sales (All Formats); week ending February 16:
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Dead Space 3
FIFA 13
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Far Cry 3
Assassin’s Creed 3
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Just Dance 4
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Halo 4
http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/18/aliens-colonial-marines-storms-this-weeks-uk-charts/
I wrote something serious and I feel disgusting.
Toby McCasker,
PENIS
There, I said it.
Jason Imms,
Ah. Ah yeah. I mean, not as in, “Ah yeah I love penis,” but you know, like… anyway this is all going as wrong as ACM. I’m topical.
I think Gearbox are holding back waiting to see how to fix it by reading the same forum thread… later they’ll just release the fixed files from the forum as an official patch.
You’re worse than the devs if this is a serious comment.
The Subtext:
Cock. Penis, penis. willie, cock. Giant rodgering, what the penis.
WHY?!
Penis.
The End.
—>8—
Actually, I have to say, I’m really dismayed by this. All the discussion sounded *right*. The demo looked *right*, and even the “rough” edges could easily be defined as pre-release issues.
But this. This. It’s just wrong. It’s a slap in the face of each of the companies involved, the fans and gaming community, something that actually coins the phrase “actually worse than Duke Nukem Forever”.
Shameful.
Well after seeing that video I want my money back, I’d call that false advertising.
Uh… why?
Because it sounds like it’s just as bad, if not worse on consoles. What did they dumb the console versions down to, a game & watch?
Guys, guys. To quote a famous fat man, “stay on target”.
Seen this all too often, one person says something .. let’s just say misguided .. about a PC Master Race or Consoles Are The Future or whatever .. and the actual point is lost in the shouting.
Just saying.
I think my comment must be unclear.
I recall that originally they were making a game which was probably more suited to the PC platform, a squad-based shooter focused on tension/horror. I can remember reading (though can’t find anything quickly on Google) that it was originally PC only.
What they have released is much more akin to a typical console game, i.e., a simplistic action shooter. Obviously it has been released cross-platform.
So my inference is that at least one of the complete overhaul/redesigns has taken the game from the first game above to the second. The only reason to do this is to try to cash in on the console market.
Not sure what is so controversial about this observation? But apparently it makes me worse than Hitler.
The most amusing part of that for me was I didn’t even know EGM still existed. I mean I remember them back in the mid 90s and pretty much no one took them seriously then either for much the same reason; being a bunch of shameless sellouts who’s review scores were directly proportional to how much advertising space the publisher had in their already ad-stuffed magazines.
It was rather comical to not only see they were still going (hell knows why) but still doing the same shameless practices I remembered them for 15 years ago.
Damn, I didn’t know the graphics were watered down that much! No wonder everyone is panning the game. I must say that the early demo sold the game to me big time which is one of two reasons why I preordered (the other being that I had excess credit to redeem at WOW HD… but i could have picked something else). This is the absolute last time I preorder any game.
I suppose I’ll at least go into this game knowing what to expect. I’m just hoping there will be a patch or two released before my order gets here to fix up the AI issues. Not much can be done about graphics on the PS3 but if the visuals are on par with Resistance 1, I’ll look past it.
That video could bring about a case of bait and switch. Anyone that wants to, should return the game and ask for their money back, citing bait and switch. If no one returns the game it is another successful game release in the eyes of the money men, which can be repeated again and again as people buy untested pre-ordered games to collect in their unplayed game library.
Not to worry, I m sure they will release paid DLC to resolve the issues.
So much hyperbole from you, firstly. And secondly, did you actually read any of the coverage in detail?
jonlee,
If software ratings are done like music ones, then its not actual sales to customers, it’s sales to the retailers.
Makes quite the difference in what is in the top ten that way.
the explosion at 3:24 looks like its from GoldenEye on the N64
*cough*
Godwin’s Law!
*cough*
;)
I had not seen that video before. It is damning, to say the least. I still think this stinks of Homefront-esue marketing – ie, Gearbox/Sega knew that the game was horrendous and poured massive resources (including, by the looks of it, significant investment in preparation of the “demo” sequences) into obscuring this fact through misdirection and misrepresentation.
I’m not one to throw those sort of accusations around, but the evidence certainly points in that direction.
Has Randy had anything to say on ACM post-release? I’m really interested to hear his justifications and explanations for what went wrong.
Someone mentioned the possibility of class action against Sega/Gearbox – given the video linked in this article, I’d say that it could be a serious possibility.
caitsith01,
And my point was it looks really bad even for a console game. It’s bordering on previous generation stuff, so blaming consolitis is probably going too far. This is probably more like they were aiming at 10 year old PCs with Geforce 4s or something. It’s probably even DX9 technology.
Wyld,
Even Postal 3 is looking better in comparison.
c0mc0,
It was only the single player of Homefront that was a joke — it actually had a really solid multiplayer to it.
jerichosainte,
That would be true if the defining features of BL and BL2 were, in any way, unique…
How is making a decent game not worth taking the risk? It doesn’t necessarily need to be scary either, it just needs to be well made. And I fail to see how knowing what the alien is would make it any less of a fear factor.
Making a game where in the first 5 minutes you blast an alien that’s running into a stack of crates in the face killing it in 1 shot, then standing in its acid blood and not taking any damage is horrible from a game developer not only that is supposedly lead by a “big fan” of the franchise, but a developer that is considered AAA.
*cough* Simpsons ref *cough*
I didn’t mind it (ducks) … hear me out…
… though short and not shiny looking like newer games it was a good run n gun with an interesting story and references.
But then I did stay away from all the press about the game knowing that it would be a hyper hyped hyperbole.
Though after seeing that video though, I can understand the vitriol now.
I have joined the ‘why!’ of the angry clenched fist brigade.