… 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.

c0mc0: *cough*
Godwin’s Law!
*cough*

*cough* Simpsons ref *cough*

teufelhund:
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.

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.

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…

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.

caitsith01…
Not sure what is so controversial about this observation?But apparently it makes me worse than Hitler.

*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.

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.

Not sure what is so controversial about this observation?But apparently it makes me worse than Hitler.

So much hyperbole from you, firstly. And secondly, did you actually read any of the coverage in detail?

Not to worry, I m sure they will release paid DLC to resolve the issues.

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.

v4moose:
just looked at EGM’s review score from metacritic…. lol

looks like they have 90 macro’d on their keyboard.

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.

vcatkiller:
Because it sounds like it’s just as bad, if not worse on consoles.What did they dumb theconsole versions down to, a game & watch?

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.

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.

forumrabbit: You’re worse than the devs if this is a serious comment.

Uh… why?

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.

caitsith01:
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.

You’re worse than the devs if this is a serious comment.

jonlee:
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

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.

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.

PENIS
There, I said it.

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/

jerichosainte:
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.

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.