Don't Write This One Off Aliens: Colonial Marines Single Player Review
Let me get straight off the starting blocks by saying that if you really want to see this game for what it is then you will have to ignore the graphics and bugs. The way I got over it was pretending I was playing an old pc game. This industry has become too much about looking over our pretty little show dogs and being very upset with them not being as beautiful as we would all like (e.g. Far Cry 3 etc.) which is an unfair basis to judge a game (or dog) entirely. So there we go we are ignoring the graphics, the aliens look like aliens, the marines look like marines, job done.
Now another thing we must consider before playing this game is that the development of ACM was an absolute disaster which lead to the majority of the game being built from scratch within the last few months before release. Therefore we also must view this game as a code jam, something that was created in a ridiculously short amount of time considering the scale of it.
Following me so far? Old school pc graphics code jamming fun times? Good glad to see you follow...if you don't go read up top again, I'll put the kettle on.
Okay good to go?
So ACM puts you in the boots of Corporal Christopher Winter who has solemnly swore to go kill every Xenomorph that dared to bust out of a chest. No points for guessing he has the rank Corporal because he's a ? .... Colonial Marine! How did you know? Anyway I could mince words about the story for a long time but that's not what anyone wants from this game. Simply put the story is your basic American born killers Vs better killers from another planet. There are several attempts by the story to make you care about the characters but they all fail horrifically to the point I laughed a lot when I wasn't supposed to, which you should never do, especially at funerals.
Let's be honest, no one wanted to play this game for the story or the fact you get to visit LV426 and get little easter eggs from leftovers at the end of Aliens. Admittedly the easter eggs were nice little nods, but nothing game changing.
No, this game is purely man Vs Xenomorph (and PMC but we'll get to that). That is exactly what this game does well. Remember that old school vibe? It exists within the gameplay, taking the form and shape of health packs, armour and ammo being scattered around the levels like cigarettes outside a night club. The player against the Xenomorph's is surprisingly frail in a time where we are used to our regenerative health stabilising wheels. It is entirely refreshing to finally feel weak and scared in a game, which is exactly how you would feel if you had 10 of those creatures pouncing towards you. You begin to panic, spray your weapon a little and act exactly how you would in said situation because you know how quickly you are going to die (and trust me you don't want to die because the loading screens can be a bit of a killer themselves). This all culminates in moments of very tense nervous shooting and running where you do your finest to stay in the game.
The guns themselves are a real treat, naturally you get your hands on a Pulse Rifle straight away which sounds the part and is as destructive as a kebab on white bed sheets. You also get a great bundle of choice with 2 styles of pistol, 2 styles of shotgun, one sub machine gun and 2 different styles of assault rifle, one being a single shot carbine and the other just your run of the mill assault rifle with a burst option. What's great about this is that the player not only has a wealth of options on how they get to play the game, but they also get to upgrade their guns and personalise the game to their play style even more. Ensuring that you can take down those Aliens in whichever way you prefer. There are other weapons with one time uses dotted around such as rocket launchers, auto turrets. flame throwers but the best of the crop has got to be the Smart Gun. I have no other way to describe it other than it's exactly how I've always imagined it, beautiful and relentless. Lastly on the topic of weapons the player can find Legendary Weapons in certain levels which all belonged to characters from Aliens, these include things such as Hick's shotgun, Vasquez's Smart Gun etc. The stats on these guns are different from the normal counterparts, there are 6 to collect but as far as I'm aware there are 2 that you cannot take online.
I'd like to take this moment to give an entire section of this review to the motion tracker. It sounds authentic, looks authentic and having to actually holster your weapon to check it makes the game feel more tense and realistic as opposed to the previous incarnations (Aliens Vs Predator games) having it as just an active radar. This creates an atmosphere for the player, checking your motion sensor to see where the aliens are, what direction they are moving in. Naturally when you hear that beep getting louder and the pitch growing higher, you start to panic, much the way any poor marine would facing one of those things (on what could only be a Monday due to how bad a day Corporal Winter is having).
I said I wouldn't mention any bugs but there is one thing that is absolutely necessary to mention before this game is played. The AI is awful, truly. There is no justification for it. So when you play, yes there will be people there with you, but don't expect the other marines to help you out, if you do then you will be seeing that loading screen a lot of times.
Lastly I would say forgive the game during the moments where it has the Colonial Marines pitted against the Weyland Yutani PMC troops, these parts handle a lot like any Call of Warface generic shooters that have been out in the last 5 years and can be a tad dull, but persevere so that you can enjoy the tense moments with the Xenomorph's because those are the ones that really make the game.
To Summarise, this game received a huge amount of bad press and reviews due to it being a disappointment to fans of the series and it not being as polished and amazing as everyone would have hoped for. Ask any parent if their child turned out perfect and they will probably laugh, that's exactly what you have to do here to enjoy this game. Forgive the obvious mistakes, they can't be changed, once you get past that, this game is easily a solid survival horror/action which will give you a few hours of entertainment and is worth playing. There's a lot of fun shooting to be done and plenty aliens to be gunned down mercilessly which is exactly what you want from an Aliens game. I haven't had a chance to sample the online however I would imagine that it won't be great taking into account how rushed and put together the game is and how long it takes to actually create a decent and balanced multiplayer. I would say if you find this game somewhere for £10-£15 (I don't know the exchange rate so we'll say $15-$20 for the US) then buy it, for that price you won't regret the purchase.